Mexico’s Pemex likely to launch McDermott offshore platform in April

11/2/2018 – Reuters

REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s state-run Pemex is expected to start operating in April the largest offshore oil platform built in the country in a decade, which was constructed by McDermott International, an executive of the engineering firm said on Thursday.

Pemex is trying to reverse a 14-year crude output decline by boosting its offshore operations, especially in shallow waters along the southern Gulf of Mexico. Pemex has long been focused on the area, which is expected to see more activity from private producers that have won development rights there since 2015.

The new platform will replace a similar one that was damaged by a large fire in 2016 that killed three workers.

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Willa dissipates, but evacuations continue, towns cut off

10/24/2018 – The Washington Post

A family stands near their damaged home and debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Willa, in Escuinapa, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. Emergency workers on Wednesday were struggling to reach beach towns left incommunicado by a blow from Willa. (Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)

Marco Ugarte

MAZATLAN, Mexico — Emergency workers on Wednesday were struggling to reach beach towns left incommunicado by a blow from Hurricane Willa, and rains from the storm continued to force evacuations due to fear of flooding even as it dissipated over northern Mexico.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, but the storm’s 120 mph (195 kph) winds knocked out power, toppled wood-shack homes and ripped metal roofing off other houses in the Sinaloa state municipality of Escuinapa, and local news media published images of a damaged hospital.

The town mayor, Hugo Moreno, said rescue workers were still trying to communicate with several seaside communities.

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Mexico Deals With Storm Damage as Willa Weakens

10/24/2018 – Wall Street Journal

Photo: Alfredo Estrella/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

MEXICO CITY—Willa weakened rapidly Wednesday to a tropical depression over Mexico as authorities worked to assess damage from a storm that hit the Pacific coast as a Category 3 hurricane.

There were no early reports of deaths caused by the storm, which made landfall Tuesday night at Isla del Bosque in Sinaloa state, about 50 miles southeast of the Pacific port of Mazatlán.

Sinaloa Governor Quirino Ordaz said there were no deaths in the state, but a significant amount of material damage in Escuinapa municipality, where the center of the storm hit.

“There are a lot of posts knocked down and fallen trees, there’s no electricity or drinking water service,” he told the Televisa network.

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Court upholds ban on Mexican seafood imports tied to harming endangered porpoise

10/23/2018 – The Hill

By Miranda Green

The U.S. Court of International Trade struck down the Trump administration’s attempts to lift a ban on seafood imported from Mexico caught through a practice that can kill a highly endangered porpoise species.

The court late Monday denied a request from the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security and Treasury, as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service, to lift the ban first put in place in July as a measure to protect the endangered Vaquita porpoise, found in Mexico’s Gulf of California.

“The arguments presented by the Government are not new to the Court — they have been presented before, and in two previous opinions, the Court has not been persuaded by them,” the judge.

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Fierce Hurricane Willa closes in on Mexican resort area

10/23/2018 – The Washington Post

View of the beach before the arrival of Hurricane Willa in Mazatlan, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. “Extremely dangerous” Hurricane Willa headed toward a Tuesday afternoon collision with a stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast, its strong winds and high waves threatening high-rise resorts, surfing beaches and fishing villages. (Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)

By Marco Ugarte

MAZATLAN, Mexico — Hurricane Willa roared into a cluster of Mexican islands holding a prison colony and headed for a Tuesday afternoon collision with a stretch of the country’s Pacific coast, its 120 mph (195 kph) winds and high waves threatening high-rise resorts, surfing beaches and fishing villages.

Willa briefly reached Category 5 strength on Monday, then weakened to a Category 3. But the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that it was still likely to bring life-threatening storm surge, wind and rain to parts of western Mexico.

The storm battered the Islas Marias, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) off the mainland, on Tuesday morning. It was expected to blow ashore in the evening south of Mazatlan, a tourist resort of about 500,000 people with many U.S. and Canadian expatriates.

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Mexico Beach residents return home again – some to no home

10/18/2018 – The Chicago Tribune

Jay Reeves 

With stunned faces and tears, residents of hard-hit Mexico Beach returned home for the first time Wednesday about a week after Hurricane Michael hit to find pieces of their lives scattered across the sand and a community altered.

Nancy Register sobbed uncontrollably after finding no trace of the large camper where she’d lived with her husband. She was particularly distraught over the loss of an old, black-and-white photo of her mother, who died of cancer.

Husband Taylor Register said he found nothing but a stool that he uses for cutting his hair, a hose and a keepsake rock that was given to him by a friend 40 years ago.

“That’s my belongings,” he said, pointing to a small pile beside his red pickup truck. Choking up, he said: “I appreciate God humbling me. Everybody needs it.”

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Tropical storm watches issued for Mexico’s Baja peninsula

10/10/2018 – The Washington Post

Authorities have issued a tropical storm watch for a stretch of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, where Tropical Storm Sergio is forecast to arrive later this week.

Sergio is expected to make landfall early Friday along a sparsely populated section of the peninsula that is home to a large nature reserve.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm threatens heavy rainfall in northwestern Mexico and then the U.S. Southern Plains and the Ozarks over the weekend.

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