Genesis Energy said during its earnings call May 7 that crude oil production from the four Phase 1 wells tied into its offshore Shenandoah floating production unit (FPU) dropped during the first quarter, causing it to revise its expectations for the remainder of the year. The company said the decline was related to efforts to optimize performance and preserve long-term volumes.
Total volumes across Genesis Energy’s CHOPS and Poseidon pipelines in Q4 2025 were up 16% from the previous quarter, driven by steady production from its legacy fields in the Gulf and strong contributions from its Shenandoah and Salamanca floating production units (FPUs), the company said in its quarterly earnings call February 12.
Genesis Energy is poised to generate higher earnings and free cash flow following the successful startup of the Shenandoah and Salamanca floating production units (FPU) in the Gulf of Mexico, CEO Grant Sims said during the company’s quarterly earnings call October 30.
It’s often said that the offshore Gulf of Mexico is a different animal than its onshore counterparts, especially shale and tight-oil plays like the Permian and the Bakken. Decisions to invest in new production in the GOM aren’t based on crude oil demand and price forecast for the next two or three years; they’re based on expectations for the next two or three decades. Well, 30 years from now will be 2051, a year after Shell and a number of other energy companies have pledged to achieve “net-zero” carbon emissions. What does decarbonization mean for future development in the offshore Gulf, where the upfront capital costs are enormous and wells can be prolific producers for many, many years. In today’s blog, we discuss the final investment decision (FID) on Shell’s Whale project in the western Gulf of Mexico and the prospects for further development in the GOM.
Crude oil production in U.S. shale and tight-oil plays still hasn’t recovered fully from the demand destruction wrought by COVID-19 in the last year or so. It could be argued, though, that producers in the offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) have faced even tougher times as they had to deal with not only pandemic-related staffing issues and project setbacks but the most active hurricane season on record. Offshore GOM production averaged only 1.65 MMb/d in 2020, a 13% decline from the previous year and the lowest since 2016. By August, production fell to less than 1.2 MMb/d, the lowest for that month in seven years. Many new projects were delayed as well, but things may finally be looking up, with first oil from a number of projects coming later this year or in early 2022 and final investment decisions (FIDs) on two major projects expected soon. Today, we discuss the wild ride that GOM producers experienced in 2020 and whether better days can be expected in the future.
The St. James, LA crude trading hub provides feedstock to 2.6 MMb/d of regional refining capacity as well as refineries in the Midwest. St. James is also an important distribution hub for crude from North Dakota, South Texas, the Gulf of Mexico and onshore Louisiana as well as imports arriving at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP). Crude storage and midstream infrastructure at St. James has been expanding in recent years as the trading hub handles larger volumes of domestic production. Today we begin a new series looking at infrastructure and crude pricing at St. James.
