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Archive for the ‘Peak Oil’ Category

Peak Oil, Peak Debt, and the Concentration of Power

Gulf Oil Spill Far Worse Than Exxon Valdez Accident

COVINGTON, La. – An untested procedure to plug the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico seemed to be working, officials said Thursday, but new estimates showed the spill has already surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the worst in U.S. history.

A team of scientists trying to determine how much oil has been flowing since the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and sank two days later found the rate was more than twice and possibly up to five times as high as previously thought.

It’s Not Our Fault

WASHINGTON — BP PLC told Congress Tuesday its massive Gulf oil spill was caused by the failure of a key safety device made by another company.

In turn, that company says BP was in charge, and that a third company that poured concrete to plug the exploratory well didn’t do it right. The third company, which was plugging the well in anticipation of future production, says it was only following BP’s plan.

The blame game shot into the open Tuesday as the Senate began a hearing into the oil spill that has been contaminating water in the Gulf of Mexico for three weeks and threatens sensitive marshes and marine life from Louisiana to Texas.

Executives of the three companies, all scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, are trying to shift responsibility for the environmental crisis to each other, according to prepared testimony.

Louisiana Fishing Capital Braces For Giant Oil Spill

VENICE, La.—Boat captains here boast that Venice, a remote outpost at the tip of the Mississippi Delta, is the fishing capital of the world. But a rapidly expanding oil slick from a leaking deepwater well could leave a permanent mark here.

Hundreds of shrimping boats sail from here, dragging their nets around the inland estuaries and the rich seabed of the Gulf, which teems with white, pink and brown shrimp. Fishermen, commercial and recreational, scour the area for kingfish, red snapper and marlin. The Gulf region accounts for about a fifth of total U.S. commercial seafood production and nearly three-quarters of the nation’s shrimp output, while nearly a third of all marine recreational fishing trips take place on Gulf waters, according to the Fisheries Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This is the Delta,” said Robert Cossé, the marine division commander of Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office, while piloting a boat across the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Reserve. “Lots of life.”

The threat follows the explosion of a deepwater oil rig last week. Spill responders, who have so far failed to cap the flow of oil from the well, say the slick could hit shore before the weekend, prompting them to try to burn off the crude a few miles from shore.

Big Oil Bets on Sea

Chevron

Chevron is leasing the Clear Leader, which floats in 4,300 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, to drill for oil through nearly five miles of rock.

Big Oil never wanted to be here, in 4,300 feet of water far out in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling through nearly five miles of rock.

It is an expensive way to look for oil. Chevron Corp. is paying nearly $500,000 a day to the owner of the Clear Leader, one of the world’s newest and most powerful drilling rigs. The new well off the coast of Louisiana will connect to a huge platform floating nearby, which cost Chevron $650 million to build. The first phase of this oil-exploration project took more than 10 years and cost $2.7 billion — with no guarantee it would pay off.

For oil companies, the discoveries mean something more: After a decade of retreat, large Western energy companies are taking back the lead in the quest to find oil. “A lot of people can get the very easy oil,” says George Kirkland, Chevron’s vice chairman. “There’s just not a lot of it left.”