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Oil production in Gulf still at only one-sixth capacity
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/012106/bus_012106004.shtml ^ | Saturday, January 21, 2006 | AP

Posted on 01/21/2006 11:24:21 AM PST by WestTexasWend

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Gulf of Mexico's offshore petroleum industry is far from recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line at the start of next storm season, a federal agency says.

Katrina and Rita destroyed 115 of the Gulf's 4,000 production platforms and damaged another 52, according to a report released Thursday by the Minerals Management Service, which manages federal offshore leases.

The storms' combined fury - much stronger when they swept across the Gulf than when they hit shore - also damaged 183 pipelines, including 64 classified as major. As of Thursday, only 22 had been returned to service, the MSS said.

There are about 33,000 miles of petroleum pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, 22,000 miles of which were exposed to the two storms.

As of this week, the MMS said 396,000 of the Gulf's normal daily production of 1.5 million barrels of oil were being kept from market because of storm damage, along with 1.8 billion cubic feet of the region's normal daily production of 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Future repair work will be slow, the MMS projected.

"For a long-term projection, approximately 255,000 barrels a day and 400 million cubic feet of gas a day will probably not be restored to production prior to the start of the 2006 hurricane season," the report said.

Hurricane season begins June 1.

To quantify the damage caused by the two storms, the MMS said Hurricane Ivan in 2004 destroyed only seven production platforms.

"The overall damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita has shown them to be the greatest natural disasters to oil and gas development in this history of the Gulf of Mexico," said MMS regional director Chris Oynes.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Louisiana; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: idioticeditors; katrinarecovery; ritarecovery

1 posted on 01/21/2006 11:24:22 AM PST by WestTexasWend
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To: WestTexasWend

There's no need this year for the annual pre-summer refinery fires.


2 posted on 01/21/2006 11:29:57 AM PST by Shermy
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To: WestTexasWend

I can't believe that someone wrote a headline as misleading as it is.


3 posted on 01/21/2006 11:30:06 AM PST by aviator (Armored Pest Control)
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To: aviator
*at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line at the start of next storm season, a federal agency says.*

-so which is it?? 1/6 is offline? Or 1/6 is operating?
These people are amazing.

This is so misleading.
4 posted on 01/21/2006 11:31:51 AM PST by aristotleman
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To: WestTexasWend
Oil production in Gulf still at only one-sixth capacity...

and at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line at the start of next storm season, a federal agency says.

So are we at 1/6 capacity or at 5/6 of capacity, Assosiated Press?.

5 posted on 01/21/2006 11:33:58 AM PST by Semi Civil Servant (The Main Stream Media: Al-Qaeda's most effective spy network.)
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To: Semi Civil Servant
Oil production in Gulf still at only one-sixth capacity...

and at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line at the start of next storm season, a federal agency says.

These statements do not contradict each other.

6 posted on 01/21/2006 11:38:03 AM PST by Doe Eyes
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To: Semi Civil Servant

AP reporters, not known for math skills. It never ceases to amaze me how utterly poor the press is at elementary school math. It is pretty common to see an AP or Reuters story that requires a number or two where the headline and story are completely out of phase with each other. It's even funnier when they try and insert some technical "facts" into stories, especially oil and natural gas articles. It's no wonder the public is so uninformed/misinformed. Those that provide the information are not the brightest bulbs in the room.


7 posted on 01/21/2006 11:38:15 AM PST by EERinOK
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To: Semi Civil Servant

Coincidence or really bad reporting?


8 posted on 01/21/2006 11:39:33 AM PST by Chi-townChief
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To: Doe Eyes

Would you like to buy a bridge?


9 posted on 01/21/2006 11:40:39 AM PST by Mr. Lucky
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To: Doe Eyes
If those aren't contradictory, then how do you explain this sentence from the article?
As of this week, the MMS said 396,000 of the Gulf's normal daily production of 1.5 million barrels of oil were being kept from market because of storm damage, along with 1.8 billion cubic feet of the region's normal daily production of 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

10 posted on 01/21/2006 11:41:03 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone
If those aren't contradictory,

I'm not saying either statement is correct, just that they do not contradict each other.

11 posted on 01/21/2006 11:46:03 AM PST by Doe Eyes
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To: Doe Eyes

But one of them is false.

It's the headline.


12 posted on 01/21/2006 11:49:52 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Doe Eyes

The report of present production capability doesn't jibe with the headline. Do the math yourself. Forget about the prediction of future capacity. This is either intentionally misleading or a reflection of the poor quality of journalism school education. Take your pick.


13 posted on 01/21/2006 11:53:53 AM PST by saganite (The poster formerly known as Arkie 2)
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To: WestTexasWend

But O'Reilly says its all fake and the eeevil oil companies are profiteering.


14 posted on 01/21/2006 11:56:32 AM PST by Crazieman (6-23-2005, Establishment of the United Socialist States of America)
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To: WestTexasWend

And we should see a dramatic drop in gas prices for each sixth that goes online, right?


15 posted on 01/21/2006 12:04:17 PM PST by xander
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To: xander

Not dramatic. The story says 396,000 bbl/day is still off-line. world production (which is what counts) is about 70,000,000 bbl/day. So this is about one-half of one percent. But every bit helps -- bringing more production on-line, from anywhere, puts downward pressure on prices. That's why bringing back the extra 5/6 that was out after katrina contributed to the decline from $3+/gallon to about 2.25 - 2.50 now.


16 posted on 01/21/2006 12:45:05 PM PST by BohDaThone
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To: WestTexasWend
Oil production in Gulf still at only one-sixth capacity-

at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line

We have a contradiction here.

17 posted on 01/21/2006 2:39:39 PM PST by arthurus (Better to fight them OVER THERE than over here.)
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To: Crazieman
But O'Reilly says its all fake and the eeevil oil companies are profiteering.

I saw that program. He pretends to be so smart but occassionally he blows his cover big time. He argued with Ann Coulter about Joe McCarthy as another example. He is a showman pandering for ratings. Anyone in that time slot on Fox would be number one.

18 posted on 01/22/2006 12:27:37 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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