Daily Archives: March 29, 2021

Fishermen are denying allegations that they intentionally blocked a vessel conducting a survey for an offshore wind development project from doing its work earlier this week.

The survey vessel, Go Liberty, reported to marine law enforcement Monday that fishermen were blocking its path, preventing the ship from conducting a survey of a proposed cable path for the New England Aqua Ventus project, a one-turbine wind development project slated for the waters off Monhegan.

Maine Marine Patrol responded to the complaint but did not observe fishing boats blocking the vessels path, according to a Department of Marine Resources spokesperson.

On Wednesday, fishermen in the area received a notice that if they did not voluntarily remove their gear from the survey route, Marine Patrol will move the gear.

At least two lobstermen who crossed paths with the Go Liberty Monday said that while they are frustrated with the survey process, they were not trying to block the vessel Monday and were just trying to protect traps in the water.

Theyre making us out like were a bunch of bad people. But we just need to make a living, Friendship lobsterman Chad Burns said. People are trying to get gear away from [the vessel] when they see it coming.

Another lobsterman, Larry Reed of South Bristol, said he passed the Go Liberty from a safe distance Monday morning to make sure the vessel wasnt towing up the traps of family and friends that were near the ship. He then went on to tend to traps he had in the area, and claims the Go Liberty came within 30 yards of his boat, causing him to move his traps to make sure they werent towed up by the vessel.

I passed the vessel just to make sure they werent towing up my fellow fishermens gear and I proceeded. I did not stop, I did not harass, I made no gestures to them whatsoever, Reed said. I was doing my job which I am licensed to do and they have no right to tell me otherwise.

While its hard to determine exactly what transpired on the water Monday, whether it was unintentional or not, the fact remains the vessel had to stop for safety concerns, New England Aqua Ventus Spokesperson Dave Wilby said.

The alleged interference was the latest point of contention between the local fishing industry and the prospect of offshore wind development, which fishermen have been critical of in terms of how it could change the Gulf of Maine and potentially impact their livelihoods.

New England Aqua Ventus has contracted with two vessels to conduct a survey of the route that would bring a cable ashore from the turbine site near Monhegan. The survey includes an assessment of the seabed floor which will help New England Aqua Ventus determine where the cable can be buried so it will have the least impact on fishing practices in the area.

In order to conduct the survey, New England Aqua Ventus and the Maine Department of Marine Resources have asked fishermen to remove their gear from a 23-mile long path off the coast of Lincoln County for about four weeks. Since the Go Liberty drags sonar equipment, if it comes in contact with fishing gear like lobster traps damage can be caused to both the equipment and the gear.

[New England Aqua Ventus] made very extensive efforts to communicate the survey timing and location to the fishing community and other marine stakeholders weeks in advance of the start of survey activities, said Wilby.

While numerous notices were given to fishermen in the region leading up to the survey, which began earlier this month, about 254 lobster buoys were still in the path as of Monday, according to the Department of Marine Resources.

Both New England Aqua Ventus and state marine officials say too much gear remains in the route for the survey to be completed. On Wednesday morning, the Department of Marine Resources sent out a notice to fishermen with gear in the area reiterating the need for temporary removal.

Were asking for voluntary cooperation in terms of gear in the survey route, Maine Department of Resources spokesman Jeff Nichols said. We need cooperation from the industry.

However, if fishermen dont voluntarily move their gear, Marine Patrol will begin moving gear outside of the route so the survey can be completed within the next two weeks, according to the notice.

While many fishermen have moved their gear out of the path, Reed and others feel that it is unfair for New England Aqua Ventus to ask them to move out of their traditional fishing grounds for a project they do not agree with.

I dont feel that any fishermen should have to move for them to perform a demonstration that benefits only them. We have nothing to gain and a lot to lose from this project, Reed said.

New England Aqua Ventus has said it chose March to conduct the month long survey since there is less fishing activity this time of year. However, Reed said spring is traditionally the time of year when fishermen look to move their gear into this region.

Thats traditional spring fishing ground, and the rest of the year really, except for the heart of winter, Reed said.

With nice weather setting in earlier than normal this year, and lobster prices currently around $10 a pound, leaving traps in the path can be enticing to fishermen, especially if their traps are producing good hauls. Right now every pound counts, Reed said.

Since the survey vessel was scheduled to be in certain parts of the path at different times during the month-long period, fishermen might be taking the risk of leaving traps in their traditional spots until they think the vessel will actually be in the area, Maine Coast Fishermens Association Executive Director Ben Martens said.

However, because of weather delays early on in the survey and the gear density the vessel has encountered, the survey timeline has been delayed, Wilby said.

Right now the price of lobster is really good and the last year was a tough one, Martens said. I know a lot of guys who are trying to make up for some of the losses they experienced last year. With the good price, if theyre catching lobster, I wouldnt be surprised if some [fishermen] are [cutting] it a little closer than they normally would some of these decisions.

Martens said he has also heard from fishermen who didnt know the survey was going on, despite the multiple notices. With COVID and everything else communication is really hard right now. I think we missed a lot of people, he said.

Burns, 51, has fished in the area since he was 17 years old. While he said he tried to move his gear out of the pathway, he isnt confident hes been able to do so in keeping with the survey-path chart provided to fishermen, which he said is confusing.

Fishermen have also alleged that the survey ship is not staying within the pathway when it is dragging its gear. Wilby, the projects spokesperson, said the vessels do not drag their gear outside of the survey route because it could damage the equipment. However, the vessels do travel outside of the route when not towing gear.

This is not the first time that lobstermen have been asked to move their gear. The state conducts annual trawl surveys to assess fishery stocks and gear must be temporarily moved. Compliance with removal for these reasons is typically excellent, according to the Department of Marine Services.

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As tensions rise, fishermen are frustrated with offshore wind development survey - Bangor Daily News

Highlights

Ceiling raised to GBP100,000/sq km

Reflects Round Four bidding behavior

Fees to fund Scotland's green recovery

New York Crown Estate Scotland has increased the ceiling on option fees payable on offshore wind seabed rights in the ScotWind Leasing competition from GBP10,000 ($13,711) per sq km to GBP100,000 per sq km, the property management body said March 24.

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Option fees are paid by successful bidders in exchange for securing seabed rights for offshore wind farms. A total 8,600 sq km of Scottish seabed is potentially available for such development.

"Funds [raised from the leasing] will be returned to the Scottish government for public spending to drive the green recovery and help deliver government priorities," the estate said.

Additional technical information on the first ScotWind Leasing round is to be published by the end of April, allowing registered applicants to progress their bids, the estate said. Applications close on July 16, 2021.

The current leasing round was suspended in February while Scottish ministers and the Crown Estate examined the extraordinary results of Round Four leasing in England and Wales, where the lowest bid came in at GBP76,200/MW per annum and the highest at GBP154,000/MW per annum.

The round, concluded Feb. 8, saw the Crown Estate awarding concessions to nearly 8 GW of offshore capacity to six developers, who committed GBP879 million ($1.2 billion) in option fee deposits alone.

The sums prompted sector association RenewableUK to warn of rising costs for developers and consumers due to fierce competition for the offshore wind concessions.

Crown Estate Scotland launched this current round of offshore wind leasing in June 2020, with a draft target of up to 10 GW installed.

The round could attract investment of more than GBP8 billion, the estate said.

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Scottish offshore wind option fee ceiling rockets to reflect fierce competition - S&P Global

However, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are aware of almost two dozen online bookmakers that are receiving a live feed of NBL data from Sportradar, enabling them to offer in-play betting on the leagues matches. Almost half of these sites allow Australians to sign up, despite the Interactive Gambling Act making it illegal for bookmakers without a local licence to accept Australian customers.

The sites include the Malta-registered zebet.com, where The Age and Herald signed up using an Australian address and then placed in-play bets on multiple NBL matches as a continuous stream of Sportradar data updated the sites stats and scores.

At other sites, bets were offered in Australian dollars and registration codes were sent to an Australian phone number.

Some sites were geo-blocked to Australians, though sportsbet.io can be reached using a VPN. Once there, a gambler can register on the site using Australian details.

At betmasterplay.com, Sportradar also appeared to be providing data on a recent mid-week pre-season cup match between two amateur soccer teams in the Tasmanian second division.

A spokesperson for Sportradar said it covers NBL matches providing play-by-play information but did this by monitoring broadcasts of the games. While rival company Stats Perform is the NBLs exclusive betting data partner, Sportradar said its collection of data in this manner is common practice and is perfectly legitimate.

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Asked about some of the bookmakers seen to be using its data, the company said it works with licensed operators around the world and applies rigorous compliance standards.

However, we are not a regulatory body and we do not have enforcement powers. Concerns regarding the conduct of such operators should therefore be directed to the relevant authorities.

A secretive Sportradar subsidiary, Real Time Sportscast, which has in the past employed data scouts, has been advertising for live statistics reporters in Melbourne this year.

Federal Sport Minister Richard Colbeck said that capturing of sports data was not illegal, but had the potential to have an impact of sport integrity if not managed appropriately by the sporting body.

Government regulator Sport Integrity Australia was aware of the threat gambling on Australian sporting events poses, particularly when sub-elite or community sport is involved, Mr Colbeck said.

LIve betting on basketball is accessible via Sportradar to Australians on illegal offshore sites. Credit:Getty Images

Swiss-headquartered Sportradar has both integrity and data divisions. Its integrity division uses sophisticated algorithmic tracking of global betting markets to look for suspicious shifts in the odds that may indicate a game is being fixed. It then uses investigators to see if these red flags are legitimate concerns.

This was how Sportradar uncovered a match-fixing ring in Victorian Premier League soccer in 2013 involving the Southern Stars football club, winning it praise from Australian law enforcement authorities.

But the companys main line of work is servicing bookmakers, which has led to it being criticised for creating fertile ground for this same fraudulent behaviour. An independent review into tenniss match-fixing scandal found a cause of the problem was a contract with Sportradar that allowed it to distribute live data from lower-level matches.

Sportradar rejected this criticism and argued that the measures proposed by the review would worsen the sports problems by opening up a black market on betting.

Former senator Nick Xenophon, who helped to reform the Interactive Gambling Act, said the NBL was either treating its fans as absolute mugs, or they are the biggest mugs of all to be entering into this deal.

This is gobsmacking. The sports minister needs to look at this from an integrity point of view. This just destroys the credibility of the game. It just shows you how poor the regulatory framework is ... I think there should be a revolt amongst the membership of the NBL because, on the face of it, they have compromised the integrity of the game.

Former Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency boss Richard Ings also questioned the deal, saying of selling live betting data to bookmakers, theres so much at stake for the integrity of sport.

How do you have an operation that is on the one hand looking at sport integrity, but on the other hand is involved in the gambling industry? asked Mr Ings, who is also a former professional tennis umpire.

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The 2017 ABC investigation revealed that, while low-level basketball matches were in play, Sportradars undercover data scouts would commentate the action to a call centre, believed to be in the Philippines, and that data would be distributed to bookmakers across the globe. Odds would be updated within seconds of the real action taking place.

The notion of data scouts entering our venues and obtaining that, it actually compromises the integrity of the sport, Basketball Australias then-CEO Anthony Moore said at the time, and the organisation introduced a new policy specifically to stop the practice.

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Gobsmacking: National basketball partner in league with illegal betting sites offshore - Sydney Morning Herald

Carver Companies (P&M Brick), the owner of the Port of Coeymans deep water inland marine terminal, has filed an application with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for an environmental permit for the upgrade of the port infrastructure to support offshore wind projects.

The Port of Coeymans Offshore Wind Infrastructure (POWI) Project proposes upgrades that consist of establishing a new dock, site grading to provide manufacturing space and lay down area, and other buildings to service the unique needs associated with manufacturing, assembly, and shipping of heavy offshore wind components.

According to the project developer, achieving the offshore wind target that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set in 2019 will require thoughtful planning, design, and construction of highly capable, modern, and dedicated port facilities.

Developing the Port of Coeymans would provide an enormous benefit to the offshore wind industry by delivering a dedicated port facility, which will be critical for the supply chain while creating new and local jobs in the Upstate New York area, a project description document states.

The Port of Coeymans is one of the eleven ports marked as eligible to pair up with offshore wind developers to deliver New Yorks offshore wind targets.

New Yorks latest solicitation, which resulted in Equinor and BP winning the 2.5 GW tender to build offshore wind farms, also included a multi-port strategy and requirement for offshore wind generators to partner with any of the eleven prequalified New York ports to stage, construct, manufacture key components, or coordinate operations and maintenance activities.

The proposals for the two offshore wind farms by Equinor and BP, the 1,260 megawatt Empire Wind 2 Project and 1,230 megawatt Beacon Wind, comprised plans for manufacturing offshore wind components upstate at the Port of Albany and the Port of Coeymans. The proposals also included making South Brooklyn Marine Terminal the hub for construction activities and an operations and maintenance (O&M) base.

The state had already executed a contract with Equinor for the 816 MW Empire Wind 1, awarded at New Yorks first offshore wind solicitation, for which the developer plans to use gravity-based foundations produced at the Port of Coeymans.

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Port of Coeymans Upgrade Project Moving Through the System - Offshore WIND

Fishermen in nearly 100 boats from the midcoast gathered in waters near Monhegan Island on Sundayto protest the development of offshore wind energy infrastructure, including an array of wind turbinesproposed by the state.

Boats came from towns including South Bristol, Boothbay, Port Clyde, Tenants Harbor, Vinalhaven, Friendship, Spruce Head, Monhegan and Owls Head, Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermens Association, told Mainebiz in a subsequent email.

The Brunswick association is an industry-based nonprofit that supports and advocates for Maines community-based fishermen.The protest was organized by the fishermen themselves, not by an industry association, he noted.

We fully support their efforts, he added.

Martenscontinued, Fishermen and waterfront communities throughout Maine are increasingly concerned at the speed at which offshore wind development is taking place in Maine. Maine has funding to create a full roadmap to better ensure that our fisheries and fishing communities are respected and protected, yet we seem to be full steam ahead on putting 700-foot industrial structures out on the ocean.

"We need clean energy, but just because wind is renewable, doesn't mean it's green and it doesn't mean it is the right choice for Maine.

The protest was held in response to plans by the Governors Energy Office to install an array of up to 12 wind-energy turbines, to be used for research demonstrationand to cover up to 16 square miles off Maines southern coast.

In January, a coalition of fishing communities sent a letter to Gov. Janet Mills expressing concern about the project.The coalition included the Maine Lobstermens Association, Maine Coast Fishermens Association, Maine Lobster Dealers Association, Maine Lobstering Union, Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries and Downeast Lobstermens Association. The coalition was joined by a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance.

In a March 17 blog post to the Maine Coast Fishermens Association website, Friendship fisherman Dustin Delano, Maine Lobstermen's Association's second vice president, wrote, In recent weeks, many fishermen along the Maine coast have discovered a new fear to add to their lengthy list of stressors that they will be replaced by 700-plus-foot wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine.

Although the Department of Marine Resources and the Governors Energy Office have engaged in communication with the industry, he wrote, fishermen still believe their concerns are not being heard, particularly due to the virtual nature of the meetings as a result of the pandemic.

As a result, many fishermen who live in rural areas without access to good broadband, and fishermen lacking the knowledge to use online platforms, are being excluded from both conversations and access to information, Delano wrote. They are completely in the dark about something that has the potential to destroy their future.

He added, Fishermen and their communities do not want to be replaced by giant floating turbines.

In January, stateRep. Billy BobFaulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, introducedLD 101, an Act to Prohibit Offshore Wind Development in the Gulf of Maine. The proposed legislation targets community-based offshore wind energy projects, deep-water offshore wind energy pilot projects, offshore wind energy demonstration projects and offshore wind power projects.

The state has identified an "area of interest" for its research project southeast of Casco Bay.

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100 fishing boats gather off Monhegan in protest of offshore wind development - Mainebiz

A burst natural gas pipeline in Venezuela has forced PDVSA to cut light crude oil production by 30,000 bpd, Reuters has reported, noting that the explosion could also affect the production of the countrys most popular heavy grade, Merey 16.

The state oil company uses the light crude to dilute its extra heavy to make it more easily transportable.

A section of the pipeline, which transports associated gas from oil fields to a reinjection plant, exploded last Saturday, with the government blaming the explosion on a terrorist attack.

At the time, Reuters reported that PDVSA was forced to suspend operations at the reinjection plant to stop the fire and assess the damage.

Venezuela produced some 521,000 bpd of crude oil last month, according to the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report. This was down from an average of 796,000 bpd for 2019 but higher than the average for 2020, which was 500,000 bpd.

The government in Caracas has pledged to boost production to as much as 1.5 million bpd this year. To that end, the Maduro regime is even ready to invite back foreign companies and end PDVSAs monopoly of the Venezuelan oil industry.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, managers of foreign oil companies are already discussing their return to the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world.

Venezuelas crude oil and refined product exports plummeted in 2020 to theirlowest level in 77 years, as the U.S. continued to step up sanctions against Maduros regime and anyone found dealing with it. Last year, Venezuelas oil exports plunged by 37.5 percent, reaching just 626,534 barrels per day (bpd)the lowest level since the early 1940s.

Much of Maduros turnaround plan depends on the lifting of U.S. sanctions, but the Biden administration has signaled that this would only happen if the government in Caracas takes some major steps towards reconciling its differences with the opposition.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Offshore Oil & Gas Spending Set To Jump To $44 Billion In 2021 - OilPrice.com

New York, March 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "High Net Worth (HNW) Offshore Investment - Drivers and Motivations 2020" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06039262/?utm_source=GNW

This report draws on our 2019 and 2020 Global Wealth Managers Surveys to analyze the drivers behind offshore investments in the HNW space, along with our wide-ranging 2020 Banking & Payments Survey, which offers insight into retail investors with offshore investments.It examines and contrasts offshore HNW investment preferences across multiple jurisdictions and wealth tiers, providing readers with an in-depth understanding of what is motivating HNW investors to look to offshore booking centers.

The report outlines key challenges facing the wealth management industry in 2021, taking into account the impact of the pandemic and increasing digitization.

Scope - Non-resident investment assets reached an all-time high in Q3 2020, with further growth expected in 2021. - Roughly 10% of investors have offshore investments, although this figure approaches a third in the Middle East and Africa. - While not an overt driver, expats are a core demographic of the offshore investment market. - As the recovery takes hold, international trade and business supply chains are expected to increasingly drive more HNW wealth to be booked offshore. - COVID-19 and its effects on local markets are expected to drive more investors to offshore wealth in North America, while the pandemic has little impact on Asia Pacifics investment intentions.

Reasons to Buy - Understand the growth of the non-resident investor segment in recent years. - Identify which offshore booking centers are gaining market share amid the pandemic. - Gain insight into the drivers behind retail and HNW investor offshoring. - Forecast HNW demand for offshore wealth management in all key markets. - Size key market segments within the offshore investment market. - Map offshore product and service provision across the world. - Examine the effects of COVID-19 on the HNW offshore investment portfolio.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06039262/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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High Net Worth (HNW) Offshore Investment - Drivers and Motivations 2020 - GlobeNewswire

Helicopter services provider NHV Group reported Wednesday that it has signed a new contract with PSE Kinsale Energy Ltd. to support decommissioning operations in the Celtic Sea.

Under the agreement, NHVs Danish branch NHV AS Denmark will provide a dedicated Leonardo AW139 twin-engine helicopter to provide transfer flights toward the Stena Spey drilling rig, NHV noted in a written statement emailed to Rigzone. The rig sits approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) off the south coast of Cork, Ireland, and flights will likely begin next month, the contract recipient added.

We are delighted to be partnering with Kinsale Energy on this project and feel confident that its offshore workforce will appreciate our passion for safe and reliable operations, remarked Lars Skov, NHV AS managing director and group commercial manager. I am also proud that within a months team, our team has established a fully operational base in Cork. A solid proof of the agility, flexibility, and adaptability that have always been present in NHVs DNA.

NHV anticipates a contract duration ranging from six to eight months.

The award of this contract demonstrates the importance of our strategy of operating a diverse and modern fleet in our offshore operations, commented NHV Group CEO Steffen Bay. We are looking forward to proving our new partners that NHV was the right choice for this unique project.

According to Kinsales website, the Stena Spey will be used to plug 10 subsea wells.

To contact the author, email mveazey@rigzone.com.

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Offshore Ireland Contract Goes to NHV - Rigzone News

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Tucked between the Gulf of Oman and a craggy mountain range, the dusty port Fujairah isnt an obvious base from which to try and revolutionize the Middle Easts oil markets.But on Monday, when Abu Dhabi begins selling futures contracts for its oil and then shipping the barrels from Fujairah, it will mark an aggressive shift by the emirate. It hopes to change the way nearly one-fifth of the worlds crude is priced.Persian Gulf states pump nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day and Abu Dhabi wants the futures for its flagship Murban grade to become the regions main benchmark.The Gulfs biggest producers -- including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital -- have traditionally priced their barrels based on benchmarks from other regions. Theyve mostly sold their crude directly to refiners or international companies with stakes in their fields. Crucially, theyve prevented those customers from re-selling the oil and benefiting from arbitrage opportunities that exist in energy markets.Now, Abu Dhabis removing those curbs with the aim of opening up its oil to financial as well as physical traders. Investors globally are clamoring for commodities because of their high yields relative to other assets and to protect themselves against any rise in inflation.Once sold on an exchange, Murban will be sent by pipeline to Fujairah, where Abu Dhabis desert fields physically connect with global markets.If successful -- and I think the chances are good -- Murban futures could be a pivotal moment for Middle East crude pricing, said Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights, which provides oil analysis. If a sizable chunk of Middle Eastern crude trades freely in the spot market, that could push other regional producers to follow Abu Dhabis lead, she said.Storage CavernsTo help its cause, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., the state energy firm, is spending around $900 million to build 40 million barrels of storage space in caverns beneath Fujairahs mountains. That, and tanks Adnoc already has at the port, will ensure theres plenty of Murban on hand to manage any future supply disruptions, Khaled Salmeen, the companys head of marketing and trading, told reporters this month.Adnoc can pump about 2 million barrels a day of Murban and has pledged to provide the exchange with half that amount over the next year -- in line with or greater than the supply of todays major oil benchmarks such as Brent and West Texas Intermediate.Liquiditys critical to the whole equation, said Chris Bake, a director at Vitol Group, the largest independent oil trader, which is backing the exchange.Creating a new benchmark will hardly be easy. Oil traders dislike change, especially when they believe markets already do a good job matching supply and demand. S&P Global Platts caused uproar this year after announcing it would overhaul Dated Brent, the worlds main crude price. It was forced to shelve the plan indefinitely.Murban will also face competition regionally. Platts publishes price assessments for Dubai oil and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange trades futures for Omani crude. Both act as benchmarks for Middle Eastern shipments to Asia.Enter GoldmanThe benefits from trading Murban, a crude first exported in 1963, are worth the effort, according to Sultan Al Jaber, Adnocs chief executive officer. Price transparency will allow our customers to better hedge and manage their market risks, he wrote Sunday in The National, a local newspaper.Abu Dhabi says the combination of high supply, easy access to oil-consuming markets from Fujairah and the absence of trading restrictions will attract plenty of buyers to its exchange. Philippe Khoury, a former HSBC Holdings Plc energy banker who Adnoc hired in 2018 to build its trading operations, said Murban may even compete with Brent and WTI.The futures platform will be run by Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and called ICE Futures Abu Dhabi. Last week, ICE approved Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and 22 other banks and brokers as exchange members.Wider AmbitionAdnocs plan underscores the UAEs wider ambition to monetize its hydrocarbon resources faster in case oil demand starts shrinking with the global shift to greener energy. The country aims to increase output capacity from about 4 million barrels a day now to 5 million by 2030, which would make it OPECs biggest producer after Saudi Arabia.The Murban exchange and the capacity boost could raise tension within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to Hari of Vanda Insights. The Gulf states dominate the cartel and tend to prize unity. They also began unprecedented production cuts last year to bolster prices as the coronavirus pandemic spread.Still, the UAE says Murban futures wont affect OPEC or its ability to stabilize oil prices.We definitely hope other regional producers adopt Murban as a benchmark for their own crude, Adnocs Khoury said this month at the Fujairah Bunkering & Fuel Oil Forum.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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W&T Offshore Announces Issuance of Inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance Report - Yahoo Finance

Survey work began last week for the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC project off New Jersey, a 50/50 partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables North America.

The developers submitted a proposal in December to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to supply up to 2,300 megawatts of wind energy. Its the second solicitation by state officials, following rsteds winning bid for 1,100 MW from its planned Ocean Wind project. Atlantic Shores holds a 180,000 federal lease north of the rsted tract, off Long Beach Island and Atlantic City.

If Atlantic Shores wins its state bid and the necessary state and federal permits, the company says it could have a complete project as early as 2027. The survey work, coming on top of the Biden administrations determination to advance the wind industry, is fanning fresh debate in the Garden State.

Homeowners in beachfront resorts like Long Beach Island and Ocean City, who worry about the visual effect of turbines on the horizon, are connecting with fishermen who say the potential environmental effects need much more research.

The momentum is exciting for businesses, labor unions and their political allies who see opportunity to build New Jersey into a critical base for the offshore wind supply chain. With shipyards and Delaware River port facilities including some downriver, past the vertical clearance constraints of Philadelphia-area bridges the region has potential to accommodate the next generation of bigger turbine structures and their attendant installation vessels.

The 170-foot survey vessel Fugro Enterprise started work Friday, March 19 within the lease area and along potential export cable routes that would carry power to landfall sites near Atlantic City and Manasquan, N.J. Continuing survey work in support of the bid process will run 24/7 until August but may run longer depending on weather and operational conditions, according to a Notice of Mariners put out by Atlantic Shores.

The developers contract fleet includes the Tidewater Regulus 270 multiservice offshore support vessel, conducting geotechnical borings and seabed piezocone penetration tests (PCPTs) in the Atlantic Shores lease area for soil characterization starting April 15.

The Alpine Shearwater starts May 15, when the 110 vessel will conduct geotechnical vibrocores along potential export cable routes for soil characterization.

Northstar Marine, based in Cape May County, N.J., is mobilizing its Northstar Commander June 1, when the 240 vessel will conduct seabed PCPTs along potential export cable routes and in the lease area for soil characterization.

Northstar is making investments to offer more services to wind developers on the East Coast, and recently entered an alliance with Laredo Offshore Services, Belle Chase, La., to serve that market. The Laredo Brazos, the companys three-legged 230 liftboat, will get to work off New Jersey June 14, to perform geotechnical boreholes for the potential export cable route landfall areas.

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Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind begins New Jersey survey - WorkBoat