The tragic events on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico have attracted great international attention, and have also promoted a flood of questions to the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA).
The PSA Norway has issued a statement on the Horizon incident, and has appropriately avoided responding to the “can it happen here?” question. Their interest and support are greatly appreciated.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
The words of POGO come to mind “We have met the enemy: and He is us!”.
There has always been the risk of oil pollution ever since starting to import oil in tankers, which still stands as the highest risk. Exxon Valdez at the time may have been #1 for USA accidents but was down at something like #35 on the world stage. There was a near miss in the Gulf of Mexico with a Tanker after one of the recent Hurricanes: a collision punctured the outer shell but did not get to the oil tanks. There have been at least 2 tankers in recent memory on fire in the Gulf of Mexico.
If we are going to have oil imported either from tankers who frequent our shores every day, including Georges Bank, including Florida or we are going to drill for our own oil, there will be always the potential for oil spills.
There is A LOT OF ROOM for increased Technology in oilspill clean up.
If we are a nation that is going to use oil we need to increase everyone’s understanding of the energy supply chain and the risks we run when we fill up our automobiles, and not vilify those poor souls who work to supply the fuel that provides gas and eletricity. Truly, “We have met the Enemy: And He Is Us!”.
G’Day Bud,
Congratulations on your informative site.
You might be interested in a story circulating in a number of Norwegian publications today that PTIL (PSA) has moved to ban further drilling in the Gullfaks field owing to a number of challenges related to formation pressure over the past year or so.
There’s no mention of it yet on the PTIL website (http://www.ptil.no/main-page/category9.html), so it could still be just a lot of hot air from eco-mentalists and the press.
Ben, PSA has advised me that those media reports are incorrect. Drilling has not been banned, and PSA and Statoil have reached agreement on the follow-up actions to be taken. Bud
Thanks for the correction Bud.
Cheerio,
Ben