BP Executive Says US Cannot Do Without Gulf Oil

[sabra]

Source: ABC News/AP

BP executive tells Congress says US cannot do without Gulf oil

WASHINGTON

The head of BP America is telling Congress that despite the catastrophic oil spill, the U.S. cannot do without oil from the Gulf of Mexico.

BP America chairman and president Lamar McKay told a House panel in prepared testimony that America's economy, security and standard of living "significantly depend upon domestic oil and gas production." He said that companies have operated in the Gulf safely and reliably. The Associated Press obtained a copy of his remarks prior to delivery.

McKay warned that reducing energy production without consumption would shift jobs offshore — and put millions of additional barrels onto tanker ships that travel across oceans.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10918155

[Romulox]

1. BP's press releases are not LBN. nt

[Angry Dragon]

2. I read that as a threat

[dipsydoodle]

3. Nope

It's a constructive comment based on your thirst for oil. Lose your thirst for oil and the problem goes away - you wouldn't need the Gulf oil.

[Winterblues]

16. But how would we do our bombing runs and fire our tanks and stuff?

America HAS to kill.. It is a given...

[primavera]

41. Amen

On a per capita basis, the US consumes between two and three times as much energy as any other developed nation save the OPEC countries themselves. There's simply no reason why we need as much oil as we're consuming. Everyone else on the planet gets by with a fraction of the per capita energy we use and they suffer no great hardship as a consequence of their lower energy consumption. This argument that we need all of this oil is nothing more than the Kool-Aid of the oil and gas industry which doesn't want to lose one of its most profitable junkies. Take a clue, people: it is waaaay past time we set down the pipe and got ourselves into a rehab program.

[Lochloosa]

6. No shit. Nationalize BP and keep the oil. It is ours after all.

[SPedigrees]

18. It worked for Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan people. nt

[dmosh42]

22. Yes, seize the wells from the crooks!

[wordpix]

26. +1 if O wants to up his popularity & really save the environment, DO IT

What's left of the environment, I mean :cry:

[Titanothere]

40. Right, because things are going so smoothly down there

Please don't suggest Chavez as an exemplar

So if we can "seize" the oil industry, how about we just seize yours as well? Assuming you work for a private company of course.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[louis-t]

7. It IS a threat.

A very calculated threat. Ask the guy how much of the oil in the gulf actually ends up here.

[havocmom]

11. BP sells a lot of oil to the US DOD

They own our ass because the military needs BP oil, for all the meddlesome policies which are in place to protect oil.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/fueling-war-pentagon-still-buying-most-its-oil-and-gas-bp

...

Contrast the Congressional response to ACORN's federal contracts with its response to BP, which does billions of dollars in business with the federal government, specifically the Pentagon. BP holds more than $2 billion in annual US defense contracts and continues to be the premiere provider of fuel to the world's largest consumer of oil and gas: the Pentagon. BP is responsible for the worst environmental crime in US history. It is responsible for the deaths of 11 oil rig workers. Attorney General Eric Holder said he is conducting both criminal and civil probes into BP's actions in the US Gulf.

...

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Up-to-1248M-to-Air-BP-for-Aviation-Turbine-Fuel-06297/

BP a huge part of the long time problems with Iran, which probably helped arguments for lots more defense spending than we would have had to cough up, had we not deposed a popular, ELECTED leader with despot puppet shah. Circular policy all for profit. People die and suffer for fucking decades, but BP and the rest are doing just fine.

[Statistical]

21. Almost all of it. Oil is oil.

It tends to be consumed closest to the point of production.

I mean think about it. It makes very little sense to fill supertanker with "gulf oil" and sail it to the China on the other side of the world and at the same time fill a tanker full of Saudi oil and sail it around the world to supply oil to ports in New Orleans.

While oil is sold on open market the closest supplies tend to be used first.

Thus US uses a lot of domestic oil and imports from our closest neighbors (Venezuela, Mexico & Canada).

70% of US oil comes from US, Mexico, Canada & Venezuala.

Since oil is fungible it makes little sense to sell "US oil" in Canada and then import more oil to sell in US.

[LisaL]

4. And now you don't even have to drill for it.

It's right there in the water.

[ladjf]

5. What percent of America's oil consumption comes from the Gulf?

[dipsydoodle]

9. That's not material

What is material is the amount you import from the Arab states where they are acutely aware you are using a non replacable resource of theirs instead of using what you've got. Don't think for one moment they are not keeping a close eye on this situation and that they have the abilty to price their oil accordingly.

[RKP5637]

10. Yep!!! n/t

[ladjf]

20. The EIA report for 2009 says that the Petroleum and Liquid fuels

taken from the Gulf of Mexico account for 8% of the U.S.Consummption.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oog/special/gulf/gulf_fact_sheet.html

If that figure is correct, I believe that the BP executive is incorrect in stating that the U.S.
can't live without Gulf oil just in terms of usage. If he is also referring to the related jobs,
that might be another matter.

[Statistical]

23. That is all liquid fuels. Further down the page. The Gulf is roughly 30% of US crude production.

Here is another source:

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/cfapps/STEO_Query/steotables.cfm?tableNumber=9

Gulf production (just federal lands) is 1.54 mbpd (million barrels per day).
Per your link total production (federal & state waters) is 1.60 mbpd.
Total US production is 5.32 mbpd.
Total US crude consumption is 14.31 mbpd.

Thus Gulf supplies roughly 30% of US Domestic production and 11% of total crude consumption.

[dipsydoodle]

29. I can see how you got to that figure

but it sounds impossibly high.

[Statistical]

33. Why?

The Gulf is one of oil rich areas of the country and it was the one that was last exploited meaning it has much higher current production than many older wells. Most on land wells in the US went into decline in early 1970s so they are substantially below peak production now.

[ladjf]

34. Actually, I had the same thought. But, I tried to interpret the

chart as best I could.

I believe the key point is that the U.S. only uses a small percentage of the total Gulf production.

[louis-t]

38. This is what I was looking for.

I KNEW it was a low percentage. Wait, that still doesn't answer the question. How much oil from the gulf comes to the US for consumption. This just tells what part of overall consumption comes FROM the gulf.

[wordpix]

31. our oil goes on the international market- total BS that "ours" will make us energy-independent

that's what BigOil and their whores in Congress want us to believe so they can drill baby drill with impunity. Don't believe it. "Our" oil goes on the open market, same as Arab oil.

[havocmom]

8. Then maybe we should get out of Iraq. That would save a lot of oil bought from BP

x(

[wordpix]

27. out of Afghanistan, too---some of the war machinery goes 1/2 mi per gal

0.6 mpg to be exact---I think this is for a tank.

[RockWiggles]

12. Fine BP, but we can get Gulf Oil without you.

[damntexdem]

13. But the U.S. and the Gulf can do without BP -- once it pays out billions for what it did.

And once criminal charges are filed for its criminal negligence.

[ixion]

14. Said The Pusher to the Junkie

Take a hike, BP.

[wordpix]

28. it'll make you feel so good to keep those wars and lack of public transportation going

:grr:

[Winterblues]

15. Are they suggesting they are "Too big to Fail"?

I suspect before this is done the tax payers will be on the hook once again. It is becoming standard procedure.

[dipsydoodle]

17. They wouldn't fall

Petrochina could buy them outright and cope with the liablities too. That's what both governments and probably the Russians too are desperately trying to avoid.

[Gregin Orlando]

19. It'll be difficult to drill in the Gulf if workers cannot breathe the air

BP must be held accountable for this disaster. From day one it has been far worse than we have been told by BP, the feds and the corporate media. Now after finally admitting the leak is far greater than originally estimated and acknowledging the existence of giant underwater plumes of oil, the media and BP are downplaying the health risks to cleanup workers and Gulf residents. The truth is that toxins in the air from evaporating oil and dispersants may pose an even greater health risk to Gulf coast residents than toxic water. There are even unconfirmed rumors of FEMA planning an evacuation of the coast as far as 200 miles inland if the air becomes unfit to breathe. Check out this article for more information: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m6d15-Toxins-in-air-from-evaporating-oil-may-pose-greater-threat-to-Gulf-residents-than-oily-water. The author has been writing about the magnitude of the leak and the underwater plumes for weeks before either were mentioned in the mainstream media.

[dipsydoodle]

35. Did that happen with Ixtoc which was even bigger.?

The oil was everywhere, long black sheets of it, 15 inches thick in some places. Even if you stepped in what looked like a clean patch of sand, it quickly and gooily puddled around your feet. And Wes Tunnell, as he surveyed the mess, had only one bleak thought: "Oh, my God, this is horrible! It's all gonna die!"

But it didn't. Thirty-one years since the worst oil spill in North American history blanketed 150 miles of Texas beach, tourists noisily splash in the surf and turtles drag themselves into the dunes to lay eggs.

"You look around and it's like the spill never happened," shrugs Tunnell, a marine biologist. "There's a lot of perplexity in it for many of us.

For Tunnell and others involved in the fight to contain the June 3, 1979, spill from Mexico's Ixtoc 1 offshore well in the Gulf of Campeche, the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico conjures an eerie sense of deja vu.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/12/1677370/ixtoc-offshore-well-gulfs-other.html#ixzz0qwyQFJyr


http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/12/1677370/ixtoc-offshore-well-gulfs-other.html

[Catherina]

24. Try us you asshole. We can do without you just fine.

Dump the Anglo block and make nice with Chavez. Did we win the fucking revolution or not?

[pitohui]

25. the thing is, people on the scene in louisiana know and accept this

we want the good-paying jobs that can keep our kids in this state, we want to produce oil for this nation, we just want it done safely

i don't see why we can't compromise on this, it's ridiculous to end the drilling but perfectly reasonable to insist that the relief wells are drilled alongside the exploration/production wells instead of waiting until after an accident happens

the point about tankers is a well-made point, all that oil from the exxon valdez came from that tanker running aground, not from a well

i just don't see how we can ask soldiers to die in foreign wars to secure oil resources when we are unwilling to drill our own - that's pretty damn unethical, to say it's OK to take a chance w. another country's environment, but we're not willing to take the chance w. our own -- an old world pelican wants to live wild and free just as much as a new world pelican...same for the dolphins, same for all wildlife really

a lot of the best jobs in this state, esp. for blue collar, are in oil drilling/production/refining, to ask us to lose that AND lose the seafood industry at the same time is a bit much

it's my understanding that even the families of the men killed in the explosion don't want the drilling stopped, THEY JUST WANT BETTER SAFETY PROCEDURES

[wordpix]

30. the relief wells are not a panacea; an expert on MSNBC said they spill oil, too

[pitohui]

32. the thing is...foreign wars for resource spill human blood

you know, nothing in life is perfect

do you really think we're going thru all this shit just to hear "oh the usa never needed your oil anyway, we were just humoring you folks in louisiana who thought you were doing something worthwhile and important, you can go back to your normally scheduled crack dealing now?"

we thought -- we still do think -- that oil is a vital resource worth recovering

there needs to be safety measures, and even if the relief wells aren't perfect, they are a significant help

there does not need to a shutdown of domestic oil production

[primavera]

36. Speak for yourself

I'm a New Orleans resident and I'm not at all a proponent of offshore drilling. The US doesn't need Gulf oil; it simply wants it so that energy costs can remain low enough to allow us to avoid having to conserve energy and give up our gas guzzlers. Sorry, but I don't consider that a particularly noble reason for continuing to support an industry that can - and, as the events of the day demonstrate, does - produce environmental catastrophes of global consequences.

[mbperrin]

42. Well said! I live in the middle of what used to be the biggest oilpatch

in the world, producing 29% of all natural gas and crude oil in the US in 1972. Last year, production was at 1935 levels, about 75% less than the peak in 1972, and guess what?

We found that huge windmills produce more electricity than the grid can currently handle, that retired people love the area because of the weather, that our transportation connections, rail, interstate, and air, make us very attractive to warehousing and shipping operations.

In other words, our population is bigger, our quality of life is better, and our future is brighter, because when the oil began running out, we didn't.

The beautiful state of Louisiana (where we spent last summer camping out near historic sites - I teach) has many more natural features than we do, and I know their population is every bit as creative as ours, and so they will be fine without gulf oil when that happens, and the rest of us will, too. Nothing lasts forever - we got off wood, off whale oil, and we'll get off oil, too.

What large corporations WANT does not have much to do with what people NEED.

[mvd]

43. I understand the economic point of view. BUT, we have to wean ourselves off of oil

We've got to start putting more people to work developing solar, wind, and nuclear (if we can find a way to dispose of nuclear waste safely.) I think deep water drilling should stop to be a catalyst for this. There must be no more cutting corners (or risk prosecution,) and there should be the highest safety standards enforced by the government. Research natural gas more, too.

[The Backlash Cometh]

37. "Gulf oil" is the operative term.

[junior college]

44. Gulf oil makes up like .02 percent of the US oil supply

These assholes at BP need to dry up and blow away

[Statistical]

45. .02? more like 30%. I guess .02 is close enough to 30 though. n/t