In defense of America's oil and gas industry

[peejay 327]

In defense of America's oil and gas industry

May 11,2010

Feb 26, 2009, Santa Rosa, Ecuador — A rupture in Ecuador's second-largest oil pipeline polluted the Santa Rosa river in the Amazon jungle, pouring 14,000 barrels of crude oil into the river.

June 3, 1979, Bay of Campeche off Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico. By the time the 2-mile-deep well Ixtoc I was capped in March 1980 (nine months) about

3.3 million barrels of oil had spilled into the bay. The Ixtoc I spill is No. 2 on the list of largest oil spills of all time. (NOAA)

Never heard of them? Probably not. Foreign oil spills aren't subject to the U.S. press corps, cable news or U.S. regulations governing crude oil.

So if an oil spill is out of sight of the media, was there a spill?

Protestors are saying "I told you so" and "stop drilling off our coast" with regards to BP's tragedy. Oil spills know no political boundaries. If a spill of this size happened off the coast of Cuba or Mexico and headed for Miami or Galveston, it would be just as dangerous to our Gulf Coast as this spill.

The oil companies are among the most heavily regulated industries in the U.S. today.

The operators of production platforms and people manning the rigs receive intense training. Yearly, in many cases. This training focuses on environmental stewardship, well control, as well as production safety systems training.

An oilfield worker uses instruments out of a science lab and can tell you the parts per million of oil his overboard water has.

Can you find the federal regulations which govern your workplace? An oilfield worker can. He can find answers in Title 30 Code of Federal Regulations 250 almost as fast as you can order pizza on your iPhone.

The modern oilfield worker is trained to recognize dangers, follow safe work procedures and challenge what he perceives as bad practices. He won't just follow blindly. He knows he's accountable to the law and considers the consequences of his actions.

U.S. offshore oil is under the jurisdiction of Department of the Interior. The actual representatives doing inspections are the Minerals Management Service.

The MMS, as we call them, come out at least annually to do facility inspections. They also do unannounced inspections. It's their job to make sure that we are running our structures right. These inspectors are oil field hands themselves and know how a platform is supposed to run.

Their job's to make sure our platforms are safe, don't pose any threat to us or the environment. And that we're good stewards of these natural resources.

The MMS also inspects drilling rigs. It generally inspects the rigs more frequently because of the activities. These inspectors are former rig hands and know their stuff also.

Remember China toys loaded with lead?

These manufactures promised they'd self regulate and obey U.S. regulations.

So do we really want to stop U.S. companies from drilling off our coast? You try and anticipate every contingency. Sometimes the unforeseen happens.

Let's find out what happened, fix the problem, learn from it, repair the damage and move forward. America still needs America's oil.

Charles Larriviere is an instructor for a major oil company. He is a lifelong resident of the area and has lived in Scott, LA 30 years.

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20100511/OPINION/5110317/1014/OPINION/In-defense-of-America-s--oil-and-gas-industry

[Obama 2012 1,714]

well the funny thing is too, is that all these NUTS who want to stop drilling off the coast and elsewhere aren't taking into consideration the fact that China, Mexico, Vietnam, etc.. are all drilling in the Gulf and elsewhere as well. - Do we really think they are going to stop?

Are we seriously willing to hinder our supply and hurt costs just because of a few enviromentalist whackos who think the US is evil for drilling oil and needs to stop, while continuing to allow everyone else to do it?

Let's be a little more realistic about this....

[peejay 327]

well the funny thing is too, is that all these NUTS who want to stop drilling off the coast and elsewhere aren't taking into consideration the fact that China, Mexico, Vietnam, etc.. are all drilling in the Gulf and elsewhere as well. - Do we really think they are going to stop?

Are we seriously willing to hinder our supply and hurt costs just because of a few enviromentalist whackos who think the US is evil for drilling oil and needs to stop, while continuing to allow everyone else to do it?

Let's be a little more realistic about this....

I wouldn't exactly label everyone that has concerns over the safety of offshore drilling and production as wackos (although some clearly are and have their agendas). In light of the recent BP incident even people that are in the industry know that a new assessment must be undertaken and changes have to be made. Clearly the technology was not adequate for the deepwater frontier that these companies are moving into. Both government and the industry was not adequately prepared. Drilling in the heavily explored shallow waters of the shelf is far different than in the relatively new frontiers of deepwater. It presents new and greater technological challenges than on the relatively shallow continental shelf that has had decades of successful and safe exploration and production.

My point is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I just hope that some of the kneejerk reactions I have read and heard do not turn into kneejerk actions, but changes must be made so we can move forward instead of backward.

[Ban Hammer 14,364]

2nd one i knew about - the campeche oil spill.