Power crews diverted - Restoring pipeline came first
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina roared through South Mississippi knocking out electricity and communication systems, the White House ordered power restored to a pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast. That order - to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. - delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine Belt. At the time, gasoline was in short supply across the country because of Katrina. Prices increased dramatically and lines formed at pumps across the South.
I considered it a presidential directive to get those pipelines operating," said Jim Compton, general manager of the South Mississippi Electric Power Association. "I reluctantly agreed to pull half our transmission line crews off other projects and made getting the transmission lines to the Collins substations a priority. "We were led to believe a national emergency was created when the pipelines were shut down."
Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm. Compton said workers who were trying to restore power to some rural water systems also were taken off their jobs and placed on the Colonial Pipeline project. Compton did not name specific water systems affected.
IEA boss warns of global energy crisis
9/4/2005 0:31 am ET source: ABCNews.com
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) says Hurricane Katrina could spark a worldwide energy crisis if damage to US refineries leads to a big increase in US purchases of European petrol. "If the crisis affects oil products then it's a worldwide crisis. No one should think this will be limited to the United States," Claude Mandil, head of the Paris-based energy watchdog told German daily Die Welt. "They are already buying gasoline in Europe. If the refineries are damaged, that will only increase. Then this will become a worldwide crisis very quickly."
Mr Mandil told the paper that high oil prices represented a risk for global economic growth and urged consumers to alter their behaviour to save more energy and limit the fallout. Poor countries were bound to suffer most from a recent surge in energy prices, which has been aggravated by the hurricane's devastation of the US Gulf states, and the shortages it has caused, he said. On Friday, the IEA launched a rescue plan to ease those shortages, saying its 26 members would release two million barrels per day of oil over a 30-day period.
20 oil rigs missing in Gulf of Mexico
"We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was," Petty Officer Robert Reed of the Louisiana Coast Guard told AFP.
According to the latest tally Wednesday from the federal Minerals Management Service, a total of 561 platforms and rigs have been evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for a quarter of US oil production.
Over 91 percent of normal daily crude oil production in the Gulf -- 1.5 million barrels -- is now shut down, and more than 83 percent of natural gas production, the MMS said.
At least eight refineries have been shut down on the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi... Two of the Louisiana tanker terminals hit by the hurricane -- Port Fourchon and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port -- combined handle more than 20 percent of all the crude oil imported into the United States.
Oil Prices Dip as Bush Taps Into Reserves
9/1/2005 12:22 am ET source: Breitbart.com
Crude oil prices dipped Thursday after the Bush administration's decision to tap U.S. strategic reserves to help companies hurt by Hurricane Katrina, but gasoline futures jumped 3 percent because of worries about storm damage to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. "Depending on what we learn in the next few days this may be the biggest oil-supply shock since the 1970s. We are now in the days of reckoning," said Cambridge Energy Research's Daniel Yergin.
"The loss of critical gasoline flows from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Northeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will stress markets over the next few weeks, even as the summer driving season ends," said Energyintel analyst David Knapp.
While the details were being worked out about how much oil would be loaned from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve _ and which refiners would receive it _ European nations began considering the release of their own government-controlled stockpiles of gasoline and heating oil, according to officials at the Paris-based International Energy Agency. The officials demanded anonymity because the consultations were confidential.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service said Wednesday that 91 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output was out of service... The agency said 83 percent of natural gas output was shut down...
Gas getting even costlier; lines reported
At the Chevron gas station at 10th and Spring streets in Midtown, drivers were limited to buying $10 of gas which was selling for $2.99 a gallon. A sign inside the station said "Due to fuel shortage, we are having to restrict use." Tim Gara was filling up the Toyata RAV4 he bought in April with low gas mileage in mind. "I knew [gas] would be a problem with the hurricane. I didn't know it'd get to rationing," Gara said.
Dawn Townsend, driving a VW Beetle, said the rationing reminded her of the oil crisis in the early 1970s. "I was remembering all the lines," she said. Gas suppliers worried this morning whether fear of shortages would cause every driver to try to fill his tank at the same time, which would drain supplies much more quickly and perhaps cause the shortages everyone fears.
Bush Says Katrina Recovery to Take Years
8/31/2005 11:20 pm ET source: Breitbart.com
Bush signed off on a plan to release oil from emergency stockpiles, a decision intended to offset the loss of production from Gulf Coast refiners. At the same time, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson announced a temporary nationwide waiver of certain pollution standards covering gasoline and diesel fuels.
Johnson had issued the waiver for the four storm-damaged Gulf states on Tuesday but said the broader move was necessary "to ensure that fuel is available throughout the country, to address public health issues and emergency vehicle supply needs."
Additionally, Bodman said the Transportation Department had waived rules governing trucker hours, a step he said would increase the supply of gasoline.
Newest report from an anonymous insider
8/31/2005 8:12 pm ET source: The Oil Drum
There are MANY production platforms missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.
More than 95 percent of Gulf oil production lost
The U.S. Minerals Management Service said 645 of the 819 staffed production platforms in the Gulf were shut down, delaying production of 1.43 million barrels of oil. On a normal day, the Gulf produces 1.5 million barrels.
The shutdowns also delayed production of 8.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas, or 88 percent of the Gulf's normal daily gas production of 10 billion cubic feet, the MMS reported from a survey of 68 companies.
On Tuesday, the MMS also said 90 drilling rigs exploring for petroleum in the Gulf were evacuated.
