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Aramco Boosts Dividends, But it Can Ill-Afford to Do So

Aramco Boosts Dividends, But it Can Ill-Afford to Do So

Despite experiencing a significant decline…

Wayne Madsen

Wayne Madsen

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist. He has written for The Village Voice, The Progressive, Counterpunch, Online Journal, CorpWatch,…

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Obama Administration Knew About Deepwater Horizon 35,000 Feet Well Bore

President Obama and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were informed that BP would drill an unprecedented 35,000 feet well bore at the Macondo site off the coast of Louisiana. In September 2009, the Deepwater Horizon successfully sunk a well bore at a depth of 35,055 below sea level at the Tiber Prospect in the Keathley Canyon block 102 in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of Houston.

During the September drilling operations, the Deepwater Horizon drill penetrated a massive undersea oil deposit but BP's priorities changed when the Macondo site in the Mississippi Canyon off the coast of Louisiana was found to contain some 3-4 billion barrels of oil in an underground cavern estimated to be about the size of Mount Everest. It was as a result of another 35,000 feet well bore sank by the Deepwater Horizon at the Macondo site that the catastrophic explosion occurred on April 20.

According to the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) sources within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Pentagon and Interior and Energy Departments told the Obama Administration that the newly-discovered estimated 3-4 billion barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico would cover America's oil needs for up to eight months if there was a military attack on Iran that resulted in the bottling up of the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, resulting in a cut-off of oil to the United States from the Persian Gulf.

Obama, Salazar, Chu, and Gates green-lighted the risky Macondo drilling operation from the outset, according to WMR's government sources.

WMR learned that BP was able to have several safety checks waved because of the high-level interest by the White House and Pentagon in tapping the Gulf of Mexico bonanza find in order to plan a military attack on Iran without having to be concerned about an oil and natural gas shortage from the Persian Gulf after an outbreak of hostilities with Iran.

BP still has an ongoing operation to drill down to 40,000 feet below sea level at the Liberty field off the north coast of Alaska.

By. The Wayne Madsen Report for OilPrice.com - The no.1 source for oil prices


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  • Anonymous on June 22 2010 said:
    Wayne,Why pull numbers out of the air? It is well known that the Macondo well was drilled to a depth of slightly over 18,000 feet as measured from the rig floor. I am a retired oil industry engineer and offer my editorial services to keep you from making gross and and silly mistakes. My hourly fee is nominal. Less than an average attorney.
  • Anonymous on June 22 2010 said:
    Y'all must be drinkin' the black gold! I would give y'all some credibility if y'all would give me anmd all of us readers the direct references in say, the K. Salazar's filed paperwork or even the MMS filed acceptance of the deep well description. so what to make of this? Y'all either have a massiver cover up according to your implied theory or y'all are smokin' some mighty powerful weed. ACEMAN
  • Anonymous on June 23 2010 said:
    To the thumbs up for Kenneth Robbins (wayne) what the world needs at this time are people of knowledge and from the industries to resolve the problems, not the Masonic New World Order War games. People Power generates results. Experts need to demand the fix! This is the American way. Presidents and Politics create the problem.
  • Anonymous on June 23 2010 said:
    When the self proclaimed paid shill "experts" and the jewsual "name callers" are the first on a thread you know there is something they are worried about. :eek:
  • Anonymous on June 24 2010 said:
    you sure about that ken?In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 ft (10,683 m) and measured depth of 35,055 ft (10,685 m).[11]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon
  • Anonymous on June 24 2010 said:
    Interesting, Wayne, but how does this square with the film "The Knowing" that provides clear forewarning of the rig exploding, and on April 20, no less....a date that lives in infamy as the birthday of Adolph Hitler.
  • Anonymous on June 24 2010 said:
    Okay, so we know that the 'leaders' at the highest level of government -- policy makers, environmental, science, military, and government decision makers --- knew and permitted this nightmare well to be drilled. They were so focused, according to this article, on their own agenda to go to war, that all else be damned. All those listed in this article has having participated in this nightmare should resign because they clearly are unfit to fulfill the duties of their office. If they won't resign in disgrace than Obama should fire them all and start with an intelligent team of agency heads. Even after they willingly participated allowing this well to be done with special insider favors of waving inspections, once the crisis was created they have zero wisdom on how to FIX the mess. Acid rain is already reported as far north as Tennessee! Hope and Change --- God, I hope things don't get worse...
  • Anonymous on June 24 2010 said:
    There had to be a connection to Israel and Iran somewhere in all this BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill fiasco.
  • Anonymous on June 25 2010 said:
    I question everything that our government, media, and corporations do, ever since 9/11. However, with all the information that is flying around on the news and internet sites, today. If I don't see "smoking gun proof". I don't really take everything that I see to heart anymore. I think that every article needs to be backed up with concrete evidence. If not it gets put in the "more BS pile". Don't you think?
  • Anonymous on June 27 2010 said:
    [quote name="Kenneth Robbins"]Wayne,Why pull numbers out of the air? It is well known that the Macondo well was drilled to a depth of slightly over 18,000 feet as measured from the rig floor. I am a retired oil industry engineer.....-----------------------------------------Sorry, the correct depth is 35,000 not 18,000 as you indicate:Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) announced that its ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Deepwater Horizon recently drilled the deepest oil and gas well ever while working for BP and its co-owners on the Tiber well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Working with BP, the Transocean crews on the Deepwater Horizon drilled the well to 35,050 vertical depth and 35,055 feet measured depth (MD), or more than six miles, while operating in 4,130 feet of water. Source: http://www.deepwater.com/fw/main/IDeepwater-Horizon-i-Drills-Worlds-Deepest-Oil-and-Gas-Well-419C151.html

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