Results tagged “Deepwater Horizon”

After taking a series of potshots at the American Petroleum Institute in his Sunday column ("Big Oil has it backward," Page D1), Loren Steffy closes with: "We need to proceed cautiously with new drilling and move quickly to draft new regulations that are broad and flexible enough to raise drilling standards without stifling a vital energy source."

"Failure to consider the full effect of proposed laws and moratoria, as well as the operation of existing laws, could jeopardize thousands of jobs and further damage the Gulf Coast economy."

The relief well's drill bit is nearing the point where it will intercept Macondo's wellbore. If all goes as planned, Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says the Macondo well will be permanently sealed early next week.

At present, the relief well is one of only 11 rigs operating in Gulf waters deeper than 500 feet, under exemptions to the administration's the deepwater drilling moratorium. Each of these rigs is working in proven reserves, and none is actively searching for new oil and natural gas discoveries.

The well that roared to life in April and took the lives of 11 men was drowned in cement yesterday. The Macondo well, which raged for about three months, quietly succumbed as engineers methodically pumped cement through the cap on the top of the well, pushing the pressurized oil and gas down thousands of feet and back into the reservoir.

BP's static kill has worked. In a statement posted this morning, BP reports that the Macondo well has reached "static condition," meaning that the heavy drilling mud pumped into the top of the well has overcome the pressure of the oil and gas attempting to flow up the wellbore. BP is calling the success of the static kill "a significant milestone."

A new Rasmussen poll shows that support for offshore oil and natural gas development is holding steady despite the Deepwater Horizon accident. In a survey conducted July 22-23 via telephone, 56 percent of U.S. voters think offshore drilling should be allowed, and 47 percent favor deepwater drilling.

Unfortunately, new offshore development has ground to a standstill, and shallow-water drilling operators have discovered that complying with the government's new requirements is quite difficult. Blogger Vladimir at RedState says, "Operators have encountered road blocks at every turn."

Today could be D-Day for the Macondo well. According to reports, BP is conducting a test to determine the likely success of killing the well from the top, while getting in position to assault the well from the bottom.

This two-pronged attack is expected to begin tonight or tomorrow with a static kill in which heavy drilling muds are pumped into the Macondo's cap and down into the well.

Several activities are underway today that could have a significant impact on America's energy policy. They include congressional efforts to pass energy legislation as well as the killing of the leaking Macondo well.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 (CLEAR) Act. This bill is purported to be a response to the Gulf oil spill, but it reaches far beyond the accident.

With the House and the Senate poised to vote on energy bills before the August recess, editorial and op-ed writers are taking Congress to task for neglecting the primary issues confronting the United States today--jobs and the economy.

At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and worried about their family budgets, they say Congress and the administration are using the oil spill to enact legislation that could do more economic harm than good:

Rather than deal with the Gulf oil spill in a reasoned fashion, the administration and some in Congress have put forth a barrage of political proposals that could jeopardize jobs and domestic energy production, and deal heavy blows to the economy overall.

What if Congress and the administration approve many of the deepwater drilling measures that are now being debated? And what if their actions result in unlimited liability for oil spills, additional regulations on well and rig designs, higher taxes and fees and an extended moratorium that cancelled drilling projects?

The economic impacts could be dire.

Yesterday API hosted a conference call with 11 bloggers to discuss pressing energy issues following the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Topics discussed included the deepwater drilling moratorium, the potential economic impact of new taxes being considered by Congress, oil spill liability issues, and new ethanol standards proposed by the EPA.

They showed up at Louisiana State University's (LSU) the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's (ULL) Cajundome in droves, an estimated 15,000 thousand people who decided to stand up and be counted. They were energy workers, housewives, fishermen, and small-business people united in their desire to get back to work.

"I'm here because I'm worried," John Henry told an Associated Press reporter. "We're already slowing things down at work. If companies can't drill, it will get worse."

It's been three months since the Deepwater Horizon accident, and finally one new offshore drilling project has been approved.

According to government data updated daily, a shallow-water project has been OK'd under both of the new Notices to Lessees and Operators (NTLs) which contain new requirements.

Two separate studies indicate that tens of thousands of Gulf Coast jobs and billions of dollars in economic growth are likely to disappear as a result of the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium and the leaking well.

Engineers and government officials are watching the Gulf seabed closely today after seepage was discovered in the vicinity of the Macondo well.

In a letter sent by retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, BP was ordered to step up its monitoring of potential problems near the well, adding that a seep had been detected "a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head."

True story: A few days ago I went into a women's clothing store to buy a couple of T-shirts. As I was standing at the counter paying my bill, the clerk decided to make small talk. "Do you work in Washington" she asked. "Who do you work for?"

I answered, "I work for the oil industry."Her friendly demeanor faded. She put my purchase in a bag and had nothing more to say.

The clerk is one of many, many Americans who are troubled by the Deepwater Horizon accident. The leaking well in the Gulf and the tar balls on the beaches have had a major impact on America's collective psyche. But the clerk didn't take out her consternation on me. She didn't charge me more than other customers or slap an extra tax on my purchase. That would have been unfair and unlawful.