Speakers list and link to live streaming
The Subcommittee on Energy and Power announces a multi-day hearing on “The American Energy Initiative.” The first day of the hearing will be on Thursday, March 17, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. It will focus on oil supplies, gasoline prices, and jobs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Posted in energy, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged energy, Gulf of Mexico, House Energy and Commerce, offshore drilling, offshore oil | Leave a Comment »
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Jason Anderson, Dale Burkeen, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Gordon Jones, Roy Wyatt Kemp, Karl Kleppinger, Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto and Adam Weise.
They are the 11 workers who died when the Deepwater Horizon burned and sank in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
Their names need to be stated, to be remembered, because they were clearly forgotten as the industry gathered for the CERAWeek conference in Houston this week. Houston Chronicle
Comment: The sad truth is that the Macondo tragedy would have received very little attention if the fatalities were not followed by a major oil spill. There would have been no moratorium, no National Commission, no Chemical Safety Board review, and no Justice Department investigation. The last major multi-fatality accident in the Gulf, the South Pass 60 B fire that killed seven workers in 1989, received almost no national attention. A minor spill offshore California receives more coverage than a multi-fatality event in the Gulf.
When every casualty, every gas release, every well control incident, and every structural failure is fully and publicly reviewed, we will be well on our way toward preventing not only injuries and fatalities, but also spills and environmental damage.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, oil spill, safety, well control | Leave a Comment »
Comments:
Other interesting Gallup findings:
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I’ll hold my opinions about nuclear power until the crisis in Japan eases. Instead, I thought I’d check on the status of offshore nuclear plant proposals.
Nuclear powered submarines date back to 1954 when the USS Nautilus was launched, and offshore nuclear plant concepts are almost as old. No such facilities have been built, but French companies are studying a subsea nuclear plant concept (see picture), and Russia has launched a floating nuclear plant prototype.
Less than a month ago, the Ecologist provided an update on the French and Russian projects. These plans will no doubt receive much more public attention as a result of the tragedy in Japan, but the French concept is quite interesting.
Pros:
Cores would be protected by three barriers: fuel cladding, reactor vessel and hull. The designers argue that immersion in sea water would ensure an infinite natural means of passive cooling and permit inherent safety and security. In addition, each plant would also be protected against potential intruders. The French argue that a submerged power plant would be less vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis, or floods, and would be far less vulnerable to terrorist attack.
Cons:
Sceptics are concerned that warmer water released from the reactors could be dangerous for local ecosystem. And, should there be a nuclear accident ‘the sea will be destroyed,’ according to the President of Anti-nuclear organisation Crilan, based in Cherbourg. ‘The fierce warming-up of the water will cause a massive thermal shock that will destroy sea life.’
Posted in Offshore Energy - General | Tagged floating nuclear plant, France, Russia, subsea nuclear plant | Leave a Comment »
A wise old Indian said:Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.
The fact that Daylight Savings Time is one of our more noteworthy energy policy achievements speaks volumes about our current economic predicament.
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Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that delays in offshore oil and gas drilling permits are “ridiculous” at a time when the economy is still rebuilding, according to attendees at the IHS CERAWeek conference. Politico.com
Posted in drilling, energy, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged Bill Clinton, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, IHS CERA, offshore oil | 1 Comment »
Japan will likely need more imported oil and natural gas due to closures of nuclear reactors caused by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, but volumes can’t be calculated accurately as it is unclear how much industrial output has been affected by the disaster and how long power nuclear and thermal power plants will remain closed. Wall Street Journal
The CEOs of major oil and gascompanies will meet March 18 to decide how to proceed with the formation of a US offshore drilling safety institute, William Reilly, the co-chair of the National Oil Spill Commission, said March 8. Platts Oilgram News
Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to President Dilma Rousseff, told reporters in Havana exploratory work off Cuba’s northern coast had not shown good results and that Brazil wanted to concentrate on its own oil fields.
Since BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico last April, the risks of offshore oil drilling have been a hot topic. One place it isn’t questioned much is Brazil, whose oil production industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world because of vast new deepwater oil reservoirs discovered in the past five years.
Pemex has just begun to explore in Mexico’s Gulf of Mexico waters deeper than 1,000 feet, but 28 billion undiscovered barrels of oilequivalent are thought to exist in that area, some of which borders US territorial waters. Pemex officials said the company is forging a development plan for its first deepwater field, Lakach, located northeast of the state of Veracruz in about 3,200 feet of water. First production is expected in 2015.
Environmentalists are furious at a proposal by the petroleum company Shell to start exploration drilling off one of Western Australia’s most treasured reefs. Ningaloo Reef off the north-west coast, has been nominated for World Heritage listing.
Posted in accidents, cuba, drilling, energy, Uncategorized | Tagged Australia, Brazil, deepwater drilling, drilling, energy, ISO TC 67, Japan, macondo, Mexico, Montara, Ningaloo Reef, nuclear, offshore energy, offshore safety institute, Petrobras, standards | Leave a Comment »
BOE staffer departs for special assignment
This week, our staff will be fully immersed in special projects, and will not be able to post on the blog. All BOE subscriptions will be extended by a week at no cost to our subscribers. 🙂
While we are gone, we encourage you to read the “Best of BOE” (best being a relative term :))
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BW Pioneer
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, oil | Tagged BW Pioneer, Cascade Chinook, FPSO, Gulf of Mexico, Petrobras | Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 