GULF DRILLING AND HURRICANES
Gulf of Mexico production and hurricanes
"The lessons of this vulnerability were, perhaps, more than most years, evident in 2005. The first sign of problems came with the arrival of Hurricane Dennis in July. It was a storm which severely damaged the BP deep water Thunder Horse drilling platform.
As that season wore on, the vulnerability of the platforms in the Gulf and the refineries that border it, were exposed in more intensity with the passage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These threats and their analysis were one of the factors that helped, in that formative year, to bring an audience to the pages of The Oil Drum. The Gulf is now home to thousands of wells which, as the evidence from the Deepwater Horizon disaster last year reminded us, has moved further and further away from shore. That vulnerability is perhaps illustrated by a map showing the path of Hurricane Rita through the oil platforms off the Texas and Louisiana coasts."
OIL/ENERGY POLICY
Era of cheap oil gone, says Shell's Voser" "It is the end of easy oil," said Peter Voser. "We are going into a world where finding the oil and gas is more complex and it needs more money, it needs more investment. That needs higher oil and gas prices." Shell believes energy prices will rise in coming years as a result of oil being found in more remote locations and being harder to produce, allied to surging global demand driven by "emerging nations" such as China and India."
ALASKA
Arctic oil spill cleanup impossible one day in five, energy board report finds
A newly released report commissioned by Canada's energy regulator has concluded that clean-up efforts for an offshore oil spill in the Arctic could be impossible at least one day in five because of bad weather or sea ice. And a spokesman for one environmental group said that a recent U.S. study suggests even that figure could be underestimating the risk.
