Archive for September 26th, 2005


Oil production damage in the Gulf from Rita

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 21:40 - Category: Unfiled ;

Rita may have
landed at Sabine Pass as a category 3 hurricane but she plowed through
Gulf of Mexico offshore oilfields at a Category 5 level knocking down jackup rigs and setting deepwater floating rigs adrift.

As storm generated seas rose to meet the US Gulf continental shelf
drilling rigs and fixed production platforms were severely damaged and
in some cases sunk.

The hull of the Rowan Louisiana was found aground on the Louisiana
coastline. The Halifax and Odessa were moved off of their drilling
locations sustaining undetermined damages.

Noble Drilling’s semi-submersible rig Max Smith was dealt a one-two
punch, first hit by Hurricane Rita and then by Chevron’s Typhoon. The
rig was under contract to BHP at Green Canyon 238 when she was blown
off location and straight into Chevron’s Tension Leg Platform named
(irony upon irony) “Typhoon.” The collision broke the Tension Leg
Platform cables setting the “Typhoon” lose and ultimately capsizing the
TLP.

If these early reports are any
indication of the total offshore facilities damage caused by Rita,
natural gas and oil prices will be moving up smartly to new highs in
the weeks ahead.

Link via TheOilDrum, who notes

Our insider
reports: “in the initial assessment, multiple rigs are missing and no
word on platforms yet.” (it’s early days on this…there’s 4k+ rigs out
there)

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Oil rises on concern refineries to shut longer than expected

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 20:28 - Category: Unfiled ;

Crude oil and
gasoline futures rose for a second day in New York on speculation that
hurricane- damaged refineries near the Texas-Louisiana border may be shut longer than expected, straining U.S. fuel supplies.

Valero Energy Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, said its Port
Arthur, Texas, plant may be closed for as long as four weeks. Six other
refineries may stay closed because of a lack of power and damage from
winds or flooding. Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was completely
shut after Hurricane Rita swept through the area on Sept. 24.

“There’s probably one or two more hurricanes on their way that will
come in the next two to three weeks in America,” said Ong Eng Tong, a
Singapore-based consultant for German oil trading Mabanaft
International GmbH.

Why is it that mainstream media is just now catching on to the refinery damage when this was obvious to anyone reading TheOilDrum
as far back as Saturday? All the info was already out there, but
mainstream media was too busy whistling in the dark to report it,
I guess.

They did the same with Katrina. The day after, the reports were all
perky and chipper, gee the damage wasn’t too bad was it. Then, a day
later, oh, New Orleans is flooded, isn’t it?

It’s not just refinery damage from Rita, the news from the
Texas/Louisiana border is grim indeed, and quite different from the
initial smiley face reports

The hurricane slammed low-lying fishing villages, shrimping ports and ranches with water up to 9 feet deep. Seawater pushed as far as 20 miles inland, drowning acres of rice, sugarcane fields and pasture.

P.S. From Beaumont, Texas

County Judge Carl Griffith said today he has become so frustrated with the federal relief effort that he has instructed all local officials to use police force if they have to to take supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“If you have enough policemen to take it from them, take it,” Griffith said.

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Criticism without grasp of facts

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 11:54 - Category: Unfiled ;

Sue responds to a silly comment to a post here saying the ANSWER Coalition, primary organizer of the nationwide Sept. 24 antiwar rallies, has a “heavy male emphasis.”

Huh?

“Heavy” meaning predominantly? ANSWER has a 50:50 split as to the sexes.

“Heavy” meaning machoism? That must be why young women call the organizing shots in D.C.

While Brian Becker is the national co-ordinator of ANSWER, young women run the
national office in DC and did much of the heavy lifting organizing the
Sept. 24 DC demo. Without them, DC would not have been the huge success
it was.

“Heavy” meaning pounds avoirdupois? Most of the men in ANSWER are slim. Probably all that active-ism.

“Heavy” as in mood? They’re more positive about the future than I am,
because they think people can change … as opposed to feeling
depressed and hopeless because “people suck.”

It’s instructive to note that many who claim knowledge about ANSWER
have never actually been to an ANSWER meeting, much less help organize
an event.

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Pigs at the trough. No-bid contracts, cost overruns, shoddy work

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 08:17 - Category: Unfiled ;


New Orleans

More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited competition, government records show, provoking concerns among auditors and government officials about the potential for favoritism or abuse.

Already, questions have been raised about the political connections of two major contractors - the Shaw Group and Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - that have been represented by the lobbyist Joe M. Allbaugh, President Bush’s former campaign manager and a former leader of FEMA.



Bungled Iraq oil recovery. More no-bid contracts


The failure to rebuild key components of Iraq’s petroleum industry has impeded oil production and may have permanently damaged the largest of the country’s vast oil fields, American and Iraqi experts say.

The troubles have been compounded in some cases by security issues, poor maintenance and disputes between the U.S. and its main contractor, Houston-based KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp.

The article then details three no-bid contracts that KBR has botched, making obscene profits all the way, no doubt. We are seeing a gigantic shift of money with little or no oversight from public funds to a tiny number of already wealthy elites who apparently can’t be bothered to even pretend to do a competent job. This is a kleptocracy, pure and simple.

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A new day in Northern Ireland

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 08:07 - Category: Unfiled ;

IRA arms decommissioned.



All remaining weapons have been decommissioned, ending the IRA’s military struggle against the British, watchdog confirms.

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Sharply higher oil and natural gas coming?

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 00:21 - Category: Unfiled ;

Dr. Michael Economides,
well-known oil expert (and hardcore neocon) predicts $100 a barrel oil
and $20 per McF of natural gas by Christmas. He called $65 a barrel oil
correctly a while back…

Reasons: Katrina and Rita clobbered production, increasing demand in
the US and abroad, not enough refineries, tensions between the US and
major producing countries of Iran and Venezuela, decreased Russian
production, and more.

All these factors have combined to form what Economides called a “perfect storm — a double Category 5 perfect storm”
to drive prices higher. And next month, he predicted, oil companies
will have a major public relations disaster on their hands as they
begin reporting historically high third quarter profits that will be
“obscene even by our obscene standards.”

Story via TheOilDrum

Also from TheOilDrum, this fascinating pdf from DOE detailing the damage.

100% of GOM (Gulf of Mexico production) out, 20% of the country’s refineries down, Henry Hub down.

The Henry Hub is a major transmission line for natural gas in
Louisiana. Natural gas at the Henry Hub is the basis for NYMEX futures
prices, that’s how important the Henry Hub is.

and

The 17-miles of road leading to the LOOP terminal are still underwater.

That’s the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port,
“LOOP provides tanker offloading and temporary storage services for
crude oil transported on some of the largest tankers in the world. Most
tankers offloading at LOOP are too large for U.S. inland ports.”

Oddly, oil was down Sunday so either the markets are acting
irrationally or there’s major governmental intervention to keep prices
down - an intervention that can’t last long and won’t work.

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Global warming? You better believe it

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 00:13 - Category: Unfiled ;

As the media screams about the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the question becomes how many more times does America need to be knocked to the canvas before we answer the bell on global warming.

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About that mayhem in NOLA

Bob Morris @ Sep 26th 2005 00:12 - Category: Unfiled ;

Remember the reports of violence in NOLA at the Superdome and Convention Center? Well, it never happened.

Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated
Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated
6 bodies found at Dome; 4 at Convention Center

“I think 99 percent of it is bulls—,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jason
Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside
the Dome. “Don’t get me wrong, bad things happened, but I didn’t see
any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything. …
Ninety-nine percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved.”

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