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BP Still Paying For Deepwater Horizon Blowout

More Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill A little over three years ago – April 20, 2010, to be exact – a drilling rig named the Deepwater Horizon was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico when an explosion occurred and created one of the largest oil spills in history. The accident killed 11 people, and the drilling rig sank two days later on April 22. The well oozed crude oil and natural gas until for several months. On July 15, the well was temporarily plugged and completely plugged on September 19. The blowout of the Deepwater Horizon was a great tragedy in many ways. But what has happened to BP, the company that was the operator of the well, is a tragedy, too. For example, the Gulf Settlement Program, which was created to make monetary awards to people who had been harmed by the accident, has awarded millions […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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North Sea Oil Output Seen 4% Lower in January Than December

The amount of crude oil to be pumped from fields in the North Sea in January will be lower than in December, according to loading programs for the four key grades. The biggest fall will be in the Brent grade, where only five cargoes of crude will be loaded, compared with seven scheduled to load in December. Loading programs are released and circulated among oil traders and brokers, but don’t give a perfect indication of oil volumes because they can be subject to change. The total month-on-month fall will be 3.9%, according to the programs. These changes are often seasonal, and can alter dramatically if one of the four key fields — Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk — have scheduled maintenance work or need to be shut in for emergency reasons. Overall, however, production in the North Sea is in decline. To date, 41 billion barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Thousands Moved as Flooding Hits English Coastal Areas

Thousands of people were moved from English coastal areas last night and the River Thames flood barrier protecting London was closed after warnings of the worst tidal surge in 60 years. The Environment Agency said people were at risk of being swept into the sea and were removed from high-risk areas in places such as Great Yarmouth on the east coast. As of 8:22 a.m., 37 severe flood warnings had been issued for England and Wales , the agency said on its website . Seventeen of the alerts, which mean there could be danger to life, were in the Anglian region, the most easterly in England. The U.K. government has called a meeting on the storm response. “In some areas, sea levels could be higher than those during the devastating floods of 1953,” the Environment Agency said on its website. “However, flood defenses built since then mean that many […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cobra to meet as storms threaten worst UK flooding in 60 years

Winds drove seawater on to the prom in Scarborough and threatened to cause floods on the east coast Winds drove seawater on to the prom in Scarborough and threatened to cause floods on the east coast The UK prime minister has called a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee to deal with flooding along the length of the east coast that authorities fear could be the worst in 60 years. Homes were evacuated in some areas, including Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, as the Environment Agency issued 28 severe flood warnings, its highest category of alert, and said more were expected. The port of Dover, in Kent, was on high alert and warned of possible disruption to Channel ferry services. The agency said sea levels could be higher than those during the devastating floods of 1953 . “Flood defences built since then, including the Thames and Hull barriers, mean […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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BP’s learned nothing: The oil company is pursuing its riskiest strategy yet

BP’s learned nothing: The oil company is pursuing its riskiest strategy yet BP is yet to finish compensating the victims of the 2010 oil spill that killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, but the oil company isn’t about to let one major oil spill bring it down. Strapped for cash and in pursuit of bigger, deeper wells, it may be the only company capable of tapping risky reserves worth as much as $2 trillion. The AP reports : Three years [after the spill], there are a record 39 rigs drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, according to IHS Petrodata, as drillers probe enormous troves of oil in untapped formations — some of which are under especially high temperature and pressure. …Environmentalists are alarmed. “You hope (BP) has learned their lesson, but the nature of the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Water shortages may make fracking impractical, industry says

Fracking may be impractical in parts of the UK due to the scarcity of local water supplies, and in other areas will have an impact on local water resources, the water industry has admitted, in a deal struck with the oil and gas industry. The controversial process of shale gas and oil extraction uses hydraulic fracturing technology or fracking, where water and chemicals under very high pressure are blasted at dense shale rocks, opening up fissures through which the tiny bubbles of methane can be released. But the quantities of water required are very large, leading to cases in the US – where fracking is widespread – where towns and villages have run dry . In a memorandum of understanding published on Wednesday, the water trade body Water UK and the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG), which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Wind Farms Are Expensive, Subsidies Are Uncertain, Plans Are Being Curtailed

LONDON—A major European utility said Tuesday it would scrap a wind farm that was due to become the largest offshore wind project ever built, a sign of the struggles of the industry to attract investment needed to overcome huge costs and technical challenges. The Atlantic Array, in the Bristol Channel off the west coast of England, could have generated up to 1,200 megawatts of electricity, almost twice as much as the largest farm already operating in U.K. waters. But RWE said on Tuesday that continuing with the project faced problems that were “prohibitive in current market conditions.” RWE’s decision highlights the central difficulty in achieving Europe’s ambitious wind targets. Huge plans are in place, but few investors are willing to stake the billions needed to build them, in an environment where government subsidy is essential but uncertain and costs can skyrocket. The U.K. has pioneered offshore wind power, maximizing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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PM Cameron’s green gaffe sparks uproar

British advocacy group Friends of Earth said Thursday it wouldn’t be surprised if the prime minister did issue a call to back off renewable energy policies. “It would come as little surprise if David Cameron did tell aides to ditch the ‘green crap’ — his government has been attacking environmental policies for years,” Friends of Earth Policy Director Craig Bennett said in a statement. British newspaper The Sun quoted an unnamed Cameron ally as saying the prime minister made those comments in connection to levies used to support renewable energy projects but could also lead to higher consumer prices. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg dismissed the allegations Thursday, the Guardian newspaper reported. Cameron’s administration had pledged to push efforts to provide more renewable energy options to British consumers. Bennett called on the Cameron administration to fight the urge to drift back toward the “toxic” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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PM Cameron's green gaffe sparks uproar

British advocacy group Friends of Earth said Thursday it wouldn’t be surprised if the prime minister did issue a call to back off renewable energy policies. “It would come as little surprise if David Cameron did tell aides to ditch the ‘green crap’ — his government has been attacking environmental policies for years,” Friends of Earth Policy Director Craig Bennett said in a statement. British newspaper The Sun quoted an unnamed Cameron ally as saying the prime minister made those comments in connection to levies used to support renewable energy projects but could also lead to higher consumer prices. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg dismissed the allegations Thursday, the Guardian newspaper reported. Cameron’s administration had pledged to push efforts to provide more renewable energy options to British consumers. Bennett called on the Cameron administration to fight the urge to drift back toward the “toxic” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Rosneft discloses new $6 billion oil supply deals with BP

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s top crude oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday its board had approved deals to sell oil product cargoes to BP worth over $6 billion, on top of a previous deal to sell oil worth $5.3 billion. The Russian state-owned company said in a filing that it would sell up to 3.2 million metric tons of fuel oil to BP Singapore worth as much as $2.6 billion from the Far East ports of Nakhodka or Vanino between November 2013 and December 2014 with a possibility to lift it in 2015. Rosneft has not disclosed the timeframe for other deals, but a source familiar with the agreements, said the deliveries should be fulfilled over the next 12 or 13 months. Rosneft declined to comment further. Rosneft will also sell up to 1.44 million metric tons of diesel to BP worth as much as $1.77 billion from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple