Matt Simmons Says Gulf Clean Up Will Cost Over $1 Trillion
by ilene - July 21st, 2010 4:04 pm
Matt Simmons Says Gulf Clean Up Will Cost Over $1 Trillion, Sees BP At $1, Says "We Have Now Killed The GoM"
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Matt Simmons shares some startling revelations in his latest Bloomberg TV interview, in which he says none of the propaganda matters on TV 24/7 (photoshopped or not) as the ultimate clean up cost will likely be well over $1 trillion, and a result he is unconcerned about his BP short. He ultimately see the stock going down to $1. What Simmons alleges however is far more startling and audacious: that this is a joint cover up effort between the administration and BP, in which both entities keep throwing sand in the eyes of observers while distracting everyone from the matter at hand: "What we don’t know anything about is the open hole which is caused by the drill bit when it tossed the blow-out preventer way out of the hole…and 120,000/day minimum of toxic poison has now covered the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. So what they’re talking about is the biggest environmental cover-up ever. And they knew that that well, that riser, would finally deplete. And then they could say it’s over."
On blaming the catastrophe on Transocean: "For two days they kept saying it’s a rig fire. When the rig sank they could no longer call it a rig fire. It’s a riser leak…Because if they said the truth they would all go to jail." The conclusion: "Unfortunately, we now have killed the Gulf of Mexico."
On whether the well pressure should be a concern:
“No, it’s a total diversion – that’s the gas condensation that was trapped in the drilling riser which blew off the wellhead at 10:01 PM CT on April 20th, it’s a mile-long compressed natural gas."
"What we don’t know anything about is the open hole which is caused by the drill bit when it tossed the blow-out preventer way out of the hole…and 120,000 minimum of toxic poison has now covered the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. So what they’re talking about is the biggest environmental cover-up ever. And they knew that that well, that riser, would finally deplete. And then they could say it’s over. And unfortunately, we now have killed the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Some 5-10 miles away is what the NOIA research vessels have now proved is a deep…
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Who Will Profit from the Oil Spill
by ilene - June 3rd, 2010 5:03 pm
Who Will Profit from the Oil Spill
By Charles S. Brant, Energy Correspondent, courtesy of Casey’s Energy Opportunities
The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may be the best thing that’s ever happened to green energy producers in the U.S – but the one that benefits the most will probably surprise you.
As the damaged Deepwater Horizon well continues to pump out 5,000 barrels of oil per day into the Gulf, all the major stakeholders are scrambling to find a way to contain the damage. Investors in BP, Anadarko, Transocean, and Halliburton have had a rough few weeks and should be nervous about the future. The growing political firestorm that’s accompanied this ecological disaster is drastically reshaping the energy landscape in the U.S. There’s huge money to be made from the biggest structural change to the energy markets in the past 50 years, if you know where to look.
The political and economic fallout from this accident is starting to take shape, with the executives from BP, Transocean, and Halliburton being paraded in front of Congress for a public chastising. Predictably, politicians are making stern promises of tighter regulations in the future.
At this point, it’s a guessing game as to what the new permanent regulations will be. So far, a temporary moratorium has been put in place on the issuance of new offshore oil and gas drilling permits. In addition, the Department of the Interior plans to restructure the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS) to eliminate the conflict of interest inherent in its role of monitoring safety, managing offshore leasing, and collecting royalty income.
The Department of the Interior has plans to make offshore drilling rig inspections much stricter. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has also promised tighter environmental…
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BP Pressured Worker, 30-Year Old Playbook Response
by ilene - May 28th, 2010 10:10 am
BP Pressured Rig Worker to Hurry Before Disaster, Father Says
By Joe Carroll and Laurel Brubaker Calkins, Bloomberg
May 28 (Bloomberg) — The highest-ranking crew member to perish aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig warned his family that BP Plc was pressuring him to sacrifice safety for the sake of time and money, his father said.
Jason Anderson, one of 11 rig workers presumed dead after an April 20 explosion and fire sank the Deepwater Horizon and triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history, told relatives in February and March that BP was urging him to accelerate work on the Macondo well off the Louisiana coast, said his father, Billy Anderson.
On previous wells drilled with the same rig, Jason Anderson, a 35-year-old employee of vessel owner Transocean Ltd., had been able to convince BP representatives to eschew shortcuts that he believed would compromise safety, his father said. But in the eight weeks preceding the disaster, BP stepped up the pressure and overruled safety objections, Billy Anderson, 66, said.
BP Using 30 Year-Old Playbook in Responding to Oil Spill?
Preface for my conservative readers: Yes, I know … Maddow is very liberal. But her claims are either true or they are not true. Let’s focus on her claims. If anyone can refute them, let me know, and I’ll post a retraction.
Rachel Maddow claims that a top kill type maneuver – pumping in cement and saltwater – was tried during the giant 1979 Ixtoc oil spill, but didn’t work.
Maddow also says:
- The precursor to the same company operating the Deepwater Horizon drilling well – Transocean – operated the Ixtoc rig
- The cause of both oil spills was the same: a malfunctioning blowout preventer
- The location of the spill was the same: the Gulf
- The sizes of both spills were massive
- A "top hat" operation was attempted unsuccessfully. During the Ixtoc spill, it was named
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BP Admits Crucial Mistake; Big Spat on Rig Preceded Explosion; Top Kill Underway
by ilene - May 27th, 2010 1:46 am
BP Admits Crucial Mistake; Big Spat on Rig Preceded Explosion; Top Kill Underway; Workers Getting Sick; More Videos
Courtesy of Mish
In what is absolutely guaranteed to spawn more lawsuits BP Cites Crucial ‘Mistake’
Oil giant BP PLC told congressional investigators that a decision to continue work on an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico after a test warned that something was wrong may have been a "fundamental mistake," according to a memo released by two lawmakers Tuesday.
The document describes a wide array of mistakes in the fateful final hours aboard the Deepwater Horizon—but the main revelation is that BP now says there was a clear warning sign of a "very large abnormality" in the well, but work proceeded anyway.
The rig exploded about two hours later.
According to the memo, BP identified several other mistakes aboard the rig, including possible contamination of the cement meant to seal off the well from volatile natural gas and the apparent failure to monitor the well closely for signs that gas was leaking in, the congressmen wrote in their post-meeting memo. An immense column of natural gas, erupting from the oil well, fueled the fireball that destroyed the rig.
A Transocean spokesman said in response to the memo: "A well is constructed and completed the same way a house is built—at the direction of the owner and the architect. And in this case, that’s BP."
The memo sheds new light on a key test performed hours before the explosion that has been a focus of congressional investigations. BP previously told investigators that a "negative pressure" test, which checks for leaks in the well, was inconclusive at best and "not satisfactory" at worst.
But in the meeting Tuesday, BP went further, saying the results were an "indicator of a very large abnormality" but that workers—unnamed in the memo—decided by 7:55 p.m. that the test was successful after all. That may have been a "fundamental mistake," BP’s investigator said in the meeting, according to the memo.
Transocean argued with BP before blast
Transocean is attempting to absolve itself from legal blame, perhaps rightfully so.
Tonight we see Big Spat on Rig Preceded Explosion
Douglas H. Brown, Transocean’s chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, said key representatives from both companies had a "skirmish" during an 11 a.m. meeting on April 20. Less
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There will be blame
by ilene - May 14th, 2010 12:56 pm
So my Comedy Central break last night was about the oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico, and whether anyone’s actually responsible, followed by Jon’s report on the big banks’ winning sprees, and a call for a nut based economy, and then an interview with Ian Bremmer on the derivative market and the end of capitalism. That was refreshing! – Ilene
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show
There will be blame
As BP comes up with new solutions for the oil spill by scrambling letters, the government tries to figure out how it happened.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| There Will Be Blame | ||||
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Ian Bremmer
Ian Bremmer believes that America has to defend its free market principles to succeed in the world economy.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Ian Bremmer | ||||
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Hoarders
The big banks make money by taking the bailout money we gave them and lending it back to the government with interest.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Hoarders | ||||
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Full Daily Show episode here.>>
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site