Tag: Oil Exploration

Win One For Flipper

Awhile back the Obama admin decided to let there be Arctic drilling…..and the environmentalists went batcrap crazy.

Then Shell had problems with 2 of its drilling rigs…..I mean major problems…..those solved they leased an ice breaker from Finland or Sweden or some country of the North……after they took possession they found a gash in the side of the ship and it had to go dry dock to be fixed……after clashes with environmental groups over the ship it finally made it to the Arctic and then wok could begin……

But after some time looking for the “black oil”….Shell has issued a statement…..

Royal Dutch Shell says it will cease exploration in Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast following disappointing results from an exploratory well backed by billions in investment and years of work. This is a huge blow to Shell, which was counting on offshore drilling in Alaska to help it drive future revenue. Environmentalists, however, had tried repeatedly to block the project and welcomed the news. Shell has spent upward of $7 billion on Arctic offshore exploration, including $2.1 billion in 2008 for leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast, where an exploratory well about 80 miles off shore drilled to 6,800 feet but yielded disappointing results. Backed by a 28-vessel flotilla, drillers found indications of oil and gas but not in sufficient quantities to warrant more exploration.

Shell will end exploration off Alaska “for the foreseeable future,” the company said, because of the well results and because of the “challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska.” Environmental groups had warned oil exploration in the ecologically fragile Arctic could lead to increased greenhouse gases, crude oil spills, and a disaster for wildlife. “Polar bears, Alaska’s Arctic, and our climate just caught a huge break,” the oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. “Here’s hoping Shell leaves the Arctic forever.” Analysts say that since the Chukchi and Beaufort seas contain an estimated 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil, further exploration in decades to come is probably inevitable

And the peasants danced!

Who will be the next sucker to attempt an Arctic drilling operation?

WIN one for the earth!

What The Frack Is Going On?

Since the “drill baby drill” people have passed on to the new wave of “exploration”….fracking…..there has been many reports that tell of a disaster in the making and just as many people coming out of the woodwork to defend this type of oil search……we all have heard the stories about the methane leaks, the pollution problems, and now it is earthquakes…….

Earthquakes in Oklahoma are up more than a hundredfold in recent years, and a new study spies a pretty clear link between the shaking and the fracking that has given the state’s economy a huge boost. Researchers took a close look at four specific sites where wastewater from oil and gas extraction was injected into the ground and found that the process could be linked to swarms of quakes in areas up to 20 miles away from the sites, reports the BBC. The four wells examined have been pumping four million barrels of water a month to a depth of around two miles underground. At one site linked to the wells, a small town called Jones, there have been more 2,500 earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.0 since 2008—a fifth of the total in the central and western US during that period.

“It really is unprecedented to have this many earthquakes over a broad region like this,” a study co-author tells Scientific American, explaining that wastewater injection can cause quakes by sending out waves of fluid pressure, causing faults miles away to slip. “Most big sequences of earthquakes that we see are either a main shock and a lot of aftershocks or it might be right at the middle of a volcano in a volcanic system or geothermal system. So you might see little swarms but nothing really this distributed and this persistent,” he says. (In Texas, several small towns troubled by quakes are considering banning fracking.)

The truly sad part of this tale is that few seem to care about the consequences of this type of extraction…….this is until something goes horribly wrong and then……..predictably it will be all Obama’s fault.

Keystone: No Longer Naive

By now I would expect the Right to be having a stroke at the announcement that there will be a delay in the Keystone issue…..but I guess they still have not gotten the rancher thing out of their system…..but for those that are not sure of what I speak……

The White House was supposed to wrap up its review of the proposed Keystone oil pipeline in another two weeks. But in a surprise move today, the administration announced that the review would be extended indefinitely—and probably until after the November elections, reports the Wall Street Journal. The White House says the delay is necessary only because of a legal challenge still playing out in Nebraska, reports AP. But reaction to the move is pretty clear-cut: Supporters of the pipeline are angry and environmentalists are happy.

It’s “good news on Good Friday for those who oppose Keystone as not being in our nation’s best interest,” green activist Tom Steyer tells Politico. But that sentiment was countered by critics from both parties: “This decision is irresponsible, unnecessary and unacceptable,” said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, while Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called it a “stunning act of political cowardice.” The pipeline would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, but the legal fight in Nebraska—home of the Ogallala Aquifer—means its exact route is still unclear, reports the New York Times. The state Supreme Court isn’t expected to rule on the case until the fall, and more legal wrangling would surely follow.

Of course the usual culprits had lots to say and of course the one about cheaper gas ha risen again…….I have been fighting that piece of crap since 2008….(check comments for a list of posts that I have for this issue)…….at first I thought people were just misinformed….then I thought they were naive…..and then I thought they were deluding themselves ……and now I believe they are just stupid!

Oil is sold on the spot market…….prices are rigged……the only way that we could ever have cheap gas is by doing something that most do not want…….here I will use the “N” word………oil traveling in the pipeline does not belong to the US it belongs to whoever drilled it………

Cheaper gas?  Do you think that Exxon or BP or Shell is ever gonna lower gas prices?

Please stop using the lame and tired old slogan of drill baby drill…..NOTHING will change….gas will go up and down according to the people that fix the prices……..you are doing nothing but making the American people more stupid…….please stop!

A Great Fracking Story!

By now we all have heard the oil boom going on in North and South Dakota….that is has created many, many jobs and the economy is well past the recession in these areas……most of this windfall oil boom comes from oil sands and that means FRACKING!

Is this really the feel good story for the economy that the media and oil companies want?  I mean so far it has been fairly incident free….or has it?

(Newser) – Oil spills usually make for big news—except in North Dakota, where officials have kept mum about hundreds of leaks involving thousands of barrels of oil, Grist reports. About 750 “oil field incidents” have occurred there since January of last year, according to records obtained by the AP, and one massive 20,600-barrel spill was hushed up for nearly two weeks in September. “That’s news to us,” said the head of a pro-environment group in North Dakota. “The public should really know about these”

Like other oil-producing states, North Dakota isn’t legally obliged to tell people about oil spills. But the state produces millions of barrels a day and approved some 2,500 miles of new pipelines last year, so spills may be an increasing risk to farmland and water. Now exposed, state officials are contemplating a website that will inform the public of at least some spills. But a wheat farmer said he also wants to see oil companies and regulators held accountable: “Right now, you don’t know if there is a spill unless you find it yourself,” he said.

Oh boy…..yes we have a problem today….just no one wants the rest of the country to know just how bad it is…….just Fracking great, right?  It seems the more transparent the technique becomes the more problems we see……Fracking is NOT the answer, my friends!

You Are Fracking Kidding Me?

We hear so much these days about the oil extraction technique, Fracking, is a common term…….Depending on what news outlet you are a fan of…..we NEVER get both sides of the controversy at the same time….instead we get one side or the other and NO one actually works off the same data to make their points….instead they pay some think tank to come up with a position that supports whichever side you fall down on……

To make an informed decision on whether to support or oppose the issue we need info…..

(Newser) – For as big a role as fracking plays in US energy production, the national conversation about it is sadly lacking, writes Gretchen Goldman at LiveScience. For that, blame the companies involved in the hunt for natural gas—along with inept government agencies, writes Goldman, an environmental engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Companies have “fended off citizens with silence,” she writes. “They say little about the technological practices they use, including information about the chemicals they inject into the earth and the wastewater that comes back.”

Meanwhile, state and federal agencies “have been asleep at the switch,” unable to keep up with industry advances and proper regulations. All this is not to say that fracking is evil—some communities might be perfectly willing to accept higher risks for the payoff. But the point is that the entire debate needs to get better so people can make informed choices, writes Goldman. “Science is like a trusty flashlight in these contentious debates,” she writes. “Let’s let it illuminate our path, no matter which road we take.” Click for her full column, or for a “toolkit” of information for citizens from the UCS.

To me it sounds like a great way to separate the oil from the sand……but it also sounds like there are more problems with the system that solutions for our oil consumption.  Until we have a meeting of both sides and hear both sides using the same data…there is NO way that an informed opinioon can be made….all we are doing is regurgitating talking points and slogans…..not the truth.

Just Fracking Great!

I do not normally write on the environment much for it is one of those issues that little info goes a long way…..few people want to face the fact that our environment is in trouble…..which is okay with me for I will be long dead by the time it all goes to crap and will not effect me at all…

There has been a running debate on the use of fracking to expel low quality oil from sand…..some say it will save the Us and others say that it will be our salvation….salvation from what they are not so clear but it will save us…..from ourselves I am guessing…….there are lots of sources of contention over the practice so I thought I would add one more……

(Newser) – Add this to ongoing debate about the merits and potential dangers of fracking: A Duke study uncovered high levels of radioactivity in water and sediment downstream from a fracking treatment plant in Pennsylvania, reports LiveScience. The researchers discovered the unexpected levels of radium in a creek near the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility. While radium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal, levels were 200 times higher than those found upstream of the plant, reports USA Today.

“We were surprised by the magnitude of radioactivity,” says a co-author of the study published in Environmental Science & Technology. He called for more such sites to be investigated. Wastewater treatment plants can remove most of the radioactivity but not all, say the researchers, who traced the water in their study back to the state’s large Marcellus Shale Formation. (Click to read about a Department of Energy study from earlier this year that found no dangers to drinking water near fracking sites. The fracking boom, meanwhile, is helping the US overtake Russia as the world’s largest energy producer.)

No matter what you think…I just do not see the advantage of injecting high pressure fluid into the earth’s crust and not expect some sort of natural reaction to the practice……we will eventually see just how good or bad the system is in the near future…….thoughts?

It Is Energy–Again

Hopefully you will remember all the hoopla about domestic oil……that prices will go down, it is in the national interests, we will be more secure…..blah, blah, blah………in the last election (2012) Gingrich promised if elected gas would be $3 a gallon…..or was it $2 a gallon?  ……and all the peasants danced!

And now wonder boy has issued his newest budget proposal…..same as the old budget proposal……..and as usual the GOP returns to the same lie that domestic oil drilling will make us more secure and oil independent……I have written on this many times and many times NO one is listening……drill baby drill is a slogan….NOT an energy policy!

And the Prez is talking energy and domestic oil….to fund alt energy research…..just how soon will it be before the Repubs bring up Solendra again?  About the only attack they have………How many times must I cover this before it sinks into thick skulls?

I have had enough of the simplistic crap!

One more time for good measure……..conservs want to be allowed to drill on public land and this will make us independent of foreign oil……that is bunk!  All it will do is give oil companies cheap leases….and gas prices will remain the same……

Then there is the support for the XL Pipeline which will take Canadian oil from Canada to Houston area refineries…….that will not make oil cheaper…..why?  It is Canada’s oil and they will sell to whoever they want…….the pipeline will create construction jobs but once finished will employ few workers……this will not makes us independent!

Even offshore oil will not be cheaper oil…….why?  Oil is old on the spot market and speculation will drive prices NO matter where the stuff is drilled……do you understand that?  Oil futures drive the price not the location of the rig!  Futures markets control price!  Does that compute?

Let us be honest……most of our oil comes from Mexico, Canada and Nigeria….very little comes from the Middles East…..if makes you feel better then by all means believe the slogans and the hyperbole…..but reality will eventually set in…..

Does anyone think that Exxon or Shell or BP will sell gas cheaper because it is drilled on US soil?  (that is a rhetorical question but it does warrant some thought)…..

You want cheaper oil?  If so, there is only one answer……an answer that few will like…..and it involves the “N” word!  As it is today….NOTHING will give you cheaper gas!  No amount of promises or vague policies will lessen the price.

How many times must I go over this issue before people remove their heads from the sand and realize that there will be NO cheap oil!

Newt Echoes “Drill Baby Drill”

Remember the good old days of the ’08 presidential campaign?  McCain and especially our darling of the Right, Sarah Palin….used the cute little slogan of “Drill Baby Drill”….trying to promote more domestic drilling for oil which would let the gas prices drop in price……I covered it then….and I covered it when I saw bumper sticker saying the same thing…well basically the same thing……

And now, in a recent interview presidential hopeful Newt when trashing the Prez on his finally four picks….gave his idea of the real final four……typical non specific lame-atude….but let me say this one more time and see if it can get through the clutter and the snooze factor…….

The idea of more domestic drilling has a couple of holes in the theory…….first, any oil taken out of the ground in the US will not make it to market for about 2 years and that is after the drilling part is done and that could take 3-5 years…..second, Newt boy said that it would take gas from $4 a gallon and drop it to $2…….third, what in this would lead you to believe that Exxon (one of many) would drop the price of gas?  You truly believe that Exxon would give up 50% of its profit to help the country?…..fourth, does his estimates include the Federal, state and local taxes that are tacked onto the price of gas?…….fifth, what about the cocktail of gases that are being pumped in the country….how would his proposal effect the price of the additives……

Finally……stop believing these people when they start their creepy and misinformed promises of cheap gas….if only we would drill here in this country……nothing will change…you will still be paying through the nose for the gas…..no matter where it is drilled up!  BTW, you still pay a whole lot less than our friends in Europe…..here is another idea…conserve and stop buying the status symbol vehicles that get 2 gallons to the mile!

A Ranting I Will Go #2

From time to time I either see, read or hear something that makes me hit myself in the head and ask just how stupid are they?  Usually the TV is the prime source of aggravation, but this time it is a bumper sticker……while driving to the store I got behind a Hummer, you know the vehicle that gets 4 gallons to the mile?…..anyway the sticker said…….”Drill Here….Drill Now….Pay Less”…..

Okay the section out there with the mental midgets…….if oil is drilled for here, how many really think that you will pay less?  (Pause here to give the multitude a chance to contemplate the question)……..

Do you seriously believe that if gas is $4 a gallon and it is drilled for here the price will come down?  Exxon, Shell, Texaco, etc….will screw themselves out of all that profit?  But I guess if I was driving a Hummer I would be delusional also……

Just yet another illustration of the sheer stupidity of the American people….they buy into some lame ass slogan and embrace it as fact……you tell if that is a way to go through life?  The statement is stupid, ignorant, moronic and completely fictional….but then that is how Americans vote…..(yawn)…..

Wait there is More!

On MLK Day a bomb was found along the parade route and disarmed before it could do any damage…the officials said that they did not know who placed it or what is was suppose to do (paraphrase)…..think about that!  They did not know what it was suppose to do…..how about f*ck up the parade and injure many people….that is called DOMESTIC TERRORISM!

Now, why has there been very little about this on the news?  Short of an initial report………apparently if it had been a Muslim who did it it would be a two week diatribe on all the stations…..why is domestic terrorism not that important for the media?  But yet they will show ambulance driving slowly from a hospital to an airport…….I kept waiting for a white Bronco to go by…….(thanx to Phillip for the anology)

Now tell me that the media does NOT drive national conversations!