So who are we upset with ?
I have so far refrained from comment or criticism over the oil spill in the Gulf. I know huge companies involved have this responsibility to do everything they can to fix this disaster of monstrous proportions. As a result BP are quickly facing fierce criticism from oil consumers around the world - how ironic is that? - from the very consumers who moan when gas prices are high!
But today I felt the urge to comment about this after I came across this report in Business Week:
"If the top kill method fails to halt the spill, BP has “a series of activities that we will do to kill the well for good,” BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said today in an interview broadcast on CNN.
The “best minds” available are focused on the oil flow which, he said, “is catastrophic” for the Gulf region and the company."
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-23/epa-chief-goes-to-louisiana-as-bp-battles-oil-spill-update1-.html
WHAT?????????
Did I understand they are taking approaches to keep the well alive at the cost of destroying the gulf? I think if we join the dots here my intuition says they have been doing everything possible to keep this damaged well functioning at a deadly cost. This dates back to one of my earlier posts when gulf oil was discovered in the Gulf. BP Makes Giant Discovery in the Gulf of Mexico (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a44RUTBIl_3Q). I was talking about the question of reaching peak oil discovery and how this well was being factored into the calculation on numbers to keep the oil discovery production trajectory a-float for a while longer (before declines start to really show). I believe if this well is lost, it will add to the decline in future years sooner, even if we do have extra time due to a recession reducing demand for now.
I think this oil spill represents a big moment for humanity. I think we have finally reached peak oil production and this graphic mess [an oil leak] has clearly shown to the world what it is what we depend on. If we get angry there is only so far we can get angry, as we are all dependent on this oil. While we are reducing global oil demand significantly due to a bad economy caused by a tainted finance industry, the price of oil remains low. This has positive impact to the consumer but it also reduces funds for oil companies to discover more oil fields to put them into production.
Europe is in turmoil and this is not going to increase oil demand any time soon. It is a question of time before this convenient problem goes away....
If the numbers are correct (on how much oil is being spilled into the gulf) then this is how much oil has gone into the ocean to date:
BP says 5,000 per day (enough to power North America for a few minutes)
That would equal to 16 million gallons (388 thousand barrels) of oil since the well started gushing out. That amount is enough to power North America for a few minutes and by June that would equal the entire load of the Exon Valdes spill in Alsaka (enough to power North America for 1/2 half an hour).
I don't have much to conclude except to say the voice of environmentalists about are a reality. This reality has started to show up (literaly) on our door steps (fish markets, holiday vacation spots) and everything we do will require oil BP are currently trying to rescue at the cost of millions of people's livelihoods. This is wrong and I have reason to believe there is a lot of political assessment going on behind the scenes (this whole picture including peak oil) and it is going to require rocket science of epic proportions making NASA look like hobbyists . The damage we see today is a sign of the times we live and speaks volumes on behalf of the environmentalists who have been warning about this for a very very long time!
Sorry to bring itup. This is just my opinion and I believe we are in good hands with the current government in the US but I hope the disaster rings sense into most people for once and for all or else we really are going to find ourselves in trouble.
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