Oil

What caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster?

by

The blowout and oil spill on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a flawed well plan that did not include enough cement between the 7-inch production casing and the 9 7/8-inch protection casing. The presumed blowout preventer (BOP) failure is an important but secondary issue. Although the resulting oil spill has potentially grave environmental implications, recent efforts to limit the flow with an insertion tube have apparently been effective. Continuous efforts to slow or stop the flow include drilling two nearby relief wells that may intersect the MC 252 wellbore within 60-90 days.

ODAC Newsletter – May 21

by

Oil prices fell below $70/barrel this week before recovering slightly. The drop reflected market nervousness about the gravity of the Euro crisis and its potential impact on the global economy, coupled with continued high US crude oil stocks. In the meantime all eyes continue to be focused on the Gulf of Mexico where challenges to BP’s estimate of the size of the oil spill is further damaging the credibility of the company…

Singularity > Climate Change > Peak Oil > Financial Crisis

by

While lying awake late at night worrying about what kind of world my children will inherit, I find it helpful to come up with schemas for the most obvious and inevitable of the large societal problems.  It makes them seem slightly more manageable to place them in order of importance, or time.  Further, being clear on what are the biggest and most important problems is an essential prerequisite to thinking about solutions: these problems all interact, and solutions to the smaller of them may not be radical enough to address the larger of them.

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Deepwater Horizon

by

Recommendations stemming from the recently announced independent Presidential Commission on the tragedy will likely have much influence on the course of deepwater drilling and thus the availability of oil in the future. Should the Commission conclude that much tougher regulation is necessary, it is difficult to see how the oil industry, even with its considerable clout in the Congress, can resist the calls for reform. Oil might just become far scarcer and more expensive five years from now than most of us think.

The relentless pursuit of extreme energy

by

Yes, the oil spewing up from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in staggering quantities could prove one of the great ecological disasters of human history.  Think of it, though, as just the prelude to the Age of Tough Oil, a time of ever increasing reliance on problematic, hard-to-reach energy sources.  Make no mistake: we’re entering the danger zone.  And brace yourself, the fate of the planet could be at stake.

News from the Gulf Spill: Exxon good, BP bad

by

One of the most stunning outcomes of the now month-long oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the utter reversal of corporate images it has generated. At once, Exxon — for two decades tarred as the callous, greedy and dirty culprit in the Valdez oil spill in Alaska — is regarded in expert circles as the squeaky clean, state-of-the-art, cutting-edge model of safe, environmentally friendly oil drilling. And BP — which spent tens of millions of dollars under former CEO John Brown successfully branding itself as the green, publicly interested conscience of the industry — is now the poster child of the devil-may-care, dollar-grubbing, environmentally and labor unfriendly oil company.