Monday, a new drilling moratorium for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill was issued by the Obama administration. Last month a federal court judge, citing oil drilling jobs, overturned the first deep water drilling moratorium. Ken Salazar vowed to come back with one more one courts would accept. The first deep water drilling moratorium singled out drilling for oil at depths of 500 feet or more. The new drilling moratorium disregards depth and focuses only on drilling scenarios and know-how. The 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dumped an estimated 140 million gallons of crude to the sea.
Article resource: New drilling moratorium issued as first drilling rig leaves gulf by Personal Money Store
At all depths, new drilling moratorium applies
Last week, a federal appeals court rejected an appeal by the interior department to restore its initial offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which halted the approval of any new permits being given out 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 still needed to ensure that oil and gas companies implement safety actions to reduce risks – and are prepared to handle 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.
Jobs in oil drilling are at risk
Through Nov. 30, the new moratorium will last. Numerous permits can be given before that if drillers prove safe actions have been taken. Within the Meantime, a New Orleans business group said the economic damage from a drilling moratorium would be worse than the toll taken by the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010. Business Week reports 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 the economic impact from the BP oil spill would be dwarfed by the impact from the moratorium.
Having a hard time trusting oil drilling companies
Salazar disagrees with Hecht’s assessment of the outcome. Salazar said in a statement, “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’m basing my decision on evidence that grows each day of the industry’s inability within the deep water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely.”
First drilling rig is to leave the gulf
At the national commission listening to, the CEO of a service provider for offshore drillers said drilling rigs are likely to have to leave the Gulf because of the drilling moratorium. So far, one has proven right. According to the Houston Chronicle, on July 9 Diamond Offshore announced that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters right away — making it the first to abandon the gulf in the wake of the BP oil spill and the drilling moratorium being tested in the courts.
Discover more info here:
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
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