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A series of oil finds reported to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency on Tuesday demonstrated once again the immense promise the country holds for global oil companies. In a series of filings to the ANP, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro separately said they found oil off the coast of South America's largest country. Details about the latest discoveries were limited because of the nature of the routine filings, but the finds continued a recent string of positive discoveries offshore Brazil. Oil companies operating in Brazil are required to inform the ANP within 24 to 48 hours...

The head of Royal Dutch Shell's U.S. operations is taking a realistic perspective on the lifting of the federal ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum said Friday that while he's optimistic drilling activity could take place off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in the years ahead, there are still major challenges ahead that could prevent new production, including another Congressional moratorium. The Senate is later in the day expected to lift the decades-old ban on offshore drilling after the House earlier this week was forced by to let the historic moratorium expire...

Congress made a major environmental shift last week when lawmakers dropped a 26-year ban on new offshore oil drilling off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The vote Wednesday in the House – and in the Senate on Saturday – dismayed environmentalists and delighted oil companies. Yet experts on all sides of the debate say it will be years – if ever – before any new drilling comes to California. A buzz saw of political opposition, certain lawsuits and existing marine protections all combine to make California perhaps the most difficult place in America to build new offshore oil platforms. Texas...

Offshore oil spigot still years awayBy: Associated Press Texarkana Gazette Published: 09/28/2008 WASHINGTON—The welcome sign is going out to oil and gas companies off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. A quarter-century ban on offshore exploration expires in this coming week, but don’t expect to see a chain of drilling platforms from the beaches anytime soon. It will take a couple of years, at least, before any oil or natural gas leases are issued, years more before any oil is found and perhaps a decade before any of it begins to flow to refineries. And what if Congress, after completing a...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats will allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey is telling reporters that language continuing the moratorium will be omitted this year from a spending bill to keep the government in operating funds after Congress recesses for the election.

Democrats introduced a 290-page energy bill at 9:45 p.m. Monday night which passed 236-189 Tuesday evening -- just over 24 hours after the bill was filed. The bill reportedly did not go through any committees or subcommittees, and Democratic leaders are not allowing a single amendment to be offered. If passed by both houses, the bill would keep 80 percent to 88 percent of known domestic reserves permanently off limits.

Pride International reports that the Pride Wyoming, a 250-foot mat slot jackup rig operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is missing and expected to be a total loss following Hurricane Ike. The rig's last location was at Ship Shoal 283, approximately 90 miles south of Houma, Louisiana. All rig personnel had been safely evacuated prior to the arrival of the storm. The company noted that the insured value of the rig is $45 million, with a $20 million loss retention. In addition, the company is fully insured for costs associated with the removal of wreckage, if necessary. Air reconnaissance...

Large and dangerous Hurricane Ike approaching the Upper Texas coast. Mandatory evacuations began in earnest Thursday as an estimated one million coastal residents headed inland. There were widespread reports of gas stations running out of fuel. The National Weather Service posted dire storm surge predictions of 20-25 ft storm surge along the coast and bay heads. Hurricane warnings covered a 400 mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico. Wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday, or nearly $1 a gallon, out of fear of what Ike might do. Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours Discussion Updated every 6 hours Buoy...

Chevron agreed to a 99 percent increase in the daily lease rate for a Transocean rig used to drill oil wells off the coast of Angola. Chevron will pay $195,000 a day for the Trident XIV rig under the terms of a one-year contract extension that begins in May, Houston-based Transocean said last week. Chevron has been renting the vessel since June 2006 for $98,000 a day. Chevron has $6.3 billion in ongoing projects in Angola, including the offshore Tombua Landana development, which is scheduled to begin pumping oil next year. The West African nation was Chevron's third-largest source of...

Katrina showed uneven damages, some that spoke to structures' faults When Hurricane Katrina roared through the Gulf of Mexico three years ago, it ripped the drilling rig atop Royal Dutch Shell's Mars platform from its clamps and slammed it back onto the top deck in a crumpled pile of steel. But as 80-foot waves and 175-mph winds hammered the Mars platform, Shell's Ursa platform, just 7 1/2 miles to the east, emerged unscathed. A storm doesn't necessarily wreak havoc on all installations it touches, said Peter Marshall, a retired Shell engineer and consultant, as Gulf operators continued preparations Thursday for...

We need to tell our Representatives and our Senators who are running for reelection this year we won't vote for them unless they vote to authorize drilling for oil in Alaska, off shore, in national parks and in my back yard. I doubt that anyone would want to drill for oil in my backyard, but Congress shouldn't prevent oil companies from drilling for oil where ever it may be. Drilling for new oil is part of the solution for the emerging fuel shortage. Another part is development of alternative biofuels. Backward Democrats oppose drilling for new oil because it might...

The Democratic and Republican conventions have arrived amidst a litany of calls for government-sponsored energy projects on the level of Apollo. Despite progress in fields from solar to wind and batteries to biofuels, Popular Mechanics’ editor-in-chief says Americans should be careful what we wish for—scientists have more to offer than politicians.By James B. MeigsPublished in the October 2008 issue. (Illustration by Josh Cochran) Suddenly, everyone has a plan. Veteran oilman T. Boone Pickens is spending millions promoting his proposal to replace foreign oil with massive wind farms and increased natural-gas production. Sen. Barack Obama proposes spending $150 billion over the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that expanded oil drilling in federal waters could be included in a broader energy bill if advocates can prove its viability as a solution to America's energy problems. Pelosi, a California Democrat who reversed her outright opposition to expanded offshore drilling earlier this month, said the oil industry and its allies in Congress must also agree to royalties on oil profits to fund the development of renewable energy resources. She criticized President George W. Bush and other Republicans for presenting offshore drilling as an answer to the...

NEW ORLEANS – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that the Western Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 207, held today in New Orleans, attracted $487,297,676 in high bids. The sale was conducted by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) and had 53 companies submitting 423 bids on 319 tracts comprising over 1.8 million acres offshore Texas. The sum of all bids received totaled $607,134,968. “In the midst of the national discussion about energy production, the activity at today’s sale signals that the offshore oil and gas industry is serious about developing our Nation’s resources,” said Interior Secretary...

Open the California coast and the offshore waters of Florida and the Carolinas to new oil drilling and prices at the pump will drop, contends Republican presidential candidate John McCain. And Democratic rival Barack Obama soon after eases his opposition to offshore drilling, with the same hope. All this despite warnings from the federal Energy Information Agency that even wide-open offshore drilling wouldn't influence gas prices for at least 10 years. Meanwhile, the reality of oil refining on the West Coast over the last 20 years makes it plain that producing new oil off California will probably never impact pump...

Pelosi’s Reichstag Fire or Liberum Veto? On August 1, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dissolved Congress to prevent debate, let alone a vote, on repeal of laws against offshore oil exploration. Was Pelosi’s motive to deliberately damage the U.S. economy, destroy jobs, and perpetuate hardships (like high gasoline prices and high food prices) for the American middle class to get desperate Americans to vote for “change,” much as desperate Germans voted for “change” in the early 1930s?It is well known that a bad economy works against the incumbent party. Even though Herbert Hoover did not cause the Great Depression–this was the...

When a majority of Californians signal to pollsters their support for offshore oil drilling, something dramatic is occurring. In this case, it is the price of gasoline lurching toward $5 a gallon. Suddenly, Americans have awakened with a hangover to their perilous reliance on foreign oil, which has escalated alarmingly since the oil shocks of three decades ago. Since the first Arab embargo in 1973, dependence on imported petroleum has jumped from 25 percent of U.S. consumption to 70 percent. Apart from the far-reaching national security implications of this strategic vulnerability, American consumers now find themselves at the mercy of...

While channel surfing last night, I caught this moveon.org attack ad aimed at GOP nominee in waiting John McCain: The ad features a middle-aged man sitting a table. He speaks to the camera: "Senator McCain, you let me and my kids down. From the very beginning, I told them, 'This is a principled guy.' So when you said you were going to help make driving affordable again, I believed you. Then your idea is to do offshore drilling, which I find out won't produce much oil for ten years and then barely save us any money anyway. That's not a...

House Speaker adjourns Congress to prevent debate on offshore drilling that could give U.S. relief from oil prices. The Democratic Party advertises itself as the party of the “working person” while denouncing Republicans as the party of “the rich.” In Northeast Pennsylvania, the Democrats still hold to their tradition of standing up for the working person. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, just did her best to destroy American jobs, maintain high oil prices (which translate into higher prices for necessities like food, heat, and work-related transportation), and keep the stock market on a downward path. It is well known that a...

Frustrated by Washington's election-year failure to address painfully high energy prices, lawmakers from both parties are teaming up to push for more drilling offshore. Bypassing their own congressional leaders and committee chairs, coalitions in both the House and Senate are cobbling together compromise energy plans they hope will generate a groundswell of public support and force Congress and the White House to take concrete action to address the nation's energy crisis. "People's frustrations are boiling over," said Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford. "They're getting tired of the finger pointing and saying, 'Where are the solutions?' " Today, a group of about...

Petróleos Mexicanos will pay $484,000 a day to Noble Corp. for an oil rig that will allow the company to drill in waters up to 7,000 feet deep for the first time. Pemex, as Mexico's state oil company is known, will take delivery of the Noble Max Smith rig in August under a three-year contract, Noble Corp. said in a statement. The rig is being moved to Mexico from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico following upgrades and maintenance

NEW YORK — Painfully high vehicle- and jet-fuel prices are propelling popular demands for extracting the estimated 18 billion barrels of petroleum beneath America's coastal waters. After rescinding previous executive-branch objections, President Bush said July 14, "The only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." Capitol Hill Democrats claim offshore drilling poses unacceptable ecological risks. This is yet another overblown worry. Democrats and other environmental naysayers cite the 80,000 barrels that spilled six miles off of Santa Barbara, inundating beaches and aquatic life. This hydrocarbon Hindenburg haunts the memories of...

Leadership: When it comes to giving relief at the pump by drilling for more oil, this is truly a "do-nothing" Democratic Congress. President Bush should give 'em hell like Harry Truman did. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states that the president "may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses" of Congress. On more than two dozen occasions in our history, presidents have done just that, forcing the Senate and House of Representatives to meet on extraordinary matters of defense or economic peril. Sixty years ago this month, President Truman called such a special session to shame into action what...

With the five-week August recess just nine days away, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her colleagues in the Democratic leadership are doing everything they can to keep Members from having to vote on more American energy production to help lower gas prices.  Their months-long campaign of inaction in the face of soaring gas prices not only pits Democratic leaders against the American people – who support more production as part of any comprehensive energy plan – but it also pits them against an increasing number of rank-and-file Members of their own party.  This morning’s Politico details the Democrats’ strategy...

Drill for oil off the California coast? ( )Yes, need all the domestic supplies we can get ( )No, just look at Santa Barbara's beaches ( )A limited amount in most promising fields Current results (4:13pm Pacific time): 573 votes: Yes: 33% No: 62% Limited: 6%

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Sunday strongly criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for not allowing a vote on a measure that would allow offshore drilling. While acknowledging that Pelosi can prevent such a vote, Blunt said the Democratic leader would have to live with that decision, which he argued “does not make sense to the American people.” “When we’re talking about offshore, we’re talking about 50, 100, 200 miles offshore,” Blunt said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “Nobody's going to see that. This is an environmentally safe thing to do.” Earlier in the program, Pelosi had stated in a...

President Bush continues to turn up the heat on Congress over its refusal, so far, to lift a ban on offshore drilling that covers much of the nation's coasts. The president's latest salvo came Monday when he rescinded an executive ban on oil and gas drilling, signed by his father in 1990. "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress," President Bush said during a Rose Garden appearance. The executive ban was one of two roadblocks that have for decades protected our fragile beaches from possible...

The Crude Truth July 17, 2008 Most politicians, and all liberal politicians, are a disgrace to the concepts of good governance.  James Madison warned us about this in Federalist No. 10 when he cautioned that, “Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” Today, in lieu of “enlightened statesmen”, American governance is dominated by Mini-Me Machiavellis adept at obtaining and retaining power for the sole purpose of...obtaining and retaining power. Good governance, or shepherding the will and best interests of the citizenry, has nothing to do with it. Immediately after John McCain admitted the previous error of his ways and voiced support for...

Only Liberals Could Believe Government Good at Predicting Prices Whenever conservatives push for developing more domestic energy, liberals respond by saying increased oil production, whether from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) or Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), would have no effect on prices. And they always trot out the same Energy Information Administration reports predicting that opening up ANWR would decrease the price of a barrel of oil by only 41 cents by 2026. For liberals, such precise predictions of commodity prices decades from now only build faith in the government’s numbers. Conservatives know better. Conservatives know that if the...

A common response of the Democrats when confronted with citizens advocating for increased offshore drilling is that the results are "years off into the future" and therefore any relief on gas prices would be unlikely-at least in any sort of time frame that matters to voters right now. They are wrong on many measures-foremost among them is that the same obstruction deprived Americans all these years of domestic production which would have been in place but for Democratic opposition. Also future prices would respond to the prospect of increased oil supplies and this would have a depressive effect on oil...

Few Americans paid much attention last year when Cuban President Fidel Castro announced China would help explore potentially large oil reserves off Cuba's northwest coast - not far from the Florida Keys. "We sit here watching China exploit a valuable energy resource within eyesight of the U.S. coast," said. Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican. "I think the American public would be shocked - as this country is trying to reduce dependence on Middle East oil - that countries like China are realizing this energy resource." Thus there has been considerable excitement about fields off the northwest Cuban coast that...

Good news today from Virginia on offshore drilling. HB6006, a bill that would allow vital oil and natural gas exploration off the Virginia coastline, passed the House of Delegates by 56 to 39. A similar bill was killed last month in the Democrat controlled Senate on a party line vote. My friends, especially my fellow Virginians, those Senate Democrats are in the Kill Box. We have a tough U.S. Senate battle in November and Barry thinks he can color the state blue.

Dear Senator Durbin, I just saw your recent televised announcement, stating approximately that ‘if you picked any acre on the federal Outer Continental Shelf [OCS], it would take 8 to 14 years to see any production.’ That is simply not true. There are numerous oil fields that were discovered on the federal OCS years ago, which could produce significant quantities of oil, if the Democratic Party (at the federal, state, & local level) would simply stop its across-the-board opposition to such production. Allow me to draw your attention to this official federal government web site (which you no doubt have...

Australia's BHP has started drilling in the Gulf of Mexico Oil and gas production has started at the Neptune project in the Gulf of Mexico after being delayed from its March start-up. The Neptune production facility, operated by BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), has a design capacity of up to 50,000 barrels of oil and 50 million cubic feet of gas per day. Neptune is a tension leg platform in deep water where the floating structure is held in place by tendons fixed to the ocean floor. The delays were forecast to cost Australian partners BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum millions of...

There are two bans on drilling–one by Congress and one by an White House executive order put in place by President Bush’s father. Why won’t the son revoke that order NOW if he truly believes expanding American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf is an urgent priority. I quoted the Institute for Energy Research last week: “Mr. Bush, Tear Up That Offshore Drilling Ban.”

Va, Senate Democrats Reject New Energy Bill June 24, 2008 Richmond, VA: Virginia State Senator Frank Wagner (R - Virginia Beach) saw Senate Democrats scuttle his effort to dedicate potential royalties to transportation and environmental protection programs from any off-shore exploration and drilling of natural gas 50 miles or more off the Virginia coastline. On a straight, party line vote, Democrats voted to "pass by for the day" effectively killing Wagner's measure for this Special Session. Sixteen other Republican senators had already signed on as co-patrons of Wagner's bill. Senator Ken T. Cuccinelli, II (R - Fairfax) had introduced a...

In the hallowed halls of Florida’s government institutions, the untouchable relic of the Federal ban on offshore drilling has had homage paid to it by legislator after legislator. But Governor Charlie Crist is leading a rebellion, refusing to bow the knee to the envirolobby any longer. It used to be that any public servant in Florida who spoke on offshore drilling spoke against it. Governor Charlie Crist, an outspoken advocate of environmental conservation, has suddenly shifted the tables in the drilling debate, by advocating offshore drilling. Democrats and Republicans who still stand beholden to the envirolobby are opposing the measure,...

With oil prices climbing, U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress to end a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling on the east and west coasts. Matthew Trevisan looks at crude extraction on the high seas 1 Who owns what Staking a claim on the sea has come a long way since Pope Alexander VI drew a line in the Atlantic Ocean in 1494 and effectively divided the New World between Spain and Portugal. Five hundred years later, in 1994, under a new United Nations convention, coastal countries were awarded the right to exploit and develop all resources up...

White House Budget Director 'Should Be Muzzled,' Says ReidBy Josiah Ryan and Fred Lucas CNSNews.com Staff Writers June 20, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle "should be muzzled," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Cybercast News Service at a press conference in the Capitol on Thursday. Reid was asked by Cybercast News Service if he was worried President Bush might veto the Interior Department funding bill and then hold it hostage until Congress agreed to strip from it language that annually prohibits the department from issuing leases for offshore oil drilling. "He...

MIAMI — As the debate heats up over President Bush's call for Congress to end a decades-old ban on offshore oil drilling, the prospect of drilling off the Florida coast has drawn scrutiny to the benefits and risks of such a plan. ***** "If we as a nation can bring our own resources into this mix, we would not see the prices we're seeing right now," said Rayola Dougher, senior economic adviser for the American Petroleum Institute. "We really need all the oil and natural gas we can bring to market, and it's here — it's U.S. homegrown — and...

John McCain has drawn first blood in the political debate following Barack Obama’s victory in the primaries. His call yesterday for offshore oil drilling — and Bush’s decision to press the issue in Congress - puts the Democrats in the position of advocating the wear-your-sweater policies that made Jimmy Carter unpopular. With gas prices nearing $5, all of the previous shibboleths need to be discarded. Where once voters in swing states like Florida opposed offshore drilling, the high gas prices are prompting them to reconsider. McCain’s argument that even hurricane Katrina did not cause any oil spills from the offshore...

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may like John McCain as a presidential candidate, but not enough to drop his opposition to offshore oil drilling off the California coast. The governor told reporters Wednesday that the state would maintain its long-held stance against offshore drilling, despite the positions taken this week by both the Arizona senator and President Bush. He also suggested that scrambling for new sources of crude oil in response to the recent drastic upturn in fuel prices represented a step backward at a time when America needs to move forward in its quest for energy independence. A...

Behold, a miracle: Public anger over $4 gas is forcing at least some of our political class to confront their energy contradictions. Last week, Republicans Jim Walsh of New York and Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland -- two longstanding opponents of offshore drilling -- asked for a mulligan. We can now add John McCain to the roll: In a speech in Houston yesterday, the Senator finally came out in favor of increasing domestic energy supplies. This is progress, even if it did come dressed in some of Mr. McCain's familiar policy confusions. In the past, the Republican has been a chief...

The AP reports that John McCain said Monday the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts. With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis." McCain also suggested giving the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, as an incentive to permit exploration. McCain is half way there. This...

The AP reports that John McCain said Monday the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts. With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis." McCain also suggested giving the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, as an incentive to permit exploration. McCain is half way there. This...

Dems Depriving Americans of Offshore Oil, Say GOP LawmakersJosiah Ryan Staff Writer Jun 13 1:27 AM CNSNews.com (On the Spot) - Democrats are depriving Americans of approximately 86 billion barrels of oil that likely lie off the nation's coasts by sustaining a moratorium which bans most offshore drilling, Republican lawmakers told Cybercast News Service on Thursday. But members of the Democratic leadership told Cybercast News Service that offshore drilling would have no immediate impact on gasoline prices and would harm the environment permanently. "I have been here for 18 years, and there have been 46 votes to increase America's domestic...

Joy from rescue of 5 Aggie boaters turns grim when 6th member of capsized boat crew is found dead amid wreckage A day that started with the joyous rescue of five crew members of a Texas A&M University at Galveston sailboat closed with the somber discovery of the sixth sailor's body in the wreckage of the sunken ship. Roger Stone, whose body was recovered by a salvage crew Sunday about 27 miles southeast of Freeport, was called a hero for helping two students escape from below decks seconds before the Cynthia Woods capsized. "I'm sure that's what lost his life,"...

Petrobras' board approved the contracting of 12 drilling rigs on a charter party basis for use in ultra-deepwaters (between 2,400 and 3,000 meters of water depth). Of the 12 rigs to be contracted, 10 will be the property of Brazilian companies. Due to the lack of capacity in Brazilian shipyards, the 12 rigs will be built overseas and delivered for operation by the middle of 2012. These 12 units are part of the first phase of the plan for contracting 40 drilling rigs all of which will be operational by 2017, as already announced. The next lot of rigs are...

A lengthy, multi-million dollar federal exercise that will determine whether offshore oil and gas exploration proceeds in the North Aleutian Basin is now open for extensive public input. The Alaska office of the U.S. Interior Department's Minerals Management Service set public scoping meetings in Anchorage and Dutch Harbor in mid-May, and more are being considered. The agency is working to set up a meeting for June 3 in Kodiak, to coincide with the meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, agency spokeswoman Robin Cacy said May 13. MMS is also talking with Sand Point, Dillingham, King Salmon, Nelson Lagoon...

Energy Security: With the prospect of an oil shortage and $12 gas, the energy crisis is turning into a national emergency. One solution: Give states the option to develop offshore tracts. Uncle Sam bans states from drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf mainly to protect the environment. Some 85% of the U.S. coastline is off-limits to energy production - including huge reserves off Florida's coast, which China is exploiting in Cuban waters. To change that, a lawmaker is offering a novel idea. Rep. Sue Myrick of the House Energy and Commerce panel wants to let coastal states decide...