Study Reveals the Gulf of Mexico Permitting Mess

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  May 31st at 09:00 AM  | 

In a rational world, the Federal government would act as a motivated lease owner who was interested in promoting the safe and environmentally responsible development of his mineral resource, consistent with sound conservation practice. That’s why there’s a permit process in the first place. Since Macondo, that’s backwards. Operating practices must conform to the permitting process that has, um, evolved in a purely political environment: | Read More »

BOEMRE Slowdown Costs 230,000 Jobs, $44 Billion in GDP

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 22nd at 03:30 PM  | 

A new study from IHS-CERA, one of the leading energy think tanks, projects the cost of the Department of the Interior’s ongoing regulatory slowdown and its impact on the energy industry, employment in the coastal states, and the U.S. economy in general. The study, released on Thursday, was commissioned by the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST). We’re beginning to see the true cost of an | Read More »

BP’s Macondo Disaster, One Year Later

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  April 20th at 12:00 PM  | 

On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire on the Transocean drilling rig Deepwater Horizon caused the deaths of 11 rig workers. The subsequent blowout flowed uncontrolled to the Gulf of Mexico, ultimately spilling an estimated 5 million barrels of crude oil over the next 100 days. The regulatory aftermath continues to this day. “Vladimir” wrote dozens of diaries at RedState on the engineering, environmental, | Read More »

Obama/Salazar Moratorium Has Crippled Domestic Oil Production

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  March 24th at 07:00 AM  | 

In 2011, Gulf of Mexico oil production will under-perform the government’s pre-Macondo forecasts by 355,000 barrels per day — almost 130 million barrels for the year. In 2012, the shortfall rises to 550,000 barrels per day — 200 million barrels. That’s fully one-third of the Gulf’s oil producing capability, and over 10% of total domestic oil production. These are staggering numbers. Alaska, our #1 oil | Read More »

Moratorium Leads to Abrupt Production Declines

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  December 14th at 07:00 PM  | 

Offshore oil and gas wells typically are able to produce at high rates at the beginning of their lives. Reserves are not infinite, so that means a rapid natural rate of decline as reserves deplete. “Reserve replacement” is a big issue; we often say that every day that you don’t replace production in the oilfield means you’re just slowly going out of business. How do | Read More »

Obama Finds ‘Strange New Respect’ For Natural Gas

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  November 6th at 12:00 PM  | 

The President’s post-election remarks contained something of an “olive branch” to Congressional Republicans. It came in the form of a broad hint that the Administration might backpedal on its opposition to natural gas development. Obama’s Enthusiasm for Gas Drilling Raises Eyebrows “We’ve got, I think, broad agreement that we’ve got terrific natural gas resources in this country,” Obama said when he was pressed for issues | Read More »

CSI: Macondo

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 5th at 05:00 PM  | 

Remember back when BP severed the riser, so they could install the cap, the one that finally controlled the spill? Here is a photo taken by an ROV just after the severing was completed. The photo shows the outer shell of the riser, at one time a 21-inch cylinder, collapsed like a Coke can by the severing tool. Inside the collapsed riser are what appear | Read More »

Reid: Back to the Drawing Board for Energy Bill

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 3rd at 06:44 PM  | 

As reported by Politico, Harry Reid has decided not to advance the Democrats’ Senate energy bill prior to the body’s scheduled August recess. The matter will be reconsidered when the Senate returns after Labor Day. Senate Democrats punt on spill bill “It’s a sad day when you can’t find a handful of Republicans to support a bill … that would hold BP accountable for the worst | Read More »

The Shallow Water Non-Moratorium

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 2nd at 09:00 AM  | 

Interior Secretary Salazar imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling until November 30, contrary to the recommendation of a panel of experts from the National Academy of Engineering. For operations on the shallow water Shelf, the administration maintains, no official moratorium is in place. After all, the Shelf still enjoys a forty-year history of relatively safe and clean operations that is still intact, being several orders | Read More »

Deepwater Well Construction 201

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 24th at 09:52 AM  | 

In Deepwater Well Construction 101, we covered some of the basics of drilling oil wells in 5,000 feet of water. Now, you have a chance to hear from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. Shell drilling engineer Joe Leimkuhler recently presented “How We Drill for Oil and Gas” at the Aspen Ideas Festival of the Aspen Institute. It’s 50 minutes long, but packed | Read More »

Nungesser: ‘We can’t wait six months while you listen, Mr. President.’

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 22nd at 02:00 PM  | 

Behold the passion of the inimitable Billy Nungesser, speaking against the Obama drilling moratorium at yesterday’s Rally for Economic Survival in Lafayette, LA.

Moratorium Vote Decided By Territories, Not States

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 20th at 09:30 AM  | 

Last week, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, proposed an amendment to the CLEAR Act to require an end to the President’s moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling. Twenty-two of the committee’s congressmen, including the committee chairman and two other Democrats, voted in favor of Rep. Cassidy’s amendment. Twenty-one congressmen, all Dems, voted no. But the recorded vote | Read More »

‘Son of Moratorium’ Exposes Clueless Dem Leadership

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 12th at 07:00 PM  | 

A “new and improved” version of Secretary Salazar’s Deepwater offshore drilling ban was unveiled today. There seems to be little practical difference between this ban and the one that has been stayed by the courts as “arbitrary and capricious”. That hasn’t deterred Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) from opening his yap and exposing his utter lack of a grasp on the issue, quite a gaffe for | Read More »

BREAKING: Judge Blocks Deepwater Drilling Moratorium

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  June 22nd at 01:55 PM  | 

Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans, hearing the case of Hornbeck v. Salazar, has blocked the President’s moratorium on all drilling in water depths greater than 500 feet. The White House is expected to appeal the ruling immediately. H/T Artie, for d’most part