Nothing to see here! Ignore those four-dollar gas prices!
Posted on 09/27/2005 7:49:09 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Rita causes record damage to oil rigs By Carola Hoyos in London, Sheila McNulty in Houston and Thomas Catan in Johannesburg Published: September 27 2005 20:14 | Last updated: September 27 2005 20:14
Hurricane Rita has caused more damage to oil rigs than any other storm in history and will force companies to delay drilling for oil in the US and as far away as the Middle East, initial damage assessments show.
ODS-Petrodata, which provides market intelligence to the offshore oil and natural gas industry, said it expected a shortage of rigs in the US Gulf this year.
“Based on what we have right now, it appears that drilling contractors and rig owners took a big hit from Rita,” said Tom Marsh of ODS-Petrodata. “The path Katrina took was through the mature areas of the US Gulf where there are mainly oil [production] platforms. Rita came to the west where there is a lot of [exploratory] rig activity.”
Ken Sill of Credit Suisse First Boston said: “Early reports indicate numerous rigs are missing, destroyed or have suffered serious damage and several companies have yet to report. Rita may set an all-time record.”
The US Coast Guard said nine semisubmersible rigs had broken free from their moorings and were adrift.
This damage could not have come at a worse time for oil companies and consumers. US crude futures on Monday fell 37 cents to $65.45 a barrel in midday trading in New York as refineries that were evacuated before the onset of Rita returned to operation.
Earlier in the day, Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, said the market had not taken up the 2m barrels a day of spare capacity the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries offered last week. Speaking in Johannesburg, he blamed high oil prices on a lack of industry infrastructure, including rigs and refineries, rather than oil reserves. Rigs, which are movable and are used for exploration and development, were in short supply before hurricanes Katrina and Rita blew through the US Gulf in late August and September.
High oil prices and the desperate search for new oil supplies needed to meet rampant demand from the US and China have made rigs difficult to find and expensive to hire. Rigs cost $90m-$550m to construct, depending on how sophisticated the structure and how deep the water in which it will drill. A rig ordered today is unlikely to be ready before 2008 or 2009, analysts said.
As a sign of just how precious rigs are becoming to the market, Anadarko, the biggest US independent oil company, this week set a record by committing to a rig six years in advance; commitments in the past were made months ahead of time rather than years.
Initial reports from companies are ominous. Global Santa Fe reported it could not find two of its rigs. Rowan Companies reported four rigs damaged, with two having moved, one losing its “legs” and the fourth presumed sunk. Noble has four rigs adrift, with two run aground one into a ChevronTexaco platform.
Your experience matches mine. On the slope there is a single operator for a facility but multiple owners. Sometimes there are different owners for different fields drilled into from the same facility. Risks, Profits and Investments are all shared.
I think it's because the "poor victims" in New Orleans deserve more sympathy than the rich people in Biloxi.
Harry Reid is on Fox News complaining about no bid contracts and people in hit in Democrat areas are complaining about help not coming fast enough.
"Damned if you do and damned if you don't" with Democrats. I think they just aren't happy without something to b!tch about!
Nothing to see here! Ignore those four-dollar gas prices!
It got the football team?
Offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, no oil was being produced as of Monday afternoon, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said. Before Hurricane Katrina, producers typically pumped about 1.5 million barrels of crude a day.
Also remaining shut in was 7.84 billion cubic feet of gas, representing about 78 percent of daily production. Even before Rita, officials had been warning it would take months to get production back up to normal.
"We think the market's underestimating the natural gas impact here," David Pursell, an energy analyst with Pickering Energy Partners in Houston. Companies are usually building up the natural gas stockpiles at this time of year to prepare for the winter, when daily use outstrips daily production.
For the next month, equipment repairs instead will be a major concern for many in the oil and gas business.
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=25593
Do you think any of these people are missing?
Maybe two weeks ago when this was printed but not today.
And it's still a far cry from 1500 people.
Do you say that about all governments, or just the Republican ones?
These were flesh and blood crews that were down there doing this work the day the hurricane hit and arrived the night before.
The night before? You are saying that the rescue crews started working before the hurricane hit? Is that when they started seeing bodies?
They can only issue official numbers for bodies that have death certificates from being identified
" the state of Mississippi has confirmed 220 deaths and publicly identified about half the victims"
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050927/NEWS/509270434/1039
"As the detritus from the storm is cleared, the death toll could grow. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the hurricane left 18 million to 20 million cubic yards of debris in Mississippi alone, the equivalent of 200 football fields piled 50 feet high, and that it will take eight months just to clear the roadways in the state. Coroners are hiring so-called spotters to check the landfills for signs of remains."
Yes at last report the tornado had made $100,000 in improvements. :>) JK
It got the football team?
And the cheerleaders!!
Guess this author must be sitting a a whole lot of oil futures. Wouldn't do to have the price go down until they can get out of the market. Funny how these same "experts" were telling us Rita was going to cause "$4 maybe even $5 gallon gas prices"
Engineers estimates that the hurricane left 18 million to 20 million cubic yards of debris in Mississippi alone, the equivalent of 200 football fields piled 50 feet high, and that it will take eight months just to clear the roadways in the state.
I suggested hauling it all to NO and then put a load
of dirt on top of it and bingo no more "City Beneath Sea"
We burned a record amount of Nat Gas this year to generate power. This is probably typical for most of the utility industry in the US this summer. Virtually all new generating capacity in the last few years has been gas-turbine due to the low capital costs and easier siting compared to coal & nuke. Unfortunately, that has brought about a huge demand as well, adding to the lower stockpile situation.
I think the death toll will continue rising, as it has for weeks. I really haven't been following the reporting methods, or the rumors reported on FR. I simply take issue with your assertions that large numbers of people haven't been reported missing, because they have.
Then click through to the Katrina Survivor List database at
http://wx.gulfcoastnews.com/katrina/status.aspx
So much for your statement, "I am just glad these 800 to 1500 dead people were all homeless bums with no family and nobody cares about them anyway." People cared enough to put those names in the database. Many, if not most of those people will probably be accounted for, but there are still thousands listed as UNKNOWN or MISSING.
And it's still a far cry from 1500 people.
It lists a couple hundred people in a single county.
And do you think a city could then just be rebuilt on top of that mess?
I guess we will just have to wait and see
won't we?
I have your number be sure and keep mine handy.
Through June, less gas was used in 2005 than 2004.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9140us2m.htm
You might be able to make the highest point in the state if you didn't spread it out too much. The hightest point in LA appears to be 535 feet.
And do you think a city could then just be rebuilt on top of that mess?
God you can't be THAT simple minded.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.