The Obama administration issued a new drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico Monday. Last month a federal court judge, citing oil drilling jobs, overturned the first deep water drilling moratorium. Ken Salazar, interior secretary, said he’d come back with one courts would accept. The first deep water drilling moratorium singled out drilling for oil at any kind of depths of 500 feet or more. The new drilling moratorium disregards depth and focuses only on drilling scenarios and know-how. Meanwhile, the 2010 oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico has until now dumped an estimated 140 million gallons of crude into the sea.
New drilling moratorium applies to all depths
Last week, a federal appeals court rejected an appeal by the interior department to restore its first offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells. As outlined by the Washington Post, Salazar made the announcement Monday, arguing that a drilling moratorium is nevertheless needed to ensure that oil and gas companies implement safety methods to cut back risks – and are prepared to manage oil spills. Unlike the first moratorium, which applied to drilling rigs in waters of more than 500 feet, the new one applies to any deep-water floating facility with drilling activities.
At risk seems to be oil drilling jobs
The new moratorium is planned to last through Nov. 30th. Is driller prove safe actions have been taken, some permits could be allowed before then. Meanwhile, a New Orleans business group explained the economic damage from a drilling moratorium would be worse than the toll taken by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. It was reported by Business Week that Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans Inc. told the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling at a listening to that the six-month drilling ban may affect up to 24,000 oil drilling jobs in Louisiana. Hecht assumed that the economic impact from the BP oil spill would be dwarfed by the impact from the moratorium.
Oil drilling companies can’t be trusted
Salazar strongly disagrees with Hecht’s assessment of the outcome. In a statement Salazar explained “A pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deep water drilling presently poses. I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry’s inability within the deep water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely.”
The first drilling rig has to leave the gulf
At the national commission , the CEO of a service provider for offshore drillers said drilling rigs are going to have to leave the Gulf because of the drilling moratorium. One has proven right so far. It was reported by the Houston Chronicle that on July 9 Diamond Offshore announced that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters quickly — making it the first to abandon the gulf in the wake of the BP oil spill and the drilling moratorium being tested within the courts.
More information available at these websites:
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071203003.html?hpid=topnews
businessweek.com
businessweek.com/news/2010-07-12/economic-damage-of-drilling-ban-to-dwarf-oil-spill-hecht-says.html
Houston Chronicle
chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7101738.html
