Monday, October 17, 2011

Oil Drilling News

OIL/ENERGY POLICY

Why "Drill Baby Drill" Advocates Are So Wrong
"There is a problem with the report's premise that drilling like mad will supply enough oil to eliminate imports: it's impossible. Even if the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts plus the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico were opened up to drilling, the U.S. would still import 41 percent of the oil used in 2030, according to a 2009 analysis by the Energy Information Analysis (EIA). In other words, destroying our oceans through massive oil drilling would only make a dent in how much oil we need to import to keep up with demand. The EIA estimates that by 2030, the daily U.S. oil demand will be almost 23 million barrels. Phyllis Martin, a senior EIA energy analyst, told Scientific American in 2008 that offshore drilling doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to oil prices. "The amount of total production anticipated — around 200,000 barrels a day — would be less than 1 percent of the total projected international consumption," Martin said. When Media Matters asked energy analyst Chris Nelder a few years ago if the U.S. could achieve true energy independence through only drilling, he answered, "Not even close.""

Welch to Super Committee: Save $122 billion, end wasteful subsidies to the oil industry
""In the current budgetary environment, the United States can no longer afford to give away billions of dollars every year to corporations earning billions of dollars in profits and costing American taxpayers twice: at the pump and through the tax code," Welch and his colleagues wrote."

'Death and Oil': the deadly cost of oil addiction (Book review)

THE GULF/BP


2 foreign corporations say they don't own share of leaking Taylor Energy well in Gulf


BP oil documentary 'The Big Fix' helps get New Orleans Film Festival off to an explosive start
""When we hear from the media, from the government that the oil is gone, we're being lied to," says famed oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau, who has studied the post-spill Gulf. "My question is, gone where?"Tug boat captain and former commercial fisher Kevin Curole can answer that: It hasn't gone anywhere."

Markey: BP Should Stand For 'Bigger Penalties'

FLORIDA


Deepwater Horizon Spill Cost to Florida at $12 Million -- and Rising


Lee County considers lawsuit against BP over oil spill


UWF to host oil-spill forum

"Gulf Coast business owners, public officials, and professors will convene Oct. 17 at the University of West Florida to discuss the impact of the BP oil spill. The free conference will take place at the UWF Conference Center, Building 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m."

CUBA


U.S. Will Inspect Cuban Rig

"If Repsol's Cuba well, which is in slightly deeper water, experienced a blowout, the well could gush oil into the Straits of Florida, where it would be carried by the Gulfstream currents up the East Coast. The U.S. controls coastal waters as far as 200 miles from its shores, but in the narrower Straits of Florida it and Cuba have agreed to split the region equally.'

Bahamas oil drilling could begin by 2012

NEW ZEALAND


'This should be a wake-up call'

"The grounding of the cargo ship Rena has raised questions about New Zealand's ability to cope with a major oil spill, but the government is planning an international marketing campaign to boost offshore oil and gas exploration over the next three years."

Photos: New Zealand oil disaster kills over 1200 birds to date
   
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