One disastrous oil spill is not enough it seems

[Jovial Monk]

UK backing loans for 'risky' offshore oil drilling in Brazil

Documents show the UK government ignored risks in subsidising oil extraction from nearly 2,000m deep in Atlantic waters

Petrobras P-52 Oil Platform At Campos Basin, Brazil The Petrobras P-52 oil platform in the Campos basin, 125km off the coast of Brazil. Photograph: Marco Antonio Teixeira/Globo/Getty Images

The British government is subsidising one of the world's largest and riskiest oil-drilling projects in the Atlantic Ocean and would be liable for tens of millions of pounds if a major accident took place.

Documents seen by the Guardian show that UK trade ministers underwrote loans taken out by the Brazilian state-run energy company Petrobras in 2005 in order that Rolls Royce and other companies could contribute to the building of the giant P-52 platform.

The platform is now operating 125km off the coast of Brazil in 1,798 metres (5,900 feet) of water - deeper than BP's Deepwater rig that exploded in April and led to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the 14-page environment report prepared by the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) and obtained under freedom of information rules by watchdog group Corner House, makes no mention of blowouts or the equipment needed to prevent them. Ministers have edited out all ECDG's comments assessing the risks involved in deep-sea drilling in the Atlantic.

The oil and gas reservoirs of the Campos basin are considered some of the most hazardous in the world to access, pushing offshore technology to the limit. The P-52 rig replaced one that exploded and sank due to human error in 2001, killing 11 people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... e-drilling

We really do not know how to cope with problems in this very deep-water drilling, as the disaster involving BP's well in the Mexican Gulf shows only too well. OK that disaster is exacerbated by the very high pressure in the gas/oil field but it won't be until next month at the earliest that a relief well will finally stop oil/gas spilling out of that well! There are disturbing indications of massive underspending on the construction of the well to save, relatively, a few pennies and so safety was compromised! that really paid off for BP didn't it?

[mantra]

We really do not know how to cope with problems in this very deep-water drilling, as the disaster involving BP's well in the Mexican Gulf shows only too well. OK that disaster is exacerbated by the very high pressure in the gas/oil field but it won't be until next month at the earliest that a relief well will finally stop oil/gas spilling out of that well! There are disturbing indications of massive underspending on the construction of the well to save, relatively, a few pennies and so safety was compromised! that really paid off for BP didn't it?

I think next month is a bit optimistic. This gush could go on for months or years.

The oil companies don't care about warnings. They own the governments and are not regulated, although they pretend they are. They can do what they please and the people and marine life pay the price for their greed. What sort of restitution is demanded of them? Maybe a few million in fines or perhaps a billion in compensation when the destruction they wreak is ongoing for decades.

Cameron and Obama recently discussed the Mexican Gulf disaster over a beer and decided neither country would blame the other. How magnanimous of them.

DAVID CAMERON and US president Barack Obama swapped beers yesterday as they moved to heal their rift over the BP oil disaster.

They insisted Britain and the US were both "aiming in the same direction" of achieving long-term sustainable growth.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-wo ... -22364556/

It's all about profits and the people be damned.

[Jovial Monk]

I think $20Bn is in the compensation fund but BP will survive to pollute again.

It is high time a move to non-fossil fuel energy is made. If this spill achieves that then something good may come out of the mess.

[J.W. Frogen]

Put your conviction where your outrage is and never drive again.

[Jovial Monk]

I have never owned or driven a petrol guzzler, initially out of aesthetics later out of peak oil and environmental considerations. sometimes you have to drive, unfortunately.

[J.W. Frogen]

You have burned the unsacred oil Mr. Monk!!!!!

[Jovial Monk]

I have.

But I atone for my sins by growing trees and digging mulch, compost & manures into the soil of my garden.

[IQSRLOW]

I ran my 2 stroke outboard for an hour to negate your mulching