Chevron Assumes Responsibility For Oil Spill. (What Spill?)

The article below from the Dow Jones Newswires  caught my attention this morning. I have actually been following this story for a couple of days now and realized I haven't seen this anywhere in the mainstream media. Why not? Granted this isn't the same as the horrific Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, however it is a spill nonetheless. Chevron is taking responsibility for it which is commendable. BP took responsibility for Deepwater Horizon, but they are vilified still today. (This is despite the fact several other companies have been found  to share the blame - which we don't hear about either.)

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–The Brazilian unit of major U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. (CVX) takes “full responsibility” for a leaking well bore that left a sheen of crude staining the Atlantic Ocean, a company official said Sunday.
“Any oil on the surface of the ocean is unacceptable to Chevron,” said George Buck, president of Chevron Brasil.
Chevron has plugged the appraisal well that was the primary source of the leaking crude, which traveled to the surface through a hole in the well bore after the rock wall of the well failed, Buck said.
Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, estimated the leak at between 200 and 330 barrels of crude per day, which was “in the ballpark,” Buck said. Another government estimate put the total volume of the spill at 5,000 to 8,000 barrels. Buck said that estimate was also “in the ballpark, perhaps high.”
Chevron has not used any chemical dispersants on the oil slick on the ocean’s surface, using only mechanical dispersion and collection, Buck said. He denied that Chevron was using sand on the sheen.
-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Does anybody have any theories on why this environmental disaster isn't being covered? I would love to hear any input or theories.

What If Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Happened In Cuban Waters?

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Several U.S. companies are asking the Obama administration for permission to respond to potential oil spills in Cuban waters, a top offshore drilling regulator said Wednesday, hoping to overcome embargo restrictions that currently limit their ability to do so.

The companies’ requests coincide with a growing concern among oil-industry experts who say the U.S. embargo on Cuba could cripple the ability of spill-containment companies to respond to potential spills that start in Cuban waters but then move to U.S. shores.

Speaking at a congressional hearing Wednesday, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich said several companies have asked the U.S. Commerce Department for licenses that would allow them to use subsea well containment systems and other types of equipment to respond to spills in Cuban waters.

Bromwich said he had “a high level of confidence” the Commerce Department would approve the licenses, in large part because it had already issued separate approvals for oil-spill containment systems and cleanup items. U.S. government agencies “are very much on alert, looking for the licenses [applications] as they come in and my understanding is that they’re giving them very rapid attention and they’re approving them as promptly as they can.”

The administration’s efforts are not without controversy. The chairman of the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R., Colo.), said Wednesday that he is concerned “this administration will weaken the U.S. embargo on Cuba.”

Earlier in the week, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to do more to prevent Cuba’s oil-drilling plans. “This scheme endangers U.S. security and environmental interests, and will enrich the Cuban regime,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), a Cuban-born American, said.

Many environmental and oil-industry experts have taken a different approach and have urged the administration to give broad flexibility to U.S. companies that are equipped to respond to spills.

They contend Cuba will pursue oil exploration, regardless of whether the U.S. disapproves, so the U.S. should simply prepare for possible accidents.

Cuba’s offshore drilling plans get under way in coming months when Spanish company Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC) starts to conduct exploratory drilling off the country’s northern coast. Repsol is transporting a Chinese-built rig to be used for the exploration work.

Repsol has voluntarily agreed to allow U.S. officials to inspect the rig before it enters Cuban waters. The company has also agreed to comply with U.S. drilling standards.

-By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires

British Petroleum is Back!

By Ryan Tracy And Angel Gonzalez, The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—BP PLC on Wednesday got permission to drill its first well in the Gulf of Mexico since the company’s massive oil spill there last year.

The decision was expected after the U.S. Interior Department approved the company’s broader plan for four exploratory wells in the Gulf late last week. It represents another milestone in the U.K. oil company’s efforts to return to the good graces of federal regulators since it lost control of a deep-water well after a blowout in April 2010. The incident killed 11 workers and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The Interior Department said the company had met new safety requirements put in place since the spill and had adhered to voluntary standards that went beyond the agency’s requirements.

The approval comes a day after the U.K. oil company reported quarterly earnings of $5.3 billion, surpassing analyst expectations and boosting hopes that the company was emerging with renewed strength from one of the darkest—and costliest—periods of its history. The company had to shed billions of dollars in assets in order to pay for spill costs, while facing the wrath of U.S. legislators, environmental activists and the public.

“We have now reached a definite turning point,” Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in a statement Tuesday. “Our operations are regaining momentum and we are facing the future with great confidence.”

BP said Wednesday’s permit came “after several months of hard work developing and implementing our new drilling standards and sharing those standards with industry partners and regulators.”

The well is located about 246 miles south of Lafayette, La., and is part of BP’s Kaskida prospect. It will be drilled in 6,034 feet of water.

To demonstrate it could contain a blowout at the new well, BP contracted with the Marine Well Containment Co., an industry consortium formed after last year’s spill. The company maintains a “capping stack” that can be scrambled to the scene of a spill and is designed to contain an out-of-control well in deep water.

Environmental groups have questioned whether the new containment system can fulfill those claims, but federal regulators have endorsed it.

“This permit was approved only after thorough well design, blowout preventer, and containment capability reviews,” Michael Bromwich, director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said Wednesday.

BP, one of the largest leaseholders in the U.S. Gulf and until the spill one of the most successful wildcatters there, can now join the flock of big oil and gas companies returning to the oil-rich area. On Tuesday, Hess Corp. said it was moving forward with the $2.3 billion development of the Tubular Bells deep-water oil and gas project in the Gulf—the helm of which it took over from BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The Interior Department said it has approved permits for 46 deep-water wells since February, when a company first demonstrated it could contain a deep-water spill.
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