BP shuts down major Alaskan oil field

[davew0670]

this must be the the first leak in oil history.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Doboji
As long as we keep buying the Gas, the prices will go up... Such is life in the real world...

Until they go high enough that people start adapting their lives to buy less gas. Then and only then will the prices drop.

-Max

Haven't you heard? Its the evil oil barons sitting in their darkend rooms with a full brandy snifter in one hand and a Cuban cigar in the other robbing the poor, choiceless American publuc blind so they can store their totally out of control profit margins in thier giant money bin.

or so they say in P&N....

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: lokiju
This may have been quoted out of context but if not then WTF?

That statement makes no sense what-so-ever.

Sorry?

Sorry for being incompetent while making billions on top of billions in record profits while running such shoddy operations?

They are not sorry, it is pure profit allowed to happen by Bush & Co.

Enjoy even more raping America.

There's the full quote. He was referencing that BP said they were sorry for this. It can be found in his oil thread in P&N.

You have to remember when reading Dave's posts that he's an idiot.

 

[PottedMeat]

Sounds like BP is doing a sh!tty job in the americas, dont forget about their fu<kup at their Texas City refinery ( killed ~15 people )

BP Texas City Refinery Explosionhttp://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3100198.html

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: crownjules

Originally posted by: misle

Originally posted by: dxkj
so in this case, would BP make more money by "sabotaging" and having to shut down an oil field because of the market?

seems effed up

So, if they shut down their pipeline and are not selling their oil, how do they make money off of that?

Right now, oil is about the only commodity that does not follow normal supply and demand behavior. When supply is short and demand is high, price goes up as one would expect. When supply is larger then demand, however (oil inventories increasing), we have not seen as great a decline in the price.

So BP could shut down for awhile, watch oil prices skyrocket, and then reopen and start selling at higher prices because oil will likely not decline too far from whatever high it reaches. I'm not saying that is what BP is doing, I'm just explaining how it COULD play out.

This isn't quite true. Supply and demand certainly has a function, but you are not thinking in the correct temporal terms. A commodity's price isn't set just by the price today, but also the price tomorrow, or a threat to that price the week after. All s/d and known (or even unknown) risk is priced into the commodity, add in a larger measure of panic and irrational exuberance.

This goes along with almost any commodity, but it so happens that cars don't run on orange juice, so Oranges don't get the huge spotlight. However, if one were to look at OJ prices every time a weatherman even mentions frost in FL, you know what I am talking about. Prices spike and even if the temp doesn't get near that, it only creates all the more panic the next time.

So what is baked into oil prices? All of the potential disruptions, including middle east risk, nigeria, venezuela, US oil disruption, hurricanes, increasing foreign demand. Lets not forget that oil is priced in dollars, since the dollar is depreciating, oil becomes more expensive for us, cheaper for the world, decreasing wet holes. Also included in that is inflation, interest costs, carrying cost, margin requirements, counterparty risk...etc.

Why? Because nobody who wants to buy oil today without those costs, and their forward looking risks baked in. Otherwise you would be taken for a sucker as tomorrow the price skyrockets.

 

[Cattlegod]

I heard on the radio that the national average will nit ~4 bucks a gallon.

 

[OpenThirdEye]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: misle

Originally posted by: dxkj
so in this case, would BP make more money by "sabotaging" and having to shut down an oil field because of the market?

seems effed up

So, if they shut down their pipeline and are not selling their oil, how do they make money off of that?

take a loss and make a big profit when demand increases since your only real Competition is Nigeria and Chavez's Venezuela...


<---not attempting to impy anything but realise that he just has

I hate when people impy things!

 

[EKKC]

evil, greedy, whatever you call the big oil execs, you all KNOW that you'll do the same thing and could've give 2 sh1ts about normal american if you were in their shoes.

besides, if you don't, all your other big oil buddies will just turn on you and kick you out of the board or whatever, that's corporate america for you.

and yeah its just human nature.

 

[montanafan]

It makes me wonder what is going on when the last price hike at the pumps was for no reason whatsoever. The price of crude dropped, but Speedway and others raised the price at their stations. The AG's in several states are investigating them, but then next thing you know BP "discovers" a reason to create an artificial problem in the supply line which will give them an excuse to raise prices before the busy summer travel season is over.

I have a difficult time believing that with all of their profits they can't afford regular maintenance on the oil pipeline to keep it from rusting out to the extent they say it has?

"...Marshall said tests Friday indicated that there were 16 anomalies in 12 areas in an oil transit line on the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay. Tests found losses in wall thickness of between 70 and 81 percent. Repair or replacement is required if there is more than an 80 percent loss.

"The results were absolutely unexpected," Marshall said."

That's ridiculous. If they were performing regular maintenance and testing as they should, how could they have an "absolutely unexpected" loss in wall thickness of between 70 and 81 percent?

I'm calling BS on this one.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: montanafan
It makes me wonder what is going on when the last price hike at the pumps was for no reason whatsoever. The price of crude dropped, but Speedway and others raised the price at their stations. The AG's in several states are investigating them, but then next thing you know BP "discovers" a reason to create an artificial problem in the supply line which will give them an excuse to raise prices before the busy summer travel season is over.

I have a difficult time believing that with all of their profits they can't afford regular maintenance on the oil pipeline to keep it from rusting out to the extent they say it has?

"...Marshall said tests Friday indicated that there were 16 anomalies in 12 areas in an oil transit line on the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay. Tests found losses in wall thickness of between 70 and 81 percent. Repair or replacement is required if there is more than an 80 percent loss.

"The results were absolutely unexpected," Marshall said."

That's ridiculous. If they were performing regular maintenance and testing as they should, how could they have an "absolutely unexpected" loss in wall thickness of between 70 and 81 percent?

I'm calling BS on this one.

seriously people, what CAN you do? answer is absolutely nothing
they can raise to 6 dollars a gallon, and what can you do, rob the gas station?

even at 10 bucks a gallon, normal americans will stop eating breakfast and lunch just to get another gallon in the tank.

when the government is in cahoots with the industry and they dont give a sh1t about you, all you can do is take it, get raped and take it like a man. (or woman)

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
I heard on the radio that the national average will nit ~4 bucks a gallon.

Yes because they know that.

The rise might slow down after summer's over, you never know.

 

[Random Variable]

How could they have allowed the pipeline to deteriorate so much? Could someone remind me why we permitted the sale of Amoco to British Petroleum?

 

[ViviTheMage]

whatever saves those penguins.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: Random Variable
How could they have allowed the pipeline to deteriorate so much? Could someone remind me why we permitted the sale of Amoco to British Petroleum?

I had the same thought. I guess Amoco BP does not have enough $$ to maintain their facilities.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
whatever saves those penguins.

Wrong hemisphere.

 

[Linux23]

Just fvcking great.:|

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: EKKC




seriously people, what CAN you do? answer is absolutely nothing
they can raise to 6 dollars a gallon, and what can you do, rob the gas station?

even at 10 bucks a gallon, normal americans will stop eating breakfast and lunch just to get another gallon in the tank.

when the government is in cahoots with the industry and they dont give a sh1t about you, all you can do is take it, get raped and take it like a man. (or woman)

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
$10/barrel

omfg were are they i want 100

 

[dandruff]

i love it when gas goes up ...
keep your cash liquid ... RE buying opportunities ahead

 

[Furyline]

newsflash: world continues to go down crapper; people worldwide threaten to increase whining on internet forums.

 

[miniMUNCH]

This is capitalism people... there is no law requiring oil companies to pump oil from their fields. It is a free market economy.

If BP wants to shut down a couple of fields to replace sections of pipeline, it is their right.

Take the bus/subway/train, ride your bike, carpool, or walk. Save some money and do your part to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

 

[JinLien]

[

U.S. government ready to supply oil, if needed to replace lost Alaska crude

Washington, Aug 8. (AP): The Energy Department is prepared to provide oil from the U.S. Government's emergency supplies, if a refinery request it because of the disruption of supplies from Alaska, a department spokesman said on Monday.

``We're taking a very serious look at this,'' said spokesman Craig Stevens, referring to the loss of nearly half of oil shipments from Alaska's North Slope because of a pipeline corrosion problem.

Stevens said the department will be in contact with BP Exploration Alaska Inc. and West Coast refiners later on Monday to assess the situation. ``If there is a request for oil we'll certainly take a serious look at that,'' he said.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the nation's emergency stockpile of crude oil. It was created after the 1973 oil embargo, when Arab countries halted petroleum exports to protest U.S. support for Israel.

The reserve has about 700 million barrels in storage on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico to be used in case of a serious supply disruption. The Energy Department in the past has loaned SPR oil to refineries, when there were disruptions because of pipeline or other problems.

Most of Alaska's oil goes to refineries on the West Coast. It was unclear how those refineries would be supplied with oil on the Gulf coast. However any oil put into the market to replace lost Alaska oil would tend to ease prices, market experts say.

Oil prices jumped by more than $1 (euro.78) a barrel on Monday, following a production shutdown at an Alaskan oil field that accounts for about 8 percent of U.S. production.

BP Exploration Alaska Inc. began shutting down oil production on Sunday at Prudhoe Bay due to severe corrosion on a pipeline.

Once the field is shut down, in a process expected to take days, BP said oil production would be reduced by 4,00,000 barrels a day. BP officials said they did not know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line.

At this rate I'm going to pay $5.00+ a gallon because I have been paying $4.80 CAD/gallon for the last few weeks.

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
This is capitalism people... there is no law requiring oil companies to pump oil from their fields. It is a free market economy.

If BP wants to shut down a couple of fields to replace sections of pipeline, it is their right.

Take the bus/subway/train, ride your bike, carpool, or walk. Save some money and do your part to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

its called abusive capitalism...

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
But Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said he expected the impact to be minimal since crude inventories are high.

Yeah, like THAT every stopped them...

My car gets 32MPG, and last I checked my bike got 56 and they're both fun to ride...

I just filled them both up with $2.99 Chevron, too.

Originally posted by: dartworth
its called abusive capitalism...

Well, Russia tried communism, Europe tried socialism, and we tried the "good" form of capitalism, but then none of it worked so we're transitioning to serfdom again


in case your meters are broken, I'm not serious, though the classes do seem to get more and more stratified as the years pass...

 

[walrus]

This company BP while making billions, spent nothing on even normal maintenance for 6 years. 12" of sludge in a 36" pipe. They said there is so much sludge, it's impossible to clean them now, the machine that cleans the pipe needs about about 34" of clearance. They didn't clean the pipes for 6 years, while every 2 weeks is the usual. They knew it would come to this, but they wanted to squeeze every cent they could in the short term and dam the results(and us). Well we'll be paying for the results.
And they want to open the ANWR to these guys?
This is going to be a big deal and last a long time. They say they are going to have to replace 16 miles of pipeline, there isn't even one mile of pipe stock in the world ready. To get that much pipe, the right size and right alloy fabricated, then shipped to Alaska will take a long time. Then there are about 100 welds per mile, pipeliners are fast, but if good they might get 2 , 36" welds a day. And you can't have 100 welders all in a line welding at once on the same pipeline. And winter is coming very soon to Alaska. It's going to be a mess.
If we get a big hurricane in the right place, and/or more trouble in the Middle East, gas prices will soar.