Green Links

Information Provided by:Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information

Obama, Gulf OIL

Obama Renews Push For New Energy Policy

President Obama seized on the BP oil spill Wednesday to renew a push for legislation to "fully embrace a clean energy future," including an end to tax breaks for oil companies.
Obama said his vision for a new U.S. energy policy "means rolling back billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development."

In a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Obama said the largest oil spill in U.S. history should spur the public and policy makers to pursue long-term energy policies that don't rely on fossil fuels.

He cited energy efficiency, greater use of natural gas reserves and more nuclear power plants as fundamentals to reducing U.S. reliance on oil. Obama also renewed his call for climate change legislation while conceding that the Senate currently lacks the support needed to pass a bill drafted by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn.

"The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months," Obama said. "I will make the case for a clean energy future wherever I can, and I will work with anyone from either party to get this done."

The president said that the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill highlight the "inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes."

While Obama looked beyond the BP spill, two senators zeroed in on the oil giant.
Sens. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the company to delay paying dividends to shareholders.

They say the company may need every penny to maintain high capital reserves to cover the rising tab for the oil spill. Published reports estimate that BP has spent almost $1 billion so far on efforts to contain the Deepwater Horizon spill.

In a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward, the lawmakers cited an estimate by Credit Suisse Group AG that the cost could hit $37 billion if BP cannot stop the well from leaking until August, when it hopes to complete relief drilling.

"We are certainly not opposed to BP paying dividends after the well is capped, cleanup has been completed and the victims have been justly compensated," Schumer and Wyden wrote. 

Source: CQ Today Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.©2010 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2010 Roll Call, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Congressional Quarterly Today

--
Scott's Contracting
scottscontracting@gmail.com

Drilling Process Attracts Scrutiny in Rig Explosion

• Article
• Video
• Comments (69)

more in Business »

• Email
• Print

• Save This ↓ More
• • 
    

  • Twitter

    

  • Digg

    
  • + More

  close

  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • MySpace
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit

  • LinkedIn
  • Fark
  • Viadeo
  • Orkut
• Text

By RUSSELL GOLD And BEN CASSELMAN

An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday.

The process is supposed to prevent oil and natural gas from escaping by filling gaps between the outside of the well pipe and the inside of the hole bored into the ocean floor. Cement, pumped down the well from the drilling rig, is also used to plug wells after they have been abandoned or when drilling has finished but production hasn't begun.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, workers had finished pumping cement to fill the space between the pipe and the sides of the hole and had begun temporarily plugging the well with cement; it isn't known whether they had completed the plugging process before the blast.

British Petroleum's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is quickly devastating wildlife as some 955,000 liters per day is migrating toward coastlines

Related Video

• PM Report: Eco-Disaster Feared(04/30/10)
• Oil Boom Loaded onto Louisiana Response Vessel (04/30/10)
• Gulf Oil Spill May Last 90 Days (04/29/10)
• News Hub: Oil Spill Sparks Washington Debate (04/29/10)
• News Hub: Efforts to Contain Oil Spill Falter (04/28/10)

Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force. When cement develops cracks or doesn't set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant.

Concerns about the cementing process—and about whether rigs have enough safeguards to prevent blowouts—raise questions about whether the industry can safely drill in deep water and whether regulators are up to the task of monitoring them.

The scrutiny on cementing will focus attention on Halliburton Co., the oilfield-services firm that was handling the cementing process on the rig, which burned and sank last week. The disaster, which killed 11, has left a gusher of oil streaming into the Gulf from a mile under the surface.

Federal officials declined to comment on their investigation, and Halliburton didn't respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal.

According to Transocean Ltd., the operator of the drilling rig, Halliburton had finished cementing the 18,000-foot well shortly before the explosion. Houston-based Halliburton is the largest company in the global cementing business, which accounted for $1.7 billion, or about 11%, of the company's revenue in 2009, according to consultant Spears & Associates.

Growing worries about potential lawsuits and other costs of the oil spill in the wake of its rapid spread led investors to clobber stocks of companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon well Thursday.

Halliburton fell 5.3% to $31.60 and Cameron International Corp., which built the blowout-prevention equipment that didn't stop the explosion, dropped 13% to $38.70, both at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The timing of the cementing in relation to the blast—and the procedure's history of causing problems—point to it as a possible culprit in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, experts said.

"The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement," said Robert MacKenzie, managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets and a former cementing engineer in the oil industry.

Several other drilling experts agreed, though they cautioned that the investigation into what went wrong at the Deepwater Horizon site is still in its preliminary stages.

The problem could have been a faulty cement plug at the bottom of the well, he said. Another possibility would be that cement between the pipe and well walls didn't harden properly and allowed gas to pass through it.

A 2007 study by three U.S. Minerals Management Service officials found that cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period. That was the single largest factor, ahead of equipment failure and pipe failure.

The Halliburton cementers would have sought approval for their plans—the type of cement and how much would be used—from a BP official on board the rig before carrying out their job. Scott Dean, a BP spokesman, said it was premature to speculate on the role cement might have played in the disaster.

Halliburton also was the cementer on a well that suffered a big blowout last August in the Timor Sea, off Australia. The rig there caught fire and a well leaked tens of thousands of barrels of oil over 10 weeks before it was shut down. The investigation is continuing; Halliburton declined to comment on it.

Elmer P. Danenberger, who had recently retired as head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, told the Australian commission looking into the blowout that a poor cement job was probably the reason oil and natural gas gushed out of control.

Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com and Ben Casselman at ben.casselman@wsj.com

--
Scott's Contracting
314-243-1953
scottscontracting@gmail.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com

OIL Spill Buy OFF Attempts

BP And Halliburton Build Legal Teams, Attempt To Buy Off Government Officials

Saturday 05 June 2010

by: Alex Seitz-Wald  |  ThinkProgress

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: alexanderljung, tsand)

Facing possible jail time for their roles in the largest oil spill in American history, BP and Halliburton are building high-powered legal teams with "deep Department of Justice and White House ties." But the companies are pursuing other means to defend themselves as well.

Halliburton's campaign donations have spiked as it tries to curry favor with key members of Congress investigating the disaster. The company donated $17,000 in May, making it "the busiest donation month for Halliburton's PAC since September 2008," Politico reports. Thirteen of the 14 contributions from May went to Republicans, while seven went to members of Congress who are "on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath":

About one week before executive Timothy Probert appeared before the House Energy and Commerce's investigative subcommittee, Halliburton donated $1,500 to Ranking Republican Joe Barton's reelection effort. It was Halliburton's second-largest donation of the month — topped only by $2,500 to former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is running for the Senate.

In the Senate, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, who serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson, who serves on the Commerce Committee and North Carolina Republican Richard Burr (N.C.), who serves on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, all got $1,000. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also got $1,000.

Meanwhile, a Hill analysis found that primarily during the Bush administration, BP and other oil companies "paid for dozens of trips and meals for officials" from the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Homeland Security — agencies deeply involved in the regulation of oil exploration and spill cleanup. BP had the "highest tab for gifts to government officials" of all oil and gas companies:

BP and its affiliates — BP America and BP Exploration — show up in the gift reports at least 16 different times, paying for meals as well as for oil and gas industry seminars and tours of oil facilities. The cost of the gifts totaled more than $7,200.

Only two industry-funded trips took place during the first nine months of President Obama's administration. In 2004, BP paid for a group of Interior officials to visit an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The group included then-deputy secretary J. Steven Griles, who later went to prison for his role in Jack Abramoff scandal. In 2005, BP paid for travel and meals for then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then-Minerals Management Service (MMS) Director Johnnie Burton to attended the dedication ceremony of another offshore rig in the Gulf. BP also paid for officials from the EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service to visit Prudhoe Bay, Alaska over a period of several years. A recent Interior Inspector General report covering 2005 to 2007 found a "culture of lax oversight and cozy ties to industry." Since January of 2008, BP lobbyists have spent $30 million to influence legislation, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Some coastal governors have benefited from BP as well. BP and other oil companies gave Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) $1.8 million dollars for his campaign, and since the spill, he's been aggressively downplaying the disaster and encouraging people to visit his state's oily beaches. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) traveled to a BP-funded conference in Houston last month "to lobby aggressively to drill for oil and natural gas without delay." Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) dismissed potential BP negligence by calling the spill an "act of God" at a trade association funded by BP in May.

All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.

--
Scott's Contracting
314-243-1953
scottscontracting@gmail.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com