GE Secures Support Expansion Work for Brazil's Pre-Salt Fields

GE's Power Conversion business (GE) is proving to be an ideal partner for builders and operators of drillships and semi-submersibles. In the last 12 months, GE has won contracts valued at more than $600 million to provide propulsion systems with customers leading the pre-salt oilfield expansion off Brazil's east coast. GE's systems will power, propel, navigate, position and control drillships and also power and control the drilling process itself.

Today, GE is in the process of building systems for 22 of the 29 drillships for the current phase of the Brazilian oil and gas exploration by Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras.

"Our advanced power generation, propulsion technology, drilling drives, dynamic positioning (DP) and automation and control systems are being harnessed to improve today's marine and offshore processes with cleaner, more productive vessels," said Paul English, GE's Power Conversion marine business leader.

"Vessel builders are coming to GE because it has proven equipment and systems, it has considerable experience in supplying equipment for use in deep domains, it is a flexible engineering partner with very strong technical credentials and has a record of supplying on time and within budget. One of our unique specialties is that we design and deliver complete integrated electrical and control systems packages in house - our single-source approach significantly relieves shipbuilders of much of the technical and commercial risk and effort associated with managing and coordinating multiple individual equipment suppliers."

The four most important contracts won by GE in recent months related to the Brazilian pre-salt oil and gas exploration venture by Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras, include:

Seven "Espadon 200" drillships to be built by Estaleiro Atlântico Sul (EAS) in Ipojuca, northeast Brazil will be supplied with electrical power generation, propulsion, drilling drives. DP and control systems from GE.Ecovix-Engevix will use integrated electric power and propulsion, drilling drives, DP and controls packages from GE for three new GustoMSC PRD 12000 ultra-deepwater drillships it is building in Rio Grande, in the south of the country.Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard will use a comprehensively integrated package of electric power, propulsion, drilling drives, DP and control systems from GE for six new ultra-deepwater drilling ships (also GustoMSC PRD 12000 design) it is building in Maragogipe, northeast Brazil.Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. will use GE's thruster power, propulsion and drilling drive technology for six new, semisubmersible drilling rigs being built for Brazil's national oil company Petrobras. Keppel is a leading designer and builder of high-performance, mobile offshore rigs.

Petrobras is searching for hydrocarbons up to 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Brazil, in rock formations up to 5 km below the seabed and in water depths of up to 6,562 feet (2,000 meters). The pre-salt layer holds an estimated 10–16 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Exploration and recovery of these reserves are expected to require the construction of around 40 new drilling vessels between now and 2020. The Brazilian government is calling for local content to be used as much as possible in these vessels.

A large part of GE's Power Conversion operations for production and support of systems for the pre-salt are located in Brazil. The company has operated manufacturing facilities in Brazil for more than 30 years, including production facilities in Betim (near Belo Horizonte), and in Campinas, 60 miles from Sao Paulo City, GE's Americas center of excellence for medium- and high-voltage induction motors employs 1,200 people.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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API: TV Ads Show Americans Don't Support Higher Industry Taxes

New TV ads show Americans don't support higher taxes on the oil and natural gas industry, API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin told reporters in a briefing Wednesday morning:

"Starting today, the API is running ads on broadcast and cable channels that feature the unscripted words of everyday Americans who believe higher taxes on energy companies may translate into higher energy costs for consumers. We decided to run the ads to remind Congress that at a time when many families have had to scramble to balance their budgets, asking them to pay more for the energy they need to live their lives is bad policy and frankly bad politics.

"According to a study by Wood Mackenzie a $5 billion per year tax increase would result in a decrease of $233 billion in revenue to federal, state and local governments by 2030. Further, the study estimates that increased investments, as a result of pro-growth and energy development policies, could generate an additional $800 billion in revenue by 2030. That's a $1 trillion difference to government's bottom line.

"If increased revenue is truly the objective [of those proposing to increase taxes on the industry], then allow the oil and natural gas industry to continue to do what it has always done – invest in America's economy by providing good-paying jobs here at home that develop the energy America needs. That's what the American people support and in the long-term the result would be far better for the American economy, for consumers, for our energy security, and for the nation's long-term economic growth."

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

API: TV Ads Show Americans Don't Support Higher Industry Taxes

New TV ads show Americans don't support higher taxes on the oil and natural gas industry, API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin told reporters in a briefing Wednesday morning:

"Starting today, the API is running ads on broadcast and cable channels that feature the unscripted words of everyday Americans who believe higher taxes on energy companies may translate into higher energy costs for consumers. We decided to run the ads to remind Congress that at a time when many families have had to scramble to balance their budgets, asking them to pay more for the energy they need to live their lives is bad policy and frankly bad politics.

"According to a study by Wood Mackenzie a $5 billion per year tax increase would result in a decrease of $233 billion in revenue to federal, state and local governments by 2030. Further, the study estimates that increased investments, as a result of pro-growth and energy development policies, could generate an additional $800 billion in revenue by 2030. That's a $1 trillion difference to government's bottom line.

"If increased revenue is truly the objective [of those proposing to increase taxes on the industry], then allow the oil and natural gas industry to continue to do what it has always done – invest in America's economy by providing good-paying jobs here at home that develop the energy America needs. That's what the American people support and in the long-term the result would be far better for the American economy, for consumers, for our energy security, and for the nation's long-term economic growth."

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

Homeownership Support Shouldn’t Be a Mansion Subsidy

David Sirota: Homeownership Support Shouldn’t Be a Mansion Subsidy -Truthdig .column > div, .eartotheground > div, .uncovered > div, .report > div, .interview > div, .arts_culture > div, .avbooth > div, .dig > div, .cartoon > div, .podcast > div, .margin {padding: 10px 10px 20px 10px;margin: 0 0 0 0px;border-bottom: 1px dashed #999999;}/*\*//*/ @import "http://www.truthdig.com/?css=home/site_styles_mac.v.1314771156";/**/body div#share_footer {margin-bottom: 30px;}body div#instory_newsletter_signup {margin-top: 30px;}.nav {font-size:90%;} December 14, 2012
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By David Sirota

With Congress finally starting to have a serious conversation about our revenue crisis, there are obvious reasons to limit the amount of mortgage interest that Americans can deduct from their taxable income.

First and foremost, current law—which allows homeowners to deduct all interest on mortgages up to $1 million—is extremely expensive for the country. As federal data show, it costs roughly $100 billion a year, making it the third largest expenditure woven into the tax code. As federal data show, it costs roughly $100 billion a year, making it the third largest expenditure woven into the tax code.

That huge outlay might be justified if the deduction was a widely-distributed, middle-class program. But with only about a third of all taxpayers earning enough to make it worthwhile to itemize their tax returns, just a quarter of all tax filers ever actually utilize the deduction. Add to this the fact that the deduction can be used for second homes, and the result is a write-off that mostly benefits the wealthy. In dollar-figure terms, it is a deduction that, according to the Tax Policy Center, saves $5460 for someone making more than $250,000 a year and only $91 for those making less than $40,000 a year.

As compelling as these facts are, though, the best argument for changing the deduction comes from recounting an obvious—but taboo—truth. Put simply, even in the name of the national goal of homeownership, the tax code does not need to subsidize $1 million mortgages, because nobody requires that large a mortgage to afford an adequate home.

The typical rejoinder to this truism is an argument citing disparities in real estate markets. The idea is that there are geographic variations in the price of decent housing, and that while a $1 million mortgage might buy a mansion in Omaha or Toledo, it supposedly doesn’t buy enough in places like Manhattan and La Jolla. Therefore, the logic goes, the tax code should be fully subsidizing such outsized mortgages to make sure those living in posh enclaves aren’t left out of the homeownership drive.

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Yet, this facile reasoning ignores the difference between desire and necessity.

Sure, you may want to live on New York City’s Upper West Side or Southern California’s coastal bluffs, and if you have the cash to do so, go right ahead. However, you don’t so desperately need to live there that taxpayers should be fully subsidizing your home loan.

This is true, by the way, even if your job is in one those expensive locales—after all, in nearly every major population center there are plenty of great homes that cost less than $1 million. They just require a bit more of a commute to the office. Again, you may not want that commute and if you are wealthy enough, you don’t have to have one. But you don’t need something more convenient than what less than $1 million can buy you in any real estate market - at least not to the point of justifying a tax loophole.
This is the basic—if unstated—principle behind a key initiative from President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The bipartisan group proposes to limit the deduction to mortgage principal of $500,000 or less.    Though some rich people will inevitably react to the concept with shrieks of “class warfare,” the new write-off could be structured to still give them a deduction on the first half million dollars of their jumbo loans.

If America somehow believes such a commonsense initiative represents a class war and the proposal is consequently blocked in Congress, then it would mean there is no war at all. It would mean the rich have already won. 

It would also mean there’s little chance to solve our fiscal problems, because if such a modest proposal can be defeated, then even bigger budget reforms probably have no chance whatsoever.

David Sirota is a best-selling author of the book “Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now.” He co-hosts “The Rundown” on AM630 KHOW in Colorado. Email him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com.

© 2012 CREATORS.COM

TAGS: 2012 congress david sirota housing mortgage politics real estate subsidies taxes



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