We already know that the official Commission into the Deepwater disaster criticised BP for systematic management failures. But the Commission is set to criticise the Obama administration later today when the full and final report is launched at the National Press Club. It will argue that the Administration has not gone far enough to reform … Read More
oil industry outlook
Deepwater Increases Chance of “Oil Crunch”
Its not rocket science. But if you delay further expansion of offshore drilling because of the Deepwater disaster, then you risk compromising the supply of future oil supplies. If deepwater drilling is where over a quarter of new oil reserves are, then any delay in accessing these reserves could mean trouble. That is the conclusion … Read More
“Unacceptable Consequences” of Arctic Oil Drilling
Following on from an earlier blog this week, we know now from Tony Hayward that BP was woefully unprepared for the Deepwater oil spill. So if BP was not prepared in the warm accessable waters of the Gulf of Mexico, what about the cold remote and inhosbitable waters of the Arctic where oil could take … Read More
Deepwater Disaster has “Long-Term Benefits”
I have explored enough on this blog how the perception that the Deepwater disaster would somehow be a game changer for the oil industry now looks wildly over optimistic and premature. There were always going to be winners and losers from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But probably not many would have predicted that oil service … Read More
The Game Remains the Same
In the days after the BP oil spill, many environmentalists argued that the spill would be a “game-changer”, that it would facilitate the transition to a clean energy future. But any new legislation that might have been introduced after the spill that placed stricter regulations on offshore drilling is not likely to come into force, … Read More
BP Disaster Adds to Oil Major “Identity Crisis”
Its not a new concept that the oil majors are struggling to come up with new reserves, but its not often that it is written in black and white. Well pink, actually. Today’s Financial Times has one of its special reports on Energy. It combines two of the recurring themes I have written about on … Read More
“Deep-water drilling will continue because that’s where the oil is..”
The Washington Post this morning asks a fundamental question that has been played out in countless meetings of oil companies, government officials and environmental NGOs: “Will the oil spill make a drop of difference regarding our attitudes?” Some five months later, was the spill a game changer like many predicted? And the results seem to … Read More
“Brazil is the future for the oil industry”..
Are investors put off by the risks of ultra deepwater drilling after the Deepwater Horizon disaster? If the frenzy down in Brazil is anything to go by – the answer is a staggering no. Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, has just raised a whopping $70bn in the biggest share issue in corporate history. And the … Read More
BP Will Survive, But What About the Others?
It is not rocket science that fickle City investors responded to the news of BP’s final plugging of the Macondo well by sending the company’s share price rising. BP’s share price rose by just under 2 per cent to $38.68, helping to recover a small portion of the billions wiped off BP’s market capitalisation during … Read More
“Dead Well” is a Just a Bump in the Road
So finally the well is dead. After 153 days, 5 million barrels spilt and a $10 billion bill so far, BP’s well is officially sealed. Although no crude has leaked from the well since BP capped it on July 15, the only way to permanently seal it was a bottom kill from the relief well. … Read More