Trump Administration Greenlights New Oil-Drilling Operations In Arctic Waters

sooo, soon we’ll maybe see another Arctic US chapter! Unfortunately the show will be run by those Italian clowns from Eni who proved not that competent so far when it comes to Arctic matters (see earlier posts on the forum re. their Goliat platform and misery in the Barents Sea).

Great…

huh, I only noticed now via this article that Eni’s Arctic exploration will happen in partnership with … Royal Dutch Shell. Even more chance things may not exactly go as planned.

Bring the popcorn!

MARK MY WORDS…Drupf may make it available but nobody will go back until crude is over $100/bbl for many years and that the world supply/demand situation is very different than it is today. The cost to produce crude from the US Arctic is massive and the environmental hurdles immense. There is NO REASON TODAY to be there!

when they do go back, you can rest assured that the players will only use the best Norwegian equipment money can by because you can’t trust any of that US built junk!

4 Likes

No fear, the Cheeto will make sure none of those silly enviro rules interfere with the flow of oil or campaign contributions.

1 Like

totally agree there. And my message was more based on the fact that the BSEE gave an approval, not so much on a market reality check. That said, we’re talking exploration drilling here … so even if production is still quite a long way ahead (if it will ever happen), they still get a chance to play around and do some exploration drilling (and thus potentially fuck things up again).

I’m not so sure. If they were smart they’d go DRILL now and cap anything they find, then when oil is valuable enough go back and install production facilities. When oil prices are high is NOT the time to be doing exploratory drilling, it’s the time to be producing.

Since they are drilling horizontally from a man made gravel island this is not an “offshore” operation with the problems that comes from using a floating rig, neither due to ice conditions nor weather,

Logistics may be a problem though, but this is not exactly the firs such operation, so I assume that problem has been solved?

Being close to shore and in relatively shallow waters there should also be well tested methods for production and getting the produced oil/gas to market??

I’m sure Norwegian equipment and expertise will be ready to step in when necessary. Not only with rigs and vessels, but with the expertise on concrete structures that can withstand the ice pressure.

If oil is found far from existing infrastructure it is also the question of transporting it to market. Norway has long experience with shuttle tankers.

We know that, the oil companies know it, but the stock owners are too damn stupid to realize it. They can’t see more than a quarter down the road, so it blows their minds to spend money when things are like they are.

Never mind that that it has been decades since it’s been this cheap to drill due to day rates for EVERYTHING being at or even below break evens for contractors. This it nothing new, history just repeats itself.

3 Likes

Oh yes, Coonasslandia is full of examples of those methods.

http://www.cleanwaterlandcoast.com/tag/louisiana-environment/

Yes there is that, but minus the ice.

Hopefully something has been learnt from the mistakes of the past and that BSEE and EPA is keeping the Oilcos, whether US or foreign owned, under tight control.

but you need to convince your shareholders that spending many BILLIONS on exploration today (taking that money from dividends) will pay them back many more times two decades from now…and all this after Shell’s BOONDOGGLE DEBACLE that cost them how much treasure?

not too many investors I know would think twice before saying NYET!

1 Like