Business Ethics: Deepwater simulation"Ethical Issues"

Deepwater

E n e r g y

S o l u t i o n s F o r a

G l o b a l E c o n o m y

The French Petroleum

Institute will be hosting this

year's international Energy

Forum. The Forum will be held

in Barcelona, Spain in

September. Energy ministers

from over 30 developed

countries and representatives

from all the major international

oil companies are expected to

attend.

SEISMIC IMAGING TAKES

A LEAP FORWARD

Researchers at MIT in

Cambridge, MA have

announced a breakthrough in

3-D seismic imaging. The

group, Advanced Signal

Processing for Geological

Applications (ASPGA) intends

to commercialize the new

technology in partnership with

a consortium of private sector

investors. Further information

about the venture is available

by contacting Goldman Sachs,

the group's financial

representative.

.

Industry Launches Pollution Control Initiative In response to impending Congressional

legislation, sparked by repeated spills from oil

platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the American

Petroleum Institute (API) has announced a

new voluntary industry-led initiative to reduce

pollution from offshore oil rigs.

The initiative comes as a House bill, strongly opposed

by the industry, nonetheless appears likely to move out

of committee and go the floor for a vote. Similar

momentum is building in the Senate. Political

observers say that unless opponents of the bill are

given more ammunition in their efforts to sway votes,

the bill has a 50/50 chance of going to the President

for signature in the near future.

This bill would cap oil rig production at 1.4 million

barrels per round and mandate at least $10/bbl for

maintenance and $1.5 million per round for safety.

API's lobbyists believe that several House committee

members can be swayed to vote against the bill –

provided they have evidence that the industry is

making sincere efforts to "clean up its own house."

The API initiative works as follows: managers of

offshore rigs will have an opportunity to vote on a

program that would require all rigs to install pollution

control equipment. If the program is supported by 75%

or more of all offshore rig managers, then every rig will

be required to install at least "A" type pollution control

equipment. (Managers could install more expensive

equipment if they desired.) If the program gets less

than 75% support, then there would be no pollution

control equipment requirement.

.

The trouble appears to have been with the BOP's

Officials from API explained the logic behind the

program to PetroNews in a telephone conference call

earlier this week. They pointed out that if every rig is

required to buy the equipment, no rig would be at a

competitive disadvantage. "If investing in this

equipment is completely voluntary and left up to each

individual rig manager," said Norberg Riesling, VP of

Communications at API, "then why would anyone do

it? They'd just be shooting themselves in the foot,

putting themselves at a disadvantage compared to

less responsible managers. Our approach solves that

problem. Every manger should vote in favor of this. If it

doesn't get 75%, you don't lose anything. But if it does,

then we're all in the same boat – no harm, no foul."

Environmentalists have already criticized the initiative.

Horatio "Red" Baum, spokesman for the advocacy

group "One Planet, One World" said the industry plan

was simply an attempt to head off federal regulations

and not motivated by any genuine concern for the

environment. "My prediction is that there'll be lots of

talk but in the end these guys are driven by their own

bottom line. They won't even be able to work with each

other, that's how short-sighted they are."

this issue Industry Pollution Initiative P.1

Shell Puts Arctic Plans on Hold P.2

Industry Gets Bad Rap P.3

Atlantic Oil Investigation Latest P.4

I S S U E

PetroNews News from the Petroleum Industry 86