Compare and contrast these maps. First, the “undervote” by county in the recent Pennsylvania Democratic Presidential primary. The numbers in each county represent the proportion of voters in a Democratic primary who selected “no candidate” rather than vote for the incumbent, Barack Obama. Now, the distribution map of the Marcellus Shale:
ExxonMobil hits large Keathley Canyon discovery (Oil and Gas Journal, June 8, 2011). XOM announces the discovery of 700 million barrels equivalent (BOE) of oil and gas in 7,000 feet of water, 250 miles offshore Louisiana. Shell’s Cardamom to come online (Offshore247.com, June 9, 2011). Shell will bring on 50,000 barrels equivalent per day from its 140 million BOE discovery in 2,700 feet of water | Read More »
Oil and natural gas are our primary transportation fuels, supplying 97% of the energy (27 quadrillion BTUs!) that we use annually to move our cars, trucks, buses, boats, planes and trains. The 3% that comes from renewables is ethanol. (Source.) Beware the man who tells you he’s ever going to reduce our oil imports by growing wind and solar energy. Wind and solar are used | Read More »
In his Wednesday address at Georgetown University, President Obama took another stab at elucidating his muddled energy policy: It was just three years ago that gas prices topped $4 a gallon. I remember because I was in the middle of a presidential campaign. Working folks certainly remember because it hit a lot of people pretty hard. And because we were at the height of political | Read More »
Former Democratic Senator Bob Graham of Florida is co-chair of the President’s Oil Spill Commission. The Commission, stacked with environmentalists and Harvard lawyers and notably absent any working industry expertise, delivered its report to the President earlier this month. Its contents were predictable, calling for more regulation and more government. Here’s what Sen. Graham had to say this week: This is a wakeup call to | Read More »
This press release is the biggest load of hooey I’ve seen for a while. The Department of the Interior wants to create two new agencies to remedy what they term “conflicting missions” within a single agency. Hooey. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich today announced the structures and | Read More »
In spite of a vote by its committee on the environment to ban all deep sea drilling in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the European Parliament has rejected a moratorium on deep sea drilling for oil and gas. By doing so, the EU finds itself in a rather unfamiliar position: being farther to the right on an issue, more pragmatic and more firmly | Read More »
Thursday: Confusion was the order of the day. On Wednesday, the first new shallow-water well drilling permit was issued, to the consternation of the environmental community: “I’m outraged,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director for the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity. “How is it that shallow water drilling suddenly became safe again?” Never mind that shallow water drilling has no demonstrated problems. Since the Deepwater | Read More »
With great fanfare, President Obama dispatched Interior Department “S.W.A.T Teams” to all 29 active deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Their charge: Perform a thorough, complete drilling inspection of each deepwater rig. Key on the BOP [blowout preventer] test time frame, leaks and resolution, discrepancies, and repairs. Make sure well control drills were performed as required by 30 CFR 250.462. What’s that? You | Read More »
Yesterday FoxNews.com carried an opinion piece written by your humble correspondent: “We Can’t Stop Drilling Off America’s Shores”. It’s sort of a rewrite of a RedState piece from a couple of weeks back: “Q: Why Was BP Drilling in 5,000 Feet of Water.” Some of the comments are a hoot.
The answer is, because we demanded it, you and I. “It” being a reasonably inexpensive, plentiful and secure supply of petroleum products, gasoline in particular. We don’t like gas lines or $8.00 per gallon. We really don’t like gas lines and $8.00 per gallon. (And “we” includes every American, with the possible exception of St. Ed Begley, Jr. ) We also decided that we didn’t | Read More »
Today’s Houston Chronicle has a pretty informative article on the search for hydrocarbons in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Complete with video, to boot. [Which has since been disabled for embedding. I encourage you to view the video at the linked website. - ed.] A $1 million-a-day gamble in the Gulf Major oil companies have focused particular attention on an ancient rock bed geologists call | Read More »
By including areas of the East Coast, Eastern Gulf of Mexico and offshore Alaska in its new Five Year OCS Leasing Plan, the Obama Administration would appear to be throwing a bone to the “Drill. Baby, Drill” crowd. Of course, everyone expects that there’s a quid pro quo in the deal: in exchange for this Open Access, you will support some form of Cap and | Read More »
The President’s proposed 2011 Budget has tax-raising bulls-eye squarely on every demagogue’s favorite target, “BIG OIL”. Nobody likes Big Oil, right? They’re the Shells, the Exxons and the BPs who keep jacking up gasoline prices, right? WRONG. Regardless of what you think about Big Oil, those companies will hardly notice this tax increase. No, this baby will fall squarely on the backs of smaller, non-integrated | Read More »
Boren Blasts Salazar’s ‘Kings of The World’ Comment And Announced Rules Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK02), like most energy-state Congressmen, knows upon which side his bread is buttered. Oklahoma’s economy depends heavily on the energy industry, and the industry has always treated the Sooner State well. Many of the recent advances in petroleum and natural gas technology were pioneered by the independent companies who call Oklahoma | Read More »
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