Posts Tagged ‘oil’
Italian drill rig arrives in Cuba to begin deep water oil exploration
Scarabeo 9 – owned by Italy’s Saipem
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
A large oil rig has arrived off the coast of Cuba to begin searching for offshore oil deposits.
Several international companies will use the rig to drill exploratory wells in deep water in the Florida Strait, which separates Cuba from the US. Cuba is hoping to confirm estimates that it has billions of barrels of oil in offshore fields.
But there is concern in the US that a deep water spill could devastate the coast of Florida.
Semi-hogwash! Concern from American companies forbidden by idiotic laws from bidding on the contracts? Worries from my environmental peers who never noticed the thousands of wells drilled safely round the world – until BP and Halliburton screwed-up in the Gulf of Mexico?
The Chinese-built rig – known as Scarabeo 9 – could be seen from the Cuban capital Havana as it moved slowly west.
First to use it will be the Spanish oil company Repsol YPF, which plans to drill an exploratory well around 100km from the Florida Keys. Other foreign companies are also planning to hire the rig…
If confirmed, the estimated offshore deposits could turn Cuba into an oil exporter and transform its troubled socialist economy…
Repsol has said that its operations will comply with all US safety regulations, and the rig has been inspected by US officials.
Hopefully, the Spanish company will live up to the general standards for deepwater drilling which are more demanding and rigorous than what passes for regulations in the United States.
BITD – when I worked in offshore oil drilling construction – standards and regulations were built up to a pretty high standard in the US. In the last couple of decades, the government agencies providing oversight became nothing more than party buddies of Big Oil. The regulations became a farce. Drilling rigs coming in from duty, say, off Brazil or Norway, were instructed to remove some of the redundant safety systems – which was done on the TransOcean Deepwater Horizon rig.
The ongoing boycott of normal relations with Cuba is a special category of stupid.
Pic of the Day
Containers on the stern deck of the 47,230 ton Liberian-flagged Rena hang precariously, about 12 nautical miles from Tauranga, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island October 20, 2011. The recovery of fuel oil from a stricken container ship grounded off New Zealand resumed on Thursday as salvage teams worked to minimize the damage in the country’s worst environmental disaster in decades. Two days of strong winds and high seas had prevented the pumping of oil from the Rena, which has been stuck for more than two weeks on the Astrolabe Reef.
Alaska’s Permanent Fund gets more from Apple than Big Oil
The Alaska Permanent Fund sets aside a portion of oil revenue and gives some of that money back to Alaska citizens each year. This pool of money is also used to invest in the stock market, a practice that has proved to be quite lucrative.
A recent quarterly report from the company that manages the Fund reveals Apple and not oil revenue is the reason the Fund is growing. The Fund holds over 617,000 shares in Apple which were bought when Apple’s stock was much lower than its current US$391 per share. It’s initial $73 million investment is now worth $207 million. This jump has helped propel the Fund to a healthy $40.1 billion, its highest level ever.
The Fund also owns stock in IBM, EMC, Cisco, GE and others, but Apple is its largest single holding and its best performer.
Someone better tell Sarah she’s better off learning where Cupertino is – instead of Murmansk.
Ten reasons why the Texas economy is growing that have nothing to do with Rick Perry
Rick Perry may credit much of Texas’ recent economic success to the low-regulation, small-government philosophy he has espoused, but some economists say that the governor’s policies aren’t the only (or even the primary) reason for Texas’ economic health…Here are ten of them:
1. Rising oil prices.
Rising oil prices have been one factor helping the Texas economy, economists say. When oil prices are high, job growth in Texas historically has exceeded that of the nation. He said Texas entered the recession late and came out early, mirroring trends in oil prices, which rose towards the beginning of the recession, fell in 2009, but have been steadily rising since…
2. Government growth.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, employment in Texas’ public sector has grown more rapidly than the private sector recently, with a 19 percent growth in government jobs compared to 9 percent growth in private jobs since 2000. Texas has added more than one in five of the public-sector jobs nationwide at local, state and federal levels…
4. No housing bubble.
Texas escaped the foreclosure bust that crippled other states’ economies – only 6 percent of Texas mortgage borrowers are in or near foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, while the national average is nearly 10 percent…
Texas house prices stayed down during the bubble, so when it burst the state didn’t suffer as much as other regions…
5. Cheap immigrant labor.
You don’t need that explained, do you?
8. Fracking.
A decade ago, Texas oil engineers decided to combine horizontal drilling and a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects chemical-laced water into the shale to push out the minerals. The system has been effective in releasing previously untapped pockets of natural gas in shale formations, such as the Eagle Ford shale formation…
“That’s a pretty sparsely populated area that has not historically been very economically strong. It’s bringing a lot of activity there, and we’re seeing a lot of new millionaires being created.”
9. Texas Exports
Petrochemical exports have been doing especially well since the recession, and Texas has a big cost advantage in the industry, explaining some of the states’ export-prowess.
10. Drug Trafficking.
You don’t need that explained either. Do you? RTFA for all 10 reasons and the details.
New directions established for Arctic Council
Hillary attends Arctic Council meeting for the first time
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Canada and other Arctic nations will work together on major search and rescue operations in the Arctic, under an international treaty signed by eight nations Thursday in Greenland….U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Canada’s Leona Aglukkaq were at the Nuuk meeting, along with foreign affairs ministers from Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark…
The leaders meeting in Nuuk also agreed to set up a task force to work on an Arctic oil spill preparedness and response agreement. Given companies’ growing interest in drilling for offshore oil and gas in the Arctic, northern countries need to work fast on an oil spill plan, said Alexander Shestakov, director of the Global Arctic Program with the World Wildlife Fund…
Observers in Nuuk said Thursday’s meeting shows that the Arctic Council is moving in a new direction, in which there will be more action than talk.
Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said in a statement that she welcomes the “trend within the [Arctic] Council for more policy-making” as a step towards a stronger council.
“It is historic for the Arctic Council to agree today to a binding legal instrument,” Aariak said. “I look forward to the work of the next task force towards another potential agreement for 2013 on emergency response and preparedness,” she added…
Shell has set its sights on the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the northern Alaskan coast, while BP is trying to work out an arrangement in Russia’s Arctic.
Meanwhile, oil rigs are already heading west of Greenland, where Cairn Energy plans to drill four holes this year. The government in Greenland has authorized oil and gas exploration in the area, despite concerns from some that development is moving too quickly and could harm Arctic wildlife.
RTFA for beaucoup details.
Indigenous peoples, first nation folks are claiming significant boundaries, rights and responsibilities. Looks like all the treaties accept environmental responsibilities as a basic premise.
Oil Sheik democracy in action – Pic of the Day
Why leave the Pearl Monument around to remind folks of Bahrain democracy protestors…
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
Obama criticized by senior Democrat John Conyers
Senior Democrat John Conyers of Michigan criticized Barack Obama Monday, hoping, Conyers said, to “make him a better president.”
Citing the troubled job market, rising energy costs, and turmoil in the Middle East, Conyers told reporters at the National Press Club: “We keep getting a longer and longer list of things he wanted to do, wished he could do more about, and is of course having a big problem.”
“The only thing that saves him, of course, is that there doesn’t seem to be anybody to run against him next year,” Conyers said.
After naming prospective challengers Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, among others, Conyers said he still supports Obama because “the alternative is unthinkable. I just want to make him a better president…”
Conyers said, “It is kind of amazing to me that there is still adopted, even in this administration, the attitude that military prowess will settle things down. And they rarely, if ever, do.”
He also responded to a question about the recent departure of a ranking State Department official who was critical of how the Pentagon is reportedly treating U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, a soldier suspected of a role in the WikiLeaks scandal. “I was not in agreement again with the president saying that he’s told Manning’s been treated — his confinement is okay, that he’s told everything is alright. I don’t think it’s all right.”
It’s almost a pleasantry to hear criticisms grounded in fact instead of the fuffarraw and agitprop we get from the KoolAid Party and corporate Republican hacks.
The American Left hasn’t been especially reluctant about criticising Obama for many of the issues he’s copped out on for one or another rationale. And, yes, Conyers certainly has it wired when he notes the alternatives are much worse.
Deficient water checks achieving little at Canada oil sands
A government-sponsored scientific committee studying water monitoring in Canada’s oil sands has backed assertions that multibillion-dollar energy developments are polluting waterways and it urges more stringent oversight.
The report by the independent scientists, appointed by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, said an incendiary study by water ecologists last year appeared to be right in its contention that toxic substances downstream from the developments do not occur naturally.
An industry-funded body had long said heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic aromatic compounds, or PACs, found in the Athabasca River watershed north of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, occurred naturally as bitumen leached into the river…
The northern Alberta oil sands are the largest source of oil outside the Middle East and are the target of billions of dollars worth of development plans. However, the environmental impact, including greenhouse gas emissions, forest destruction and water pollution, are under heavy criticism by green groups…
In December, the federal panel reported “there was no evidence of science leadership to ensure that monitoring and research activities are planned and performed in a coordinated way”…
Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said the report will be used by the province’s own newly appointed panel as it works to design a better monitoring system.
And as usual the “better monitoring system” won’t mean a damn if the system is thwarted by political malingering controlled by the corporations wallowing in the trough of their profits.
Same as it ever was.
Khartoum accepts results of secession referendum
Waiting in line to vote
Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Sudan’s vice president, has said that he accepts the oil-producing south’s split after the first official results showed a 99 per cent vote for independence in a referendum hoping to end a bitter cycle of civil war.
“We announce our agreement and our acceptance of the result of the referendum announced yesterday.
“We wish our brothers in the south good luck and a fruitful future in organising the issues surrounding the new country.” said Taha on Monday.
The comments end speculation that hard-line elements in the Khartoum government would delay recognition of the referendum to garner leverage ahead of talks on how to divide the country’s assets and liabilities.
Taha negotiated the 2005 accord with southern rebel leader John Garang who died three weeks after taking office in the coalition government formed under the deal.
The south is now looking to the international community to recognise its independence, which will likely happen once the final results are confirmed next month…
“The vote for separation was 99.57 per cent,” Chan Reek Madut, the deputy head of the commission organising the vote, told cheering crowds on Sunday in the first official announcement of preliminary results…
Madut said voter turnout in the south was also 99 per cent. He said more than 60 per cent of eligible voters turned out in the country’s north, 58 per cent of whom voted for secession.
Bravo. Decades overdue.
Nearly 4 million southern Sudanese to vote on independence
Almost 4 million southern Sudanese, or roughly half the south’s population, have registered to take part in an independence referendum next week that is likely to split Africa’s largest country in two.
The U.S. State Department said it was optimistic ahead of the vote, which is due to begin in six days and marks the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in Sudan that killed at least 2 million people and destabilized much of the region…
Southerners are expected to vote to separate from the north and form a new nation.
“The total number of people registered in the south, in the eight countries abroad and in the states of northern Sudan is 3,930,916,” said Chan Reek Madut, a member of the referendum’s organizing commission.
The vast majority of voters are in the southern region. Only some sixty thousand registered in the diaspora and less than 120,000 in the north, amid accusations of voter intimidation and a fear of reprisals should the south separate…
The State Department’s Crowley said both the Obama administration’s special envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, and Princeton Lyman, a veteran U.S. diplomat named to help negotiations between north and south, would be in Sudan for the vote, and said both sides appeared to be sending “the right signals” about the need for an open and credible process.
But he noted that the two sides remain split on key issues including border demarcation, the fate of the disputed region of Abyei, and the sharing of oil revenues — any of which could spark potential confrontation in the weeks following the referendum…
In order to be valid, the referendum requires that 60 percent of those registered turn out to vote.
Cripes. That wouldn’t work in the great democratic nation of the United $tates of America.
And, yes, I trust the government of Sudan about as far as I could throw them uphill into a heavy wind. These are the gangsters who still say they never knew Osama Bin Laden was training in their land back in the mid-80′s.
They didn’t know. The CIA didn’t know. Anyone who travelled through the region knew. But, official liars say they didn’t know. Hogwash!
