Tag: Gulf of Mexico

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Federal officials say offshore workers return to Gulf oil and gas jobs

They had been evacuated because of Tropical Storm Lee Federal officials say offshore oil and gas workers in the Gulf of Mexico are going back to platforms and rigs that had been evacuated because of Tropical Storm Lee.The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement said Monday in a news release that 232 production platforms and 24 rigs had been evacuated. That meant about 38 percent of the total 617 manned platforms and 33 percent of the 70 drilling rigs operating in the Gulf were evacuated.BOEMRE said the evacuations had shut in 61 percent of the oil production and 46 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf.The rigs and platforms will be inspected for damage and then brought back online.Source: AP

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Oil from the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf Moratorium and Permit Freeze are killing jobs It's a sad story. It's a shocking story.You can find out all about it at OpenTheGulf.org, a website sponsored by the industry-backed Consumer Energy Alliance. The problem, according to the site: the Obama administration's "Gulf Moratorium and Permit Freeze" are killing jobs. The solution as per the site: send a message to U.S. government officials to "Open the Gulf."Gulf Stories as CenterpieceThe Web campaign's centerpiece are clips of real people -- Lori, David, Mark, and others -- telling their stories of economic ruin to a backdrop of empty rigs and warehouses underscored by somber, plaintive music. (These stories are also being featured in TV ads.) Each has a compelling and sad story to tell. Their lives are in economic free fall -- they're out of work, can't make ends meet, gasoline is too expensive, all the jobs have gone overseas. And why is all this happening? The administration's policy on oil from the Gulf of Mexico.Mark claims that if "the moratorium was opened up ... it would be better for everyone." Lori, the owner of a company that runs rigs in the gulf, laments the loss of business and has a solution: ...

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Coast Guard found no oil leaking from seafloor wells at the Gulf of Mexico

BP well is not leaking Federal officials investigating reports of small amounts of oil popping up on the Gulf of Mexico surface near where a BP well blew out last year said Friday they found no oil leaking from seafloor wells.This week the Coast Guard and BP sent deep-sea robots down to the disaster site and no leaks were found at the well or at two other wells drilled during the months-long work to get the out-of-control well capped. They said no sheens were seen on the surface either."We saturated that area by both air and sea," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer John Edwards. "With no known origin, this sheen ranks up there among the thousands of other quote-unquote mystery sheens that happen every day in the Gulf."Apparently there was a leak somewhere - perhaps from a natural seep on the seafloor or some other source, even drilling equipment that sank to the seafloor after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and sparking the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The BP well spewed about 200 million gallons of oil last year.Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University chemist leading efforts to analyze ...

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U.S. oil-spill ruling pleases plaintiff lawyers

U.S. federal judge allowed much of the case to move ahead Plaintiff lawyers claimed a victory on Friday when a U.S. federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits against BP and others over last year's big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico allowed much of the case to move ahead."We are very pleased with the ruling," said Stephen Herman, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, who include more than 100,000 individuals, businesses and property owners alleging spill-related losses. "The court agreed with us on all major points."A spokeswoman for BP, the main defendant, said the company had no immediate comment.In a 39-page, 16-part ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier dismissed some claims against BP and its co-defendants in the consolidated litigation in New Orleans. He dismissed state law claims, stating that state law is "preempted by maritime law." He also dismissed general maritime negligence claims against defendants Anadarko and Mitsui's MOEX Offshore.The judge kept intact other claims in the litigation. He ruled that plaintiffs "have plausibly alleged" Oil Pollution Act claims related to the drilling moratorium and a Gulf Coast cleanup program set up in the wake of the oil spill. Oil Pollution Act claims against Anadarko were also kept ...

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Drunk cruise passenger who dropped ship’s anchor faces 20 years in prison

He also faces a $250,000 fine A California man has pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to damage a maritime facility after dropping a Holland America cruise ship's anchor into the ocean and faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Tampa, FL, federal prosecutors said that the man in question, 45-year-old Rick Ehlert, pleaded guilty to the charge almost a year later from his ill-fated November cruise on the MS Ryndam, while travelling from Costa Maya, Mexico back to Tampa. Ehlert was caught on a security camera breaking into a control room area and sending the 18-ton anchor into the Gulf of Mexico.Authorities on the ship confronted Ehlert where he told them he was drunk at the time and that the anchor on the cruise ship was similar to the system on his 50-foot recreational boat.Ehlert's lawyer, Daniel Castillo told USA Today that Ehlert is guilty of "felony stupidity" but doesn't think this should be considered a federal crime.Luckily, AP reported that the 1,260-passenger Ryndam did not suffer damage due to the anchor not hitting the sea floor.Source: Maritime Executive

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New rules for ocean oil exploration

In compliance with the latest drilling safety rules following the Gulf of Mexicodisaster Environmental impact assessments will have to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) from today for oil and gas drilling in New Zealand's ocean territory, the Government has announced.Operators will also need to comply with the latest drilling safety rules developed in the United States following the inquiries into the Gulf of Mexico disaster.Environment Minister Nick Smith said the rules were interim measures until new legislation was enacted.He has introduced a bill to Parliament to manage the environmental effects of activities in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Extended Continental Shelf (ECS).It will have its first reading next month, go to a select committee for public submissions, and be passed in the first half of next year, if National wins the November election.Opposition parties have been pressing for rules around oil exploration and Dr Smith said his bill was part of the Government's agenda to grow the economy while ensuring the environment was protected."This legislation puts in place a robust system of environmental controls for the huge ocean and seabed area 20 times that of New Zealand's landmass that is currently unregulated," Dr Smith said."This ...

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Gulf shrimp season begins in Louisiana under oil-black cloud

Ever since the BP oil spill fishermen praying for the best Yesterday was the start of shrimp season in Louisiana, and way down in the Mississippi delta, fishermen and shrimpers struck out from the small black fishing towns that dot the river and headed out into the Gulf of Mexico, hoping and praying for the best.But ever since the BP oil spill back in 2010, their hauls have gotten lighter and their hopes and prayers a bit dimmer. The seafood industry and the livelihood of those who make their money off the side of boats is collapsing beneath them, fishermen said."We don't have millions of dollars sitting in the bank where we can go do something else. We live and die on the seafood industry. This is our culture," said Byron Encalade, president of the Louisiana Oystermen Association. "This is how we live."The oysters in many beds haven't reproduced, he said. And early reports from shrimpers said the outlook for this season doesn't look good, if today's catch is any indication.Encalade blames the 87-day oil spill in the Gulf and the dispersants used by BP to thin the oil caked on the water for blighting the sea life here."I don't ...

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Gulf of Mexico oil crew ignored warnings

Lessons have to be learned from the disaster The crew of an oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year causing one of the worst oil spills in US history ignored warning signs a disaster was imminent, an investigator said Friday.Marshall Islands deputy maritime affairs commissioner Bill Gallagher, who carried out an inquiry into the explosion because the rig was registered in the Pacific nation, said lessons had to be learned from the disaster.He said there were indications of a problem at the Deepwater Horizon rig before the blast that killed 11 people on April 20 last year but the crew failed to act."There were multiple signs that there were issues at the well itself, indicators, pressure testing, things of that nature were going on," Gallagher told Australia's ABC radio Friday."There were signs that there were some problems with the well...the blow out started and then, of course, the disaster followed shortly thereafter."Gallagher, whose report into the incident was released on Wednesday, also cited "deviation" from drilling rig control engineering standards as a reason for the disaster."These factors contributed to the substantial release of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, which culminated in explosions, fire, the loss of 11 ...

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BP Investigates New Oil Sheen Near Green Canyon Block In Gulf Of Mexico

At least 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the Gulf are not routinely inspected A new oil sheen was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico, although energy company BP said Thursday the discovery had nothing to do with its operations and was far from the site of its disaster-hit Macondo well.A spokesman for another company involved in investigating the sheen said he believed it had already dissipated since being first spotted last week.BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said his company had sent several remotely controlled mini-submersibles into the water over the weekend to investigate the source of the sheen - a shiny coating that floats on the surface of the water and generally comes from leaked or spilled oil - but had concluded "that it couldn't have been from anything of ours."A statement from BP PLC placed the site of the sheen near two abandoned exploration well sites in the Green Canyon Block in the Gulf of Mexico, although its size wasn't disclosed.The sheen was 172 miles (277 kilometers) from BP's Macondo well and about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast.The company's account differs from an anonymous report received by the Coast Guard's National Response Center over the weekend, which ...

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Gulf Ecosystem Survival Depends On Younger Generations

To the End of the Bayou - a Gulf Memory for Our Kids For more than a year, Ive watched Gulf Coast residents suffer through the worst oil spill in history, their lives turned upside down by the shock and emotional trauma of BPs oily assault. But through these agonizing times Ive also grown to love and appreciate the Gulf environment and its people.Ive vowed to take my two young daughters to witness firsthand the beauty of the bayouthreatened by the encroaching waves of the Gulf.Last weekend we finally got our chance. It turned out to be the best tripIve taken in the bayou, and Ive taken a few. But this one was pure pleasure, a boat rideto the tip ofBig Muddywith my fishermen friends David and Kindra Arnesen and their two kids. It would beabeach picnic and some fishing,a Cajun good time.It was a welcome change. Ive watched the Arnesen family suffer greatly through the worst oil spill in history. Last year I saw their business come to a screeching halt as oil soaked waves washed into their fishing grounds 80 miles south of New Orleans.Like many of his fisherman colleagues, David worked on the oil cleanup and developed ...

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