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.
There's no need this year for the annual pre-summer refinery fires.
I can't believe that someone wrote a headline as misleading as it is.
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?.
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.
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.
Coincidence or really bad reporting?
Would you like to buy a bridge?
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.
I'm not saying either statement is correct, just that they do not contradict each other.
But one of them is false.
It's the headline.
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.
But O'Reilly says its all fake and the eeevil oil companies are profiteering.
And we should see a dramatic drop in gas prices for each sixth that goes online, right?
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.
at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be off line
We have a contradiction here.
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.
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