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Greenpeace protest against Norway arctic oil drilling

The Supreme Court of Norway is set to rule in a high-profile climate change lawsuit challenging the Norwegian government’s licensing of new offshore oil drilling in the fragile and rapidly warming Arctic region. The forthcoming decision from Norway’s highest court could, for the first time anywhere in the world, invalidate offshore petroleum production on climate change grounds.

Hearings before the country’s Supreme Court in the case, dubbed The People v. Arctic Oil, began on November 4 and concluded on November 12; a decision is expected within the next few months.

“The fate of the climate, and millions of people across the world affected by extreme weather events, hangs in the balance of every barrel of oil we either extract, or leave in the ground. The Norwegian state has an obligation to both the Paris Agreement and the Norwegian Constitution to minimise the health and safety risks from the climate crisis on future generations,” Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway, one of the organizations challenging the oil licenses, said in a statement. “The Supreme Court now has the unique opportunity to decide over the future of new oil drilling in the middle of a climate crisis.”

Greenpeace Norway and an environmental youth-led organization called Nature and Youth (also referred to as Young Friends of the Earth Norway) sued the Norwegian government in 2016 challenging the opening of new areas of the Barents Sea to oil drilling; the hearings over the past week are the culmination of this lawsuit which has weaved its way through the courts over the past four years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Erdogan: Cyprus Oil Drilling Is A Security Threat To East Mediterranean

May 15, 2018

Erdogan: Cyprus Oil Drilling Is A Security Threat To East Mediterranean

The Eastern Mediterranean will face a security threat should Cyprus continue its unilateral operations of offshore oil and gas exploration in the region, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said in a speech at think tank Chatham House in London on Monday.

Turkey, which recognizes the northern Turkish Cypriot government and doesn’t have diplomatic relations with the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, claims that part of the Cyprus offshore area is under the jurisdiction of Turkish Cypriots or Turkey.

Tensions in the area flared up earlier this year, after Turkish Navy vessels threatened in February to sink a drilling ship that oil major Eni had hired to explore for oil and gas offshore Cyprus—the divided island whose northern part is run by Turkish Cypriots and is recognized only by Turkey.

Weeks before that, Turkey’s Navy had blocked the drilling vessel that Eni had hired. Eni’s chief executive Claudio Descalzi had said that the row is a diplomatic one and out of the company’s control. Descalzi said that Eni would probably move the blocked drilling ship, but would not pull out of its project in Cyprus.

While the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus said that its “goal is to fully explore Cyprus’s hydrocarbon potential,” Turkey claims that the drilling operations are ‘unilateral’ and claims that part of the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus is under Turkish jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, just last week, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said that Turkey would begin its first solo oil and gas deepwater drilling in the Mediterranean before the end of this summer.

Turkey has strongly opposed what it describes as “unilateral” drilling offshore the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, and Turkish Cypriots argue that the offshore oil and gas resources of the island should be exploited jointly to ensure equal rights for both parties.

Why Americans Will Never Agree on Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

December 31, 2017

Why Americans Will Never Agree on Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Mountains and meadows in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

After decades of bitter struggle, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seems on the verge of being opened to the oil industry. The consensus tax bill Republicans recently passed retains this measure, which was added to gain the key vote of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

This bill, however, stands no chance of being the final word. ANWR has been called America’s Serengeti and the last petroleum frontier, terms I’ve seen used over more than a decade studying this area and the politics around it. But even these titles merely hint at the multifold conflict ANWR represents — spanning politics, economics, culture and philosophy.

Differing Views From the Start

Little of this debate, which stretches back decades, makes sense without some background. Let’s begin with wildlife, the core of why the refuge exists.

With 45 species of land and marine mammals and over 200 species of birds from six continents, ANWR is more biodiverse than almost any area in the Arctic. This is especially true of the coastal plain portion, or 1002 Area, the area now being opened up to exploration and drilling. This has the largest number of polar bear dens in Alaska and supports muskoxen, Arctic wolves, foxes, hares and dozens of fish species. It also serves as temporary home for millions of migrating waterfowl and the Porcupine Caribou herd which has its calving ground there.

All of which merely suggests the unique concentration of life in ANWR and the opportunity it offers to scientific study. One part of the debate is therefore over how drilling might impact this diversity.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump Eyes Arctic Wildlife Refuge for Oil Drilling, Alarming Gwich’in

November 23, 2017

Trump Eyes Arctic Wildlife Refuge for Oil Drilling, Alarming Gwich’in

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain has been described as America’s Serengeti, and is the year-round or migratory home to numerous species that are uniquely adapted to the conditions found within this rare expanse of undeveloped wilderness along the Arctic Ocean.

Over tens of thousands of years, both the Porcupine Caribou herd and the Gwich’in people have come to depend on the integrity of that coastal plain for their survival.

“The Gwich’in call this area ‘Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit,’ the Sacred Place Where Life Begins,” explained Vuntut Gwich’in Councillor Dana Tizya-Tramm via email.

“It is a keystone in the ecosystems of the Arctic, and the heart that beats outside of the Gwich’in chest.”

Oil and gas lobbyists have had the Refuge in their sights from the outset. For decades now, for every push to open up the wildlife refuge to oil and gas development, multiple generations of Gwich’in have stood up to protect the land and the herd that has sustained their way of life.

Disturbance to the landscape can upset a delicate balance between the wildlife that makes its home on the coastal plain.

Brooks Range mountains tower behind lush arctic tundra in Yukon’s north slope region. Photo: Matt Jacques | DeSmog Canada

“In a miracle of phenology [the interaction of climate, habitat and plant/animal cycles], Porcupine caribou cows arrive at the coastal plain just as the first flush of spring growth provides a burst of nutrients to them, just as they all deliver their calves at once,” said Yukon Conservation Society energy analyst Sebastian Jones in an emailed response to questions from DeSmog Canada.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Destruction of a Vast Transnational Nursery?

November 11, 2017

The Destruction of a Vast Transnational Nursery?

Back in May 2013, a word came to mind that I wanted to see in all our vocabularies. It wasn’t the ever-present “terrorist” but “terrarist” and I meant it to describe people intent on destroying the planetary environment that had welcomed and nurtured so many species, including our own, for so long; in other words, human beings willing to commit “terracide.” I had in mind the CEOs of the biggest energy companies, the ones whose scientists understood global warming perfectly well decades ago and who still were ready to put their corporate money into supporting climate denialism. At the time I wrote:

“If the oil execs aren’t terrarists, then who is? And if that doesn’t make the big energy companies criminal enterprises, then how would you define that term? To destroy our planet with malice aforethought, with only the most immediate profits on the brain, with only your own comfort and wellbeing (and those of your shareholders) in mind: Isn’t that the ultimate crime? Isn’t that terracide?”

Of course, that was in the good old days before Donald Trump and his cronies filled a whole administration to the tipping point with so-called climate skeptics and outright climate-change denialists. And this continues to happen, even as one report or study after another confirms that humanity and its fossil fuels are heating the planet at a remarkable rate and filling its atmosphere with carbon dioxide at a record pace. In the end, Trump and his crew may prove to be the biggest collection of criminals — in terms of harm to this world — ever. And it should be considered a historical irony (of sorts) that, on this issue, the Republicans, once the American party of the environment, are with them all the way.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Visualizing The World’s Deepest Oil Well

March 27, 2017

Visualizing The World’s Deepest Oil Well

In the world’s deepest gold mine, workers will venture 2.5 miles (4 km) below the Earth’s surface to extract from a 30-inch (0.8m) wide vein of gold-rich ore.

While these depths are impressive, Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins notes that mining is limited by the frailty of the human body.Going much deeper would be incredibly dangerous, as limitations such as heat, humidity, logistics, and potential seismic activity all become more intense.

Luckily, the oil industry does not have such human obstacles, and drilling deep into the Earth’s crust is instead limited by a different set of circumstances – how deep can the machinery and technology go before the unfathomable heat and pressure renders it inoperable?

THE WORLD’S DEEPEST OIL WELL

Today’s infographic comes to us from Fuel Fighter, and it helps to visualize the mind-boggling depths of the world’s deepest oil well, which is located in a remote corner of eastern Russia.

Shell Oil Spill Cleanup Operation Ends As Voices Against New Gulf Drilling Grow Louder

May 19, 2016

Shell Oil Spill Cleanup Operation Ends As Voices Against New Gulf Drilling Grow Louder

Both entities stated that no environmental damage has been reported, but independent monitors from Greenpeace, Vanishing Earth and Wings Of Care question whether the size and potential impact of the spill are being downplayed.

News of Shell’s oil spill 90 miles south of Louisiana’s Timbalier Island came the day before the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) hosted a final week of public meetings on the Gulf Coast to give the public a chance to comment on its Five Year Plan 2017-2022 oil leasing program. Its plan calls for lease sales of 47 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas companies for offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Shell contracted Clean Gulf Associates and Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) for the cleanup operation. MSRC, one of the companies BP used to clean up its 2010 spill, dumped the dispersant Corexit in the Gulf.

This time, “dispersant wasn’t used,” the Coast Guard told DeSmog. The Coast Guard and Shell agreed that using on-water recovery vessels and skimming would be the best oil recovery option.

Environmental scientist Wilma Subra, though pleased dispersant wasn’t used, told DeSmog, “Skimming is not a very good oil recovery option.”

Subra believes that if skimming is the best cleanup method the Coast Guard and oil companies can come up with, it shows they are no better prepared for an oil spill than they were when the BP oil disaster occurred.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Extreme Weather, Widespread Flooding Hammer Louisiana as Federal Government Prepares to Lease Gulf of Mexico for Drilling

March 15, 2016

Extreme Weather, Widespread Flooding Hammer Louisiana as Federal Government Prepares to Lease Gulf of Mexico for Drilling

Walter Unglaub never thought flooding would threaten the carriage house he rents in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. It is on a bluff 30 feet above the Bogue Falaya River, in an area that is not considered a flood zone.

But that didn’t stop a flash flood from forcing Unglaub to swim for his life to get to higher ground awaiting rescue last Friday.

“No one is safe from extreme weather,” Unglaub told DeSmog on Sunday when he returned to sort through his belongings to see what, if anything, was salvageable.

After two days of intermittent rain, 14 inches of rain fell Friday night. This extreme weather event took place 12 days before the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will auction drilling leases to 43 million acres of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

VIDEO: Walter Unglaub returns home for the first time after the floodwaters drop

Initial records released by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness say about 5,000 homes in Louisiana sustained flood damage following a deluge. The count is likely to grow as the damage assessment in Southeast Louisiana is not complete.

Rescue crews evacuate residents in the Tallow Creek subdivision to safety. © 2016 Julie Dermansky

From Tangipahoa, St Tammany and Washington Parishes, 1,500 residents were rescued by the time the Tchefuncte River and Bogue Falaya River peaked on Saturday morning. And more damage is likely Monday evening when the West Pearl River, further south, crests well above flood stage in the town of Pearl River.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Obama Slams The Door On Future U.S. Arctic Drilling

October 20, 2015

Obama Slams The Door On Future U.S. Arctic Drilling

The Obama administration officially shut the door on Arctic drilling, a move that could prevent any new drilling for years to come.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced on October 16 that it would cancel two lease sales for offshore acreage, which had been scheduled to take place in 2016 and 2017. Environmental groups have been doggedly criticizing the Obama administration for allowing Royal Dutch Shell to drill in the Arctic to begin with, citing the potential catastrophe if an oil spilled occurred. They had called upon the President to deny any permits to Shell.

But it wasn’t environmental protest that killed off Shell’s drilling campaign. What really forced the Anglo-Dutch company to retreat was low oil prices and disappointing drilling results.

Similarly, the Obama administration is now shutting the door on future lease sales not because of concerns over the environment, but “In light of current market conditions and low industry interest,” as Interior put it in a statement.

On its face, the move is a logical one. Few other companies were interested in drilling in the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas, despite several having purchased leases years ago. Statoil and ConocoPhillips, two other large oil companies interested in the Arctic, had previously put their Arctic ambitions on ice because of the difficulty and high costs associated with drilling in the region. With Shell announcing that it would suspend U.S. Arctic exploration for the “foreseeable future” there are now zero companies that are viably interested in drilling anytime soon.

Remarkably, however, the interest in new leases had dried up even before the downturn in oil prices. Interior said that it put a “Call for Information and Nominations” in September 2013, which is essentially a way for the government to solicit interest from the industry on which areas to auction off based on their interest.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China’s offshore CNOOC started to peak in 2010

June 11, 2015

China’s offshore CNOOC started to peak in 2010

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is the largest producer of offshore oil and gas in China. Production statistics should therefore be pretty much indicative of what is happening along China’s coastline. Data from annual reports show that net oil and gas liquids production in 4 key offshore areas increased rapidly in the first decade of this century but then remained fairly flat after 2010. Gas production peaked in 2011 and was 7% lower in 2014.

At the recent 14^th Asia Security Summit in Singapore – organised by the Centre for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS, Washington) – media focus was on several artificial islands China is building on half sunken reefs in the South China Sea.

Dredging….

Fig 1: Fiery Cross Reef reclamation started in Aug 2014

http://amti.csis.org/fiery-cross-reef-tracker/

South China Sea dispute: US defence secretary demands Beijing immediately halt island-building

28/5/2015

The United States has demanded Beijing immediately halt its island-building activity near the South China Sea, echoing recent concerns expressed by Australia’s Defence Department boss.

“We want a peaceful resolution of all disputes and an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by any claimant,” he said.

“We also oppose any further militarisation of disputed features.”

The growing tensions to Australia’s north are also causing alarm in diplomatic and military circles in Canberra.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-28/south-china-sea-us-demands-beijing-cease-island-building/6505072

But little attention was given to the real battle along China’s coast and the statistics behind it.

….and Drilling 3,600 km further North

Pic 2: Installation of platform at Qinhuangdao 32-6 in Bohai Bay (QHD phase 2) June 2014

http://www.cnoocengineering.com/en/single_news_content.aspx?news_id=12590

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

We May Not See Arctic Oil For Decades

May 28, 2015

We May Not See Arctic Oil For Decades

Shell’s Arctic campaign this year will be pivotal. If the company cannot find large reserves of oil, it will likely set back Arctic oil development for a generation.

The Financial Times reported that Royal Dutch Shell will not see Arctic oil come online anytime soon, even in the best of scenarios. Even Shell officials think that the oil major will not be able to see Arctic oil hit the market until sometime in the 2030s.

There are a few reasons for this. Finding and developing offshore oil can typically take around a decade. First there is a long lead time before any drills hit the waters – analyzing data, purchasing acreage, planning, doing seismic surveys, getting permits, moving equipment into place, and finally deploying rigs. Shell first started buying up Arctic leases in 2007. After years of preparation (and huge setbacks), Shell has done most of this pre-drilling work.

Even then, once the rigs ply the icy waters, there are many years ahead before oil begins flowing. Shell has to drill test wells, analyze data, and drill more wells.

But the Arctic also presents some unique challenges not found anywhere else. First is the short drilling season. Shell wouldn’t be able to operate year round, and could only make headway a few months out of the year during the summer. Perhaps more importantly is the remote location. Without adequate infrastructure Shell would have to do a lot of building to make Arctic oil viable. That would include pipelines, processing facilities, roads, and more. The Gulf of Mexico has all of this stuff in place, which reduces the cost and risk of drilling, but the Arctic is uncharted territory.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Where Have All The Rigs Gone?

March 6, 2015

Where Have All The Rigs Gone?

Baker Hughes publishes a weekly oil and gas rig count by producing basin. I have created charts of all the most productive basins in order that we can see where oil and gas rigs are increasing or decreasing. Their historic rig count, by basin, goes back 4 years.

It needs to be noted that Baker Hughes does not count rigs that are not actively drilling. Rigs that are “Moving In, Rigging Up” are not counted in the Baker Hughes count though they are counted by some others including the North Dakota Industrial Commission.

All rig counts are as of Friday, February 27, 2015.

TotalUSRigCount

But first, total US weekly rig count. The oil rig count stands at 986, down 623 from a high of 1,609 in October. The gas rig count stands at 280, down 656 rigs from the high of 935 in October of 2011. However this data base goes back only 4 years. The all-time high for gas rigs was 1,606 in September of 2008. The 1,609 oil rig count in October 2014 was an all-time high for oil rigs. That record is valid only back to the days when Baker Hughes began separate stats for oil and gas rigs however.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why U.S. East Coast Should Stay Off-Limits to Oil Drilling

March 1, 2015

Why U.S. East Coast Should Stay Off-Limits to Oil Drilling

It’s not just the potential for a catastrophic spill that makes President Obama’s proposal to open Atlantic Ocean waters to oil exploration such a bad idea. What’s worse is the cumulative impact on coastal ecosystems that an active oil industry would bring.

by carl safina

When it comes to the Obama administration’s recent move to open portions of the Atlantic coast to oil exploration, I’m a bit out of synch with environmentalists who are worried about the big spill. They warn of another Deepwater Horizon or Exxon Valdez-type fiasco coming to the Southeast. But to me, it’s just about the day-to-day business of chasing oil, the wrong-headedness of it all.

It’s not that I don’t have some personal history with the major oil calamities of recent decades; I do. In my early teens the first televised images of oil-coated birds during the 1969 blowout off Santa Barbara shocked me and the nation, inspiring the first Earth Day and propelling a

burst of environmental laws. Twenty years later, at home working on a scientific paper, I heard the radio’s news of the Exxon Valdez’rupture and of thousands of oiled birds and otters, and began sobbing at my desk. A decade later, I visited Cordova, Alaska, and saw how the pain and disruption from the spill had seeped into lives of the people there as thoroughly as the oil had seeped into shoreline sediments and the livers of waterfowl. And in 2010, I spent a lot of time along, on, and above the Gulf of Mexico while oil freely gushed from the hole that BP had made in our coastal soul. There was the failure of the ‘blowout preventer’ to prevent the blowout, the crazy “junk shot” attempt to jam golf balls and shredded tires down a gushing well against the force of the upward-shooting oil, the ghastly photo of the nearly unrecognizable brown pelican jacketed in crude as it died. My chronicle of that summer of anguish became the book A Sea in Flames.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Oil Price Collapse Hurting Some More Than Others

January 20, 2015

Oil Price Collapse Hurting Some More Than Others

U.S. oil and gas rig counts dropped to their lowest level in over four years, falling by an additional 74 units for the week ending on January 16. The lower count provides fresh evidence that low oil prices are forcing drillers to pare back operations and slash spending.

While that may soon begin to cut into actual production figures, a new Wood Mackenzie report finds a lot of nuance in the oil patch, painting a complex picture of what to expect in 2015. The report identifies several trends beyond the simple narrative that low prices will force a cutback in drilling.

First, Wood Mackenzie estimates that at $40 per barrel, many producing wellscould be shut in. In fact, about 1.5 million barrels per day of production would be “cash negative” – meaning it wouldn’t even make sense to continue pumping at the most marginal wells, which tend to have extremely low-output. These “stripper wells,” which only produce 15 barrels of oil per day or less, have high costs given their level of production.

Wells producing such a tiny flow of oil may seem like a nonissue, but withhundreds of thousands of them dotting the country, they collectively account for about one-tenth of the nation’s production. As these wells become unprofitable, production should start declining.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Oilfield Writedowns Loom as Crude Slump Guts Drilling Values

January 6, 2015

Oilfield Writedowns Loom as Crude Slump Guts Drilling Values

Tumbling crude prices will trigger a flood of oilfield writedowns starting this month after industry returns slumped to a 16-year low, calling into question half a decade of exploration.

With crude prices down more than 50 percent from their 2014 peak, fields as far-flung as Kazakhstan and Australia are no longer worth pumping, said a team of Citigroup Inc. (C) analysts led by Alastair Syme. Companies on the hook for risky, high-cost projects that don’t make sense in a $50-a-barrel market include international titans such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and small wildcatters like Sanchez Energy Corp.

The impending writedowns represent the latest blow to an industry rocked by a combination of faltering demand growth and booming supplies from North American shale fields. The downturn threatens to wipe out more than $1.6 trillion in earnings for producing companies and nations this year. Oil explorers already are canceling drilling plans and laying off crews to conserve cash needed to cover dividend checks to investors and pay back debts.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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Dredging….

….and Drilling 3,600 km further North

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