The Trouble With Oil

The disaster in the Gulf Coast, the BP rig explosion, and the media reports that have recently (finally) made it into mainstream media, is that oil drilling and corporate behavior itself is a disaster.

Here are the links:

1. Basically, most offshore drilling is dangerous. It has gotten more so over time. This BP explosion is not the only one, Chevron had a major nasty explosion in 2003.

(also pasted below) 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315404575250591376735052.html?KEYWORDS=Chevron

2. This particular disaster was caused by a perfect storm of a dangerous industry and BP trying to save money and make things go faster, at the expense of safety and security.

See this clip on the Rachel Maddow show from yesterday, where she found some clips from a documentary a few years back.

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/05/18-1

Bryan Parras, of TEJAS, reminds us that the oil industry in the Gulf Coast operates with impunity (as does Maddow - the head of the MMS just resigned suddenly because of his cozy relationship with industry). Almost every week there is something at one of the many faciliteis and refineries in the Houston area - and in the Gulf Coast region. For instance, on April 6, 2010, 18,000 gallons of oil spilled from a Chevron-operated pipeline in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge in southern Louisiana.

3. This oil spill - like many - is hitting already vulnerable, already-harmed communities and environments first - like the Houma Nation in Louisiana. 

That is to say, oil drilling and exploration and the impunity / cozy relationship (we call that corruption in other places) of Big Oil with regulators and enforcers and the Army Corps of Engineers, who did so much of this work (paid by us!) caused the erosion and disappearance of the shoreline, wetlands and marshes that made New Orleans vulnerable to Katrina and Rita in the first place. 

(AP report: http://my.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20100518%2fcdb364b3-a93d-4e4e-813e-9022fb8fe887&sms_ss=facebook)

4. And from yesterday, really, Tom Knudsen reported in the San Jose Mercury News that Big Oil basically causes destruction wherever it goes (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15095438?nclick_check=1).

5. From a corporate chain of production / life cycle analysis point of view, exploration into ever more marginal stocks (like offshore drilling, tar sands extraction and the remaining stocks in places like Colombia, Ecuador, Cameroon/Chad, Burma/Thailand, Angola and many more) and marginal areas - are causing human rights and environmental disasters around the world.

(Tar Sands - RP from Common Dreams.org: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/11-6)

That's why communities are going to Houston. Follow them here, and stay tuned.

* * * * *

Disaster Plans Lacking at Deep Rigs

By BEN CASSELMAN And GUY CHAZAN

Associated Press

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21.

A huge jolt convulsed an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The pipe down to the well on the ocean floor, more than a mile below, snapped in two. Workers battled a toxic spill.

That was 2003—seven years before last month's Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and sent crude spewing into the sea. And in 2004, managers of BP PLC, the oil giant involved in both incidents, warned in a trade journal that the company wasn't prepared for the long-term, round-the-clock task of dealing with a deep-sea spill.

It still isn't, as Deepwater Horizon demonstrates and as BP's chief executive, Tony Haywardsaid recently. It's "probably true" that BP didn't do enough planning in advance of the disaster, Mr. Hayward said. There are some capabilities, he said, "that we could have available to deploy instantly, rather than creating as we go."

 

AM Report: Oil Disaster Blame Game

9:51

BP, Transocean and Halliburton are set to blame each other in Congressional hearings for last month's big oil-rig explosion and spill. Neil King, Bob O'Brien and Neal Lipschutz discuss. Also, Kara Scannell weighs in on Congressional hearings intended to find out what caused Thursday's sudden market plunge.

It's a problem that spans the industry, whose major players include Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and Petróleo Brasileiro SA. Without adequately planning for trouble, the oil business has focused on developing experimental equipment and techniques to drill in ever deeper waters, according to a Wall Street Journal examination of previous deepwater accidents. As drillers pushed the boundaries, regulators didn't always mandate preparation for disaster recovery or perform independent monitoring.

More on the Spill

See graphics covering how the spill happened, what's being done to stop it, and the impact on the region.

View Interactive

Timeline

Follow key developments since the initial explosion.

View Interactive

• More interactive graphics and photos

Journal Community

The brief, roughly two-decade history of deepwater drilling has seen serious problems: fires, equipment failures, wells that collapsed, platforms that nearly sank. Since last July, one brand-new deepwater rig—among the 40 or so operating in at least 1,000 feet of water in the Gulf—was swept by fire. Another lost power and started to drift, threatening to detach from the wellhead. Poor maintenance at a third deepwater well led to a serious gas leak, according to regulatory records.

By some measures, offshore drilling has become safer in recent years. Industry backers argue that major accidents are rare. The rate of serious injuries in U.S. waters fell 71% between 1998 and 2008, and the number of serious oil spills has also been falling once hurricanes are taken into account. Moreover, deepwater drilling is by some measures safer than drilling in shallower waters, where rigs are often older and operated by smaller companies.

Still, drilling for oil at depths no human could survive presents special risks when something does go wrong. The water pressure is crushing, the seabed temperature is almost freezing, the underground conditions explosive. The rapid push into deeper water means that some projects rely on technology that hasn't been used before.

EXPERIENCE WSJ PROFESSIONAL

Editors' Deep Dive: Spill Hastens New Rules Push

• IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT DAILY ANALYSIS

  Spill Prompts Regulatory Fight in Canadian Arctic

• SUPERFUND REPORT

Democrats Vow to Push Oil Spill Liability Bill

INSIDE ENERGY

Huge Gulf Oil Spill Could Derail New Drilling Efforts

Access thousands of business sources not available on the free web. Learn More

"It's like outer space, in terms of the complexity of the operating environment," said Robin West, who helped oversee offshore-drilling policy under President Ronald Reagan and is now chairman of PFC Energy, a consulting firm.

In 2008, Chevron was plagued with accidents while using the Discoverer Deep Seas rig in more than 7,000 feet of water in the Gulf. There was a fire, then a leak deep under the sea. Finally the cement and steel casing inside the well collapsed, allowing drilling fluid to flow out of control. Workers stopped the flow only by permanently plugging the well.

Chevron says the well was "safely and permanently" abandoned after the problems. "One of Chevron's core values is the safety of our employees, contractors and neighbors," Chevron spokesman Kurt Glaubitz said. "It is fundamental to how we operate."

BP has led the charge into the deepest, most challenging environments. Last week Mr. Hayward, the CEO, said, "It's clear that we will find things we can do differently."

As companies have moved farther offshore, drilling has gotten increasingly expensive. BP was paying nearly $500,000 a day to lease the Deepwater Horizon from Transocean Ltd. and paid roughly that much again for other equipment and services.

View Full Image

Associated Press

BP's oil platform Thunder Horse listed off the Louisiana coast in 2005 after a faulty control system allowed water to flood the platform.

Posted via email from Decolonizing Environmentalism