/ Oil Spills

• Just How Much Oil is Leaking into the Gulf

  The question of the week seems to be just how much oil is leaking from the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico. I have steered away from the controversy over these dueling estimates until now, because I didn't think I had anything relevant to add. But this mystery has intrigued me for days, particularly as the gap between the official estimate and those from outside scientists grew to alarming--and suspicion-provoking--proportions. How can there be such a wide disparity on something that seems like it should be so simple, and who is right, or at least closer to right? Two…

• A Detailed Guide of BP’s plan to Stop the Oil Spill: The Top Kill

  The next attempt to shut off the flow from the leaking BP well in the Gulf is still aimed to occur early Wednesday. The attempt will use the “top kill” method to try and kill the well. While I have described this in earlier posts, the Unified Command have put out a video animation of the process, and there was an earlier diagram. So I am going to use these, which are simplified explanations, with some additional comments and tie it in to more facts that came out of briefings today, to try and give a more detailed explanation. Here…

• Could There Be A Bright Side To the Gulf of Mexico Disaster

  Although the US petroleum industry is understandably in a state of panic after the recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico and some, both friend and foe, have even resorted to outrageous speculation that the accident would mean “the end of offshore oil,” there is an optimistic take to the events. Properly handled by the industry and credible experts, it may educate the American public – who, during the past few years, have become bigger and bigger victims of ideologically driven misinformation – on the realities of energy production. The April 20 blowout of a BP well that was drilled…

• White House Covers Up Menacing Oil "Blob"

  In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at…

• Is There Rehab for This Oil Overdose? Black Tar Has Just Taken on a Whole New Meaning

  It’s been almost a month since the sirens of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico lacerated the night with tortured warnings of impending doom. Chief electronic technician Mike Williams, who nearly perished in the catastrophe, recounted in excruciating detail on CBS’s 60 Minutes on May 16 the horror of that night and the appalling negligence that contributed to the worst human-made disaster in recorded history. Essentially what Williams tells us is that the Deep Water drilling operation was under unparalleled pressure to drill faster and deeper, cutting corners and defying essential aspects of the industry’s…

• Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Who to Believe?

  As we enter a week without further news as to whether BP's efforts to place a containment vessel over the oil leak in the subsurface, two news articles were published... http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100514/D9FMI8SG1.html Discusses that more than 35% of the spill has evaporated and 10% has been sopped up.  This because the crude is light, meaning it is dominated by short chain hydrocarbons, and thus much lighter than water with a strong propensity to float.  However, scientists disagree. Although I am sure there is a consensus somewhere that we will hear about shortly, especially if tied to massive research spending by the government…

• U.S. to Restructure Offshore Drilling Regulatory Agency in Wake of Oil Spill

  The Obama administration said it will restructure the little-known agency overseeing offshore drilling, splitting is regulatory oversight duties from its lease management responsibilities – a joint task critics say is rife with conflict of interest. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will separate the safety and environmental enforcement activities of the Minerals Management Service into a separate, independent entity, after the agency has been blamed for decisions that may have led to the accident at Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  “The job of ensuring energy companies are following the law and protecting…

• 8 Long Term Economic and Environmental Effects of the Gulf Oil Spill

  As oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico at a staggering rate, many are now starting to realize that the pain from this oil spill will be felt not just for months or years - but for decades.  At least 4.2 million gallons of oil (and some estimates put the total at far higher than that) are already in the Gulf of Mexico causing untold damage to the ecologically fragile Louisiana coast.  The oil has already made contact with the Chandeleur Islands off of the coast of Louisiana, and over the next few days more areas are expected…

• Oil Spills: More Oil is Released Naturally Than from Human Errors

  The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound released 10.8 million gallons of oil -- or almost 250,000 barrels of oil. But natural oil seeps off California release up to 80 times that amount. And natural seeps in the Gulf of Mexico release twice the amount as the Exxon Valdez every year. The Transocean oil spill may eventually match that of the Exxon Valdez -- if it continues leaking at the current rate for the next month or two or more. Politicians and environmentalists are already declaring states of emergency, but better technology may yet break up the…

• The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster

  WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster." Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BP's…