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With all of our problems in the Gulf of Mexico, we think about importing more from elsewhere. Let's look at some graphs of net imports of crude oil and refined products, and of some US production amounts, to see what is happening now. Perhaps this will give us insight as to what to expect going forward, and how many options we really have with respect to oil imports. Figure 1. US net imports of oil and oil products, using an EIA chart As one can see, US net imports peaked in 2005, and have been declining ever since. The year...

After busy making several outrageous comments regarding BP (BP: 37.48 -1.44 -3.70%) and the Gulf oil spill as recent as last evening, Matt Simmons abruptly announced today that he would retire from the board of Simmons & Co.–the company he founded in 1974–effective June 30. Meanwhile, Simmons & Co. also issued a statement in an apparent attempt to distance itself from its founder.  As Houston Business Journal reports: “..on June 14, [Simmons & Co] issued a statement dated May 12 in which [CEO Mike Frazier] distanced himself from the founder, saying that the former chairman’s views were not those of Simmons & Co. Frazier referred...

This is a second thread for this post. Please see http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6731 for previous comments. Update Thursday Afternoon, 4:00 pm : BP has at least temporarily capped the well, and oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf. BP will now be carefully monitoring the pressure levels. Admiral Allen reports: "We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore...

NEW ORLEANS -- After fixing a leak on a cap designed to plug up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP engineers readied Thursday to see if the new top is enough to contain the gusher. Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing in Houston that the leak, which was discovered late Wednesday, was fixed by replacing the pipe called a "choke line" on the side of capping device. The work set back the testing process on the cap's capabilities.

When things are going well down at the Deepwater oil spill site in the Gulf there are press conferences, data flows in a timely manner and the public can understand what is going on. When there are problems, these get delayed. Then as I noted yesterday we become dependent on the videos that BP release, to get a closer and more immediate view of the actual situation. That can at least show the occasional something significant. Today’s such topic is the picture of the well from the Skandi ROV that I took at around 6:15 pm CDT Wednesday (though Admiral...

This is a second copy of this thread. The previous copy can be found at http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6726. Update: Permission to go forward with the test was given to BP Wednesday afternoon.

On that little note of caution, there does seem to be some delay, or perhaps “slow, methodical, unseen progress” in regard to closing the valves etc in order to test the integrity of the well. At roughly 10 pm Eastern, the flow does not appear to have changed much, if at all, and the BP site notes that the test has not yet started. (Nor has it two hours later having finished writing this post). The white pipe is injecting dispersant that changes the color of the oil/gas to more brown and seems to be coming in spurts rather than...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Investors pressured shares of BP PLC on Wednesday, with the company stuck in a holding pattern on a crucial test of a new containment system over its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.An unnamed Obama administration official told the Associated Press that the government was acting with an "abundance of caution" on the test. Officials had expressed some optimism that a tighter well cap installed over the weekend could have stopped the flow of oil from the well by now, but plans to deploy it remain in limbo, with more updates expected in the...

BP's work on capping the Gulf of Mexico gusher was frozen Wednesday after the federal government raised concerns the operation could put damaging pressure on the busted well that could make the leak worse. An administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks with BP, said the government was acting out of "abundance of caution" and didn't want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a tighter containment cap that has been placed over the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks. At the same time, BP on its own halted...

BP's work to cap its Gulf of Mexico gusher was in limbo Wednesday after the federal government raised concerns the operation could put damaging pressure on the busted well and make the leak worse. An administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks with BP, said the government was acting out of an "abundance of caution" and didn't want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a tighter cap that has been placed over the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks.

BP has delayed a key test on a newly installed well cap aimed at stopping the flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. BP and US Coast Guard officials said further analysis was needed before pressure testing could begin.If it proves successful, the well will be kept "shut in" and the leak halted until relief wells plug it entirely.The blown-out well has been spewing oil into Gulf waters since April. The US administration has sent BP and other parties a new bill for the clean-up.The administration says the latest bill is for $99.7m (£65.8m). The oil giant has already...

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Monday directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) to issue new suspensions of deepwater drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), including the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific regions through Nov. 30 of this year.The new drilling suspensions marks Salazar and BOEM's second effort to suspend deepwater drilling operations in the U.S. Gulf in response to the BP oil spill. The first moratorium, issued in late May, was lifted by a district judge on June 22; a panel of federal district judges refused BOEM's appeal to reverse the lower...

After a relatively long and technically difficult process BP has managed to locate and install the three-ram Lower Stack on the flowing well in the Gulf. At the same time the viewing site has been changed, so that the feeds from all 14 ROVs can be seen together. The view from Skandi ROV2 shows the flow from the well is now issuing from the segment of drill pipe left at the top of the stack, after the installing drill pipe was disconnected.

BP's new cap has been installed, and the company will start pressure tests tomorrow that will test the tightness of the seal and the integrity of the well. According to BP's press release: The three ram capping stack was installed on the Deep Water Horizon LMRP at 7 p.m. CDT. The stack completes the installation of the new sealing cap.Following installation of the capping stack and in line with the procedure approved by the National Incident Commander and Unified Area Command, the well integrity test will begin July 13 on the MC252 well.For the duration of the test, which will...

At about 1 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday, I checked on the feeds, and it appears, using the camera on the BOA ROV 1, that the transition spool has been lowered into place (the old riser was removed at about 3 am this morning) and is now ready to be inserted into the top of the riser. Flange removed from the well, and the surface awaits the transition spool. Transition spool approaches the flowing well I will update as I notice other things of interest - though will be out some of this afternoon.UPDATE 1. Apparently there was some soccer...

Here is a link to a video of the spool piece being installed. At about 8 seconds in there is a quick cut. At that point you can see the spool piece beginning to enter the top of the BOP stack. There is no visible oil emerging. The Helix is connected to the choke line. The end of the leaking oil may be nigh!

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Officials say a containment cap over the gushing leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been removed so a better one can be installed. BP spokesman Mark Proegler says the cap was removed at 12:37 p.m. CDT on Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS — With the installation of a new cap on its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico progressing smoothly, BP prepared on Monday to conduct tests to determine whether the flow of oil escaping from the well could be halted completely. Doug Suttles, the company’s chief operating officer, said that once the new cap was connected, systems that have been collecting some of the escaping oil would be shut down and valves on the new cap would be closed to stop the flow. Pressure readings would then be taken to determine the condition of the well. If the...

Undersea robots manipulated by engineers a mile above were expected to begin work Saturday removing the containment cap over the gushing well head in the Gulf of Mexico to replace it with a tighter-fitting cap that could funnel all the oil to tankers at the surface.

Lawmakers and experts fear loss is only the start of offshore exodusWASHINGTON — Diamond Offshore announced Friday that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters immediately — making it the first to abandon the United States in the wake of the BP oil spill and a ban on deep-water drilling. And the Ocean Endeavor's exodus probably won't be the last, according to oil industry officials and Gulf Coast leaders who warn that other companies eager to find work for the now-idled rigs are considering moving them outside the U.S. Devon Energy...