There are some 3,800 fixed platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, many of them past their useful lives. By law, operators are required to remove any structures at the end of the productive life of a lease. But as it turns out, to marine flora and fauna, a platform is an artificial reef. Divers and sport fishermen well know the richness and diversity of marine | Read More »
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 »
On Wednesday of the week just past, the Department of the Interior conducted the first sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico since BP’s Macondo oil spill. Measured by the statistics touted in Interior’s press release, the sale would appear to be a rousing success: NEW ORLEANS – The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that its | Read More »
Last week, ExxonMobil filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior in the Western District of Louisiana. The lawsuit alleges that DOI, through the Minerals Management Service (MMS), acted improperly in cancelling three leases owned by ExxonMobil and Statoil, its 50% partner. The leases are in a field designated “Julia”, which lies in 7,000 feet of water, some 200 miles off the Louisiana coast. | Read More »
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 »
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 »
There was an undeniable uptick in U.S. oil production in 2009 and 2010. But new DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) tried to take credit for it: Like I said, domestic oil production is at its highest point in recent years. So we’ve actually really concentrated on that. Democrats patting themselves on the back for oil production increases? Ba. Lo. Ney. With all due | Read More »
A ruling by the Environmental Appeals Board of the EPA has scuttled Shell Oil Company’s plan to drill its initial exploratory test in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. This is at least the second time drilling has been deferred or delayed due to environmental concerns. But this time, the reason proffered by EPA seems to be “Because we can.” The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had | Read More »
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 »
A March 17 press release from BOEMRE announced the approval of Petrobras’s permit application for the Gulf of Mexico’s first FPSO (“Floating Production Storage Offloading” facility), offshore Louisiana. I have no problem with FPSOs per se. The technology has been used around the world, in places like Brazil, Angola, the North Sea and off Australia. But this would be the first FPSO in U.S. | Read More »
In an effort to deflect blame for high gasoline prices away from the Obama Administration, the Department of the Interior today released a report which purports to show that the oil and gas industry, not DOI or BOEMRE, is guilty of dragging its feet on offshore energy exploration and development. This, in spite of a 10 month regulatory moratorium/permitorium that has brought new well drilling | Read More »
This entertaining and informative video was put together by the Offshore Marine Services Association, an industry association which represents, not oil companies or drilling contractors, but the owners of the supply vessels which service them.
The White House Blog, in a post entitled “Expanding Safe and Responsible Energy Production”, lays out the case for the Obama Administration as a long-time supporter of domestic oil and gas: One area where we have focused our efforts since the start of the administration – long before this current spike – is increasing responsible domestic energy production – including oil and gas. In fact, | Read More »
On Wednesday, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour spoke to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on energy policy: Barbour says Obama cheers for higher gas price “This administration’s policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive,” Barbour said… Barbour cited a statement by Nobel laureate Steven | Read More »
Sounds like the U.S. Government needs to hire some competent lawyers. Lucrative Gulf of Mexico drilling loophole survives challenge in U.S. House On a mostly party-line vote, The House Friday night rejected a Democratic amendment that would have corrected a 1995 mistake in drilling rules [sic] that allowed oil and gas companies to drill in portions of the Gulf of Mexico without paying royalties. The | Read More »
Judge Tells Government to Resume Permits for Drilling WASHINGTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Thursday ordered the Obama administration to move quickly on permits for new deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, saying that the government could no longer justify long delays in allowing new projects to go forward. … “Not acting at all is not a lawful option,” Judge | Read More »
We all know that BOEMRE has lifted the Deepwater Drilling Moratorium. We also know that few rigs have gone back to work, either in the deepwater or the shallow water Shelf. That’s because of several factors, one of which is the new Interim Final Rule which governs all offshore drilling. Compliance with the Interim Final Rule is necessary for the operator to secure a permit. | Read More »
From the President’s State of the Union Address: We need to get behind this [green] innovation. And to help pay for it, I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s. Now, clean energy | 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 »
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