Category Archives: Peru
“Katie bar the door” :: Southcom Keeps Watch on Ebola Situation
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2014 – The potential spread of Ebola into Central and Southern America is a real possibility, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told an audience at the National Defense University here yesterday.
“By the end of the year, there’s supposed to be 1.4 million people infected with Ebola and 62 percent of them dying, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention],” Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly said. “That’s horrific. And there is no way we can keep Ebola [contained] in West Africa.”
If it comes to the Western Hemisphere, many countries have little ability to deal with an outbreak of the disease, the general said.
“So, much like West Africa, it will rage for a period of time,” Kelly said.
This is a particularly possible scenario if the disease gets to Haiti or Central America, he said. If the disease gets to countries like Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador, it will cause a panic and people will flee the region, the general said.
“If it breaks out, it’s literally, ‘Katie bar the door,’ and there will be mass migration into the United States,” Kelly said. “They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected, they will try to get to the United States for treatment.”
Also, transnational criminal networks smuggle people and those people can be carrying Ebola, the general said. Kelly spoke of visiting the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua with U.S. embassy personnel. At that time, a group of men “were waiting in line to pass into Nicaragua and then on their way north,” he recalled.
“The embassy person walked over and asked who they were and they told him they were from Liberia and they had been on the road about a week,” Kelly continued. “They met up with the network in Trinidad and now they were on their way to the United States — illegally, of course.”
Those men, he said, “could have made it to New York City and still be within the incubation period for Ebola.”
Kelly said his command is in close contact with U.S. Africa Command to see what works and what does not as it prepares for a possible outbreak in the area of operations.
CX-15 Platform Installed at Corvina Field Offshore Peru
BPZ Energy,an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, announced that the hull tower for the CX-15 platform was successfully floated off the transport vessel, uprighted and ballasted. Subsequently, the topside facility was also successfully mated to the hull tower.
The CX-15 platform is now anchored at the West Corvina field location, one mile south of the existing CX-11 platform.
Welding and other miscellaneous activities are underway and will take approximately two weeks. The Petrex-28 drilling rig, which has been inspected and accepted for work, will then be mobilized to the CX-15 platform. It is expected that the necessary environmental permit required to conduct drilling operations from the CX-15 platform will be received from the Peruvian authorities before the drilling rig is mobilized. The Company expects to spud the first well of the CX-15 drilling campaign in late October.
The CX-15 platform was safely completed and successfully delivered to BPZ Energy at Wison Offshore & Marine’s Nantong, China, fabrication facility in a record 11 months from contract signature and without a single lost time incident. Wison’s scope included the engineering, procurement and construction of the facility’s 2,500 ton Buoyant Tower hull and 1,500 ton topsides facility. This project represents not only the first use of the design, but also the first implementation of Wison’s integrated international delivery model including members from the company’s three operation centers Inc. located in Shanghai and Nantong, China, and Houston, Texas, USA.
The Buoyant Tower hull for the facility was designed and engineered through a joint venture between Wison affiliate, Horton Wison Deepwater, and GMC Limited and consists of four, ring-stiffened connected cylindrical tubes or “cells” with one central suction pile. Each cell measures 8.4 meters in diameter and 60.1 meters long, with a total hull length, including suction pile, of 69.9 meters. This design, which is similar to proven cell spar technology, was a key enabler for the project due to the fact that it will not require a derrick barge for installation as it is located in a region with minimal resident offshore construction vessels.
CX-15 Platform Installed at Corvina Field Offshore Peru| Offshore Energy Today.
Repsol Strikes Gas in Peru
Repsol has made a new gas discovery in block 57 in Peru. The well, known as Sagari, was successful in two different formations, known as Nia Superior and Nia Inferior.
Preliminary estimations indicate the field may hold between 1 and 2 trillion cubic feet of gas resources. Repsol is the operator of the block with a 53.84% stake. Petrobras holds the remaining 46.16%.
The Sagari find reinforces the potential of this area in Peru, home to the Repsol’s Kinteroni find, one of the five biggest discoveries made worldwide in 2008 and currently under accelerated development with first gas planned for the end of 2012.
Production tests carried out at depths of between 2,691 and 2,813 metres produced gas flows of 26 million cubic feet of gas with 1,200 barrels of condensate per day in one formation, and 24 million cubic feet of gas with 800 barrels of condensate per day in the other. The sum of both tests indicates about 11,000 boepd.
Repsol plans to carry out further exploration in the block once the production tests are complete.
Repsol in May presented its 2012-2016 strategic plan with ambitious growth targets based on the strengths of its exploration and production units, the company’s growth engine. The plan envisages investment of over 19 billion euros in the next five years and annual production growth of 7% to reach 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2016. This is higher than the industry average. Repsol also plans to add six barrels of oil equivalent to reserves for every five barrels pumped during the period.
Repsol has made more than 30 oil and gas discoveries in the last five years, including five which are amongst the largest made worldwide, significantly bolstering future reserve and production growth prospects.
Repsol Strikes Gas in Peru LNG World News.
Keep off beaches, Peru warns after mass pelican deaths
LIMA | Sat May 5, 2012 7:30pm EDT
(Reuters) – Peru‘s government declared a health alert along its northern coastline on Saturday and urged residents and tourists alike to stay away from long stretches of beach, as it investigates the unexplained deaths of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans.
At least 1,200 birds, mostly pelicans, washed up dead along a stretch of Peru’s northern Pacific coastline in recent weeks, health officials said, after an estimated 800 dolphins died in the same area in recent months.
The Health Ministry recommended staying away from beaches, though stopped short of a ban, and called on health officials to use gloves, masks and other protective gear when collecting dead birds.
The peak tourism season around Lima‘s beaches is over, though many surfers are still venturing into the waters near the capital.
The Agriculture Ministry said preliminary tests on some dead pelicans pointed to malnourishment. Oscar Dominguez, head of the ministry’s health department, said experts had ruled out bird flu.
“The Health Ministry … calls on the population to abstain from going to the beaches until the health alert is lifted,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its website, along with a photograph of a dead pelican.
The ministry said officials had so far checked 18 beaches in and around Lima for dead birds, but gave no details on any findings.
A mass pelican death along Peru’s northern coast in 1997 was blamed at the time on a shortage of feeder anchovies due to the El Nino phenomenon.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Caroline Stauffer; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Related articles
- Over 1200 Dead Pelicans in Northern Peru, Same Region as Mass Dolphin Die-Off (pakalertpress.com)
- Mystery As Hundreds Of Pelicans Die In Peru (news.sky.com)
- Dead Dolphins and Now Hundreds of Dead Pelicans in Peru (hispanicallyspeakingnews.com)
- Peru investigates mystery pelican deaths (edition.cnn.com)
China: GMC and Horton Wison Deepwater Develop Buoyant Towers for Shallow Water Fields
GMC and Horton Wison Deepwater confirmed their Joint Venture established to design and supply innovative Buoyant Towers for shallow water fields.
Kevin Chell, CEO of the joint venture, stated “The Buoyant Tower concept draws on the proven technology of the cellspar and the design provides multiple benefits for fields where other concepts would be problematic requiring high capital costs and expensive crane barges for installation. The buoyant tower can operate in water depths up to 600 feet and can be relocated allowing small marginal plays to be exploited in a cost effective manner. The design allows for hydrocarbon storage if needed, can eliminate separate shallow water drilling units and provides a high level of flexibility for the operator.”
First Project
The benefits of the design were recognized and adopted by BPZ Energy for their new platform at the Corvina field offshore Peru. The tower is composed of four cylindrical cells and is connected to the seabed by a single suction pile which is integral to the hull structure. The tower and decks with the production equipment will be transported from the fabrication yard to Corvina on a submersible heavy lift ship. After upending, fixed and variable ballast will be pumped into the hull to provide stability for the platform.
The CX-15 shallow water tower is well on track for a summer 2012 installation and will be the first application of this design. The platform is designed for 12,200 barrels of oil per day, gas compression capacity of 12.8 million standard cubic feet per day and produced water handling and injection capacity of 3,500 barrels per day. A total of 24 drill slots will be available, some of which will be used for gas and water reinjection wells. The CX-15 platform will be located about one mile from the existing CX-11 Corvina platform, with both platforms interconnected via a series of subsea pipelines.
The JV completed the FEED scope in 2011 which led to detailed design for the buoyant tower. Fabrication is underway at Wison Offshore and Marine’s yard in Nantong, China. GMC are also providing project management and installation services for the CX-15 platform.
Jim Maher, COO of the JV, commented “We are pleased to be working with BPZ Energy on this important project which draws upon deepwater technology and applies it in the shallow water arena.”
Related articles
- USA: BP Awards Mad Dog Topsides FEED to AMEC (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Drilling ban had ‘hidden victims’ (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Is Shallow-Water Drilling Poised for a Comeback? (dailyfinance.com)
Continents of the World
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