Is It Raining BP Oil in Louisiana?

Caveate emptor: I have not been able to confirm the validity of this video. I noticed it on one of our twitter friends: The Oil Price.

I did not know that oil could be pulled up into the atmosphere like this. Can anyone confirm if physics allows what this video claims? If it is possible, the ramifications seem pretty horrific.

President Obama's Oval Office Speech about BP Oil Spill: (and What the Hell Does Jack Welch Know About Keeping A Country from Rioting?)

Since we've been recording this saga since day 1, it only makes sense to embed a copy of Obama's Oval Office response to the spill. For what it's worth, as one of the authors of this blog, I think Obama is doing the best he can. There is so much backlash regarding his response to this disaster, and I understand the overwhelming anxiety and frustration associated with pain that JUST WON'T STOP. I also am very disappointed with some of Obama's other broken promises regarding habeas corpis and maranda rights readings, not to mention Gitmo. I am not going to defend the President because he is "one of ours." I consider myself a Lincoln Republican. But politics aside, all the talking heads trying to use this catastrophe as a rallying point against the President are frankly disgusting. The latest bitching and moaning session by Jack Welch on CNBC is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. How does this guy, who built up his company's financial opacity to the limits before handing the reigns over to his successor at the very moment his company had nothing left to gain, have a right to say anything about Obama or any President's ability to keep the masses from outright strike? Don't get me wrong, I'm aware of the God-like tenor of Mr. Welch in business circles, and I will give the man respect for running GE into and through its most prosperous times in history. However, Six-sigma standards, whereby you get to axe the bottom 10% of your already elite workforce is not an option for the President of the United States. For better or worse, President Obama must keep peace in this country and ensure that the "bottom 10%" of a population that is not pre-filtered does not find meaning in their lives by rallying against the government and the rest of the elite (like Mr. Welch) over something they do not fully understand. Mr. Welch implies that a business man (presumably like himself) is able to handle this crisis better than a politician:

"Here's the difference between a businessman and a politician: Businessmen focus on solutions. Politicians focus on 'who can we blame?'" he said. "We have to be managers right now, not politicians. No photo ops."

Well, Mr. Welch, this is what I have to say in response to you: First off, as of 2008, BP was the 15th largest company in the entire world by market capitalization. So I think it is safe to say that it has some of the best and most qualified "business men" in the world representing them, running the triage for this catastrophe--and as several previous posts on this blog have revealed (consider Lies, Lies, and More Lies: Hey BP, Does It Pay to Not Tell the Truth When So Many People Are on to You?), these same business men have not been all that honest about the extent of damage this crisis is causing; secondly, the way this country works, if you have not noticed, Mr. Welch, is government cannot really get into a private company's business unless they do something utterly wrong. That is, unless of course, the government is helping your profits (consider the Cheney Halliburton Connection). Thus, if business men such as BP and the rest of the execs from the other companies involved in this mess are better equipped with dealing with this mess, then why the heck is it exacerbating further after nearly two months. If you do not want politicians involved then do not cut corners--lest they cause catastrophes that garner public scrutiny--and when a mess occurs be honest, forthright, and throw your entire weight into the problem--as opposed to spending three weeks calculating what the most profitable "solution" to the problem is. Lastly, Regarding politicians focusing on "who to blame" as opposed to "finding a solution," I posit that BP's inability to find a solution has created a much bigger problem than you disgustingly rich CEO's can possibly fathom because you live in a bubble of largess only achievable in the first place because the skilled politicians of this country manage to mitigate the backlash of the people when $hit like this hits the fan. Rather than ripping on the President, Mr. Welch, you should be shaking his hand, thanking him, and offering whatever support you can to solve the problem--since that's what business men do so well.

Full Disclosure: I have owned GE stock in two separate accounts for 11 years and up until about 7 years ago thought of Jack Welch as a God, until I learned about some of the shady business practices and accounting tricks he engaged in while serving as Captain of the falling ship that is GE.

Where is Sarah Palin's and the rest of the Republican's "Drill Baby Drill" now?

Lest we forget the Vice-Presidential debate in 2008:

(image courtesy of Mark Fiore, San Francisco Chronicle)
Palin to Biden: "You even called...environmentally friendly drilling offshore as raping the outer continental shelf. With new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that."



On her own Blog, Sarah Palin now wants everyone to think that she truly cares about all the men and women whose livelihood is being devastated by the "environmentally friendly drilling offshore" that she and her drill-baby-drill friends supported two years ago:

As an Alaskan, I can speak from the heart about the tragedy of an oil spill. For as long as I live, I will never forget the day the Exxon-Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and millions of gallons of North Slope crude poured into the waters of our beautiful Prince William Sound. The spill was devastating to so many Alaskans who, like my own family, make their living on the water from our commercial fishing industry. “Heartbreaking” was the word my husband Todd, an Alaska Native and trained oil spill responder, used to describe the scene as we watched it unfold on land and water that we feel is sacred.

In the event that Sarah Palin attempts to make a presidential run in 2012, we can come back to this post and review her previous stance on the matter: *Note, the author of this post is well aware of the propagandistic elements in the following video, but believes they are no more or less powerful than the propaganda spewing from the opposing opinion, which inspired the artist who put it together (unaffiliated with There Is No Spoon) to share with all.



Drill Baby Drill... Drill Baby Drill... Drill Baby Drill... Drill Baby Drill... Spill Baby Spill... Spill Baby Kill... Kill Baby Kill... Drill Baby Drill

Upset About BP Oil Spill, Obama says--and I quote--"I Want To Know Whose Ass To Kick"

Some will say the interview showed Obama at his realist. Others will say it was a Holywood attempt at populist empathy. Honestly, I cannot make up my mind what I think (and that does not happen often). One thing is for sure, this video clip reveals just how deeply and powerfully the anger, sadness, and frustration goes for the American people (especially those closest to the gulf) regarding to the British Petroleum accident that took place 49 days ago when one of BP's leased offshore deep water rigs exploded and killed eleven people. Unlike most cataclysmic events, it is difficult to point figures this time. Sure, we can say its BP's fault, and it is. We can say its Transocean's fault, and it is. We can say it's Haliburton's fault, and it is. But then what? None of it changes the fact that oil is still filling up our oceans and killing wildlife at an unfathomable rate. None of it changes the fact that when this is all over, it will easily eclipse the previous worst oil spill in history and go down in the record books for all to remember. It is impossible for long-term political and industrial changes not to take place. In the end, however, this whole event, as ugly and painful as it is, was the result of a horrific accident. Perhaps that is the most frustrating thing about Obama's words. Even the Prince of Cool is breaking down.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies: Hey BP, Does It Pay to Not Tell the Truth When So Many People Are on to You?

As indicated in a previous post regarding the long-nosed press releases coming out of BP's office of public relations, we are learning today from various sources that the oil gushing out of BP’s busted oil well may be spewing at a rate that substantially dwarfs estimates released by British Petroleum media relations. While BP continues to strain its already heavily overworked political muscle to various lesser known papers in order to once again announce how much progress it is making with the capping of the oil, more and more analyses from experts contesting BP's numbers are surfacing. Yesterday, June 6, 2010, an expert on NPR on discussed his own calculations which amount to flow estimates of over 70.5 million gallons of oil having thus far been released into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico since April 20.

Previous estimates, based on BP's own publicly released statements have amounted to a spill of approximately at 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons per day. However, Steve Wererly, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University has created a program that tracks the particle flow of material from the busted pipe, and has calculated that the open flow of particles released from the well approximates 70,000 barrels or 2.9 million gallons a day, within an accuracy of 20%. Although a fairly large margin of error, with a deviation between 56,000 barrels (2.4 million gallons a day) and 84,000 barrels (3.5 million gallons per day), it is still significantly higher than any of the estimates released by BP. Indeed, even using Wererly's most conservative calculations, the total gallons spilled so far comes to 115,000,000 gallons, which, if true would make it nearly twice as large as the 1978 Amoco Spill, which is officially the world's largest oil disaster ever recorded at 68.7 million gallons.

Wereley, who is an expert in the field of fluid mechanics, and has co-written a book called Particle Image Velocimetry: A Practical Guide (Experimental Fluid Mechanics). In other words, he's no dummy, and since he does not have nearly as much to gain by down playing the amount of damage the spill is causing as does BP, it may serve the public well to consider his expert opinion [reported to the Los Angeles Times]:

“I spent a couple of hours this afternoon analyzing the video, and the number I get [using my program] is 70,000 barrels a day coming out of that pipe. BP has said you can't measure this. I agree you can't measure [the flow] to a very high degree of precision, but that doesn't mean you can't get a good estimate. This estimate, I think, is much better than the 5,000 barrels a day they have previously been floating.”

Wereley’s estimate is based upon a video released by BP on Wednesday, May 12 which shows the flow of only one of two separate leaks--another bit of information also not being widely publicized. According to Werely, although the leak certainly shows methane being released in addition to the oil, the oil is by and large the most prominent material being ejected.

It is important to note to that Steven Wereley is not the only expert calculation slowly filtering out into the ether. NPR recently reported an estimate by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientist, Timothy Crone, of at least 50,000 barrels or 2.1 million gallons per day. Another legitimate voice in the field, Astrophysicist, Eugene Chaing calculates the volume at anywhere from 20,000 and 100,000 barrels, or 840,000 to 4.2 million gallons per day.

Previously, when Florida State University professor of oceanography, Ian MacDonald, publicly questioned the 5,000 barrel (210,000 gallon) a day estimate purported by BP official statements, he was harshly criticized. It may turn out, however that even his estimate of at least 20,000 barrels per day may prove conservative. I strongly encourage you to watch a video of his interview that took place on May 21, 2010 (see above).

If anyone has any creative ideas for showing how ugly this mess has become, there is a movement to create and share a new corporate identity for BP.

BP Logo ReDesign Contest

Will BP face criminal charges for the Deepwater Horizon disaster? Will the latest effort to stop the leak with a LMRP cap actually work? Will it be years or decades until the Gulf recovers environmentally, economically and spiritually from the damage done by the chain of events set off by BP's arrogance and irresponsibility?

Take a creative stab at BP by participating in the BP Logo ReDesign Contest. Deadline is June 12th so you still have over 129 hours to top the sample submissions below - or simple appreciate the talent and community of others around the world who want BP to be held accountable for the billion-dollar-and-growing disaster.

The contest sponsor challenges you to revise BP's current logo - by incorporating these three ideas:

#1 Oil spill disaster - Toxic

#2 Death of wildlife

#3 Incompetence

Enough is Enough. Time to Get Real BP (and that Means "Honest")

A Catalog of the Long-term Implications of the BP Gulf Spill

Enough time has passed at this point that as a national and global society we need to consider the worst case scenarios regarding the BP oil gusher. When the top energy adviser to the White House, Carol Browner, says in a live interview “This is probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country,” (CBS’s “Face the Nation”) and the situation is getting worse not better, it is necessary to consider the long-term implications of simply allowing a morally corrupt corporation remain in control of fixing the (ongoing) mess they have caused.

In a worst case scenario Browner explained , "There could be oil coming up 'til August [and…] we are prepared for the worst." The worst case scenario, of course, would be that the gushing well is not able to be capped at all and we will all be forced to wait until BP is able to finish drilling the two relief wells they began working on several weeks ago. As far as I know, however, that does not necessarily mean that the oil will stop leaking completely though either, merely that the pressure pushing it out will be relieved (hence, "relief well"). If I am misunderstanding the net result of this operation and an expert in the field can explain what I am missing, “There is No Spoon” would love to learn a thing or two in the comment section of this post.

Seriously though, have not we been trolled enough already by “Beyond Petroleum?" I think it is time that government resources be used more judiciously and the bill slapped on BP’s treasury desk. In fact, I couldn’t help but think about Bush’s Mission Accomplished fiasco--I mean speech—back in 2003 regarding the successful end of the US-Iraqi war (for those who don’t know, our men and women are still over there).

Please do not get me wrong, I am not so naïve as to think that during the first few weeks after the explosion, the execs at BP headquarters would have been so quick to tell the truth, (i.e. admitting that they didn’t have a clue and needed help from the US government as soon as possible). That is just not how the world works, as the Oil Giant’s biggest investors would be skinned alive if Virgil were to come loose so early in the crisis--don't forget how many politicians have money in oil either (a la Cheney and Co). They needed to buy time. Okay, fine. I get it. Yet, by May 10th we were on our 6th attempt at solving this issue having already been told that the big steel box thing-a-ma-bob contraption was going to work--then it wasn't going to work--uh, uh, yes it is--nope Terry farted again, it isn't. On to plan F comrades: let's stick a 4-inch pipe down the busted steel well pretend like that will siphon off enough oil to call it progress. After three days of failed attempts BP Says Latest Scheme to Halt US Oil Leak Working Well. In fact, if you watch the video on that BBC page you will very quickly be under the impression that all is solved and we can all go home for "it has succeeded," claims the reporter. “Significant amounts of oil [were] being siphoned via this mechanism.” The next day we learned that "BP, is finally getting a handle on stemming the tide of some of the leak. BP engineers have used a pipe fitted into the leaking well head and have been able to divert some of the oil up to the surface to a drill ship." At the time of reading this, I turned to my partner and asked, "Does that mean that if I turn a flashlight on at midnight it's suddenly almost dawn?" On May 19th we learned that the pipe had freezed up due to ice crystals and was no longer having an impact.

On May 26th BP’s effort to plug the hole with “junk and mud” was going as planned

Then it wasn't.

Then BP's Junk Shot wanted not.

Today, June 3, 2010, we learned that the company finally cut the pipe and is preparing to cap it. As a result the stock climbs 5% while the rest of the market goes up less than half a per cent.

For the record, I would not be nearly so hard on the Execs if “[they] really [were] doing everything in their power to fix this thing,” but they just aren’t.

So enough bitching and moaning on my part, I just wanted to refresh my memory a bit on what has gone on thus far so that I might begin to understand what we can expect from this ugliness moving forward.

First, BP will most definitely not go bankrupt. I expect the company will be much smaller in 5 years or so, but after 101 years of paying fines, British Petroleum has figured out how to work the system and then some.


Second, the nearest state to BP's gushing undersea well (42 miles away), Louisiana, has been the most impacted by the spill so far, and as we all know the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the horrible response of the then President is ongoing. Unfortunately Louisiana’s pains are about to get more acute as Governor Bobby Jindal said this week that "more than 100 miles (160 km) of Louisiana's 400-mile (644 km) coast had so far been impacted by the spilled oil. State officials have reported that “sheets of oil” are wrapping the precious wetlands and seeping into marine and bird nurseries, not to mention the oyster beds that serve as the economic motor for many small communities there. Sticky sludge stains cover the marsh cane that binds the wetlands together and promises to endanger the wildlife for quite some time.

In Mississippi and Alabama, “tar balls and surface sheen,” have been reported, while last week National Coast Guard officials spotted tar balls on some beaches in the Florida Keys, raising fears that the Loop Current, which sends water and wild life from the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Straits may have already brought oil from the spill far to the southeast. Apparently, however, laboratory tests subsequently showed the tar balls were not from the BP spill. (Where else would they be from?) Perhaps what is more scary, however, is that Pensacola was reportedly struck by the rich black goo yesterday, drawing the possibility (illustrated in the simulation embedded in the previous post) that if not contained very soon, small bits—followed by heavy streams—of oil could find its way as far north as North Carolina.

DERIVATIVE IMPLICATIONS (more detailed analysis of the impact of the BP oil spill)

FISHERIES— Having declared a "fishery disaster” in the seafood-producing states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama due to the oil spill, the US government has made these states eligible for federal funds to offset the impact on fisherman and their communities of the oil pollution in their fishing grounds.
Louisiana's $2.4 billion seafood industry supplies up to 40 percent of U.S. seafood supply and employs over 27,000 people.

The state provides more shrimp, oysters, crab and crawfish than any other state in the country and is the second-biggest U.S. seafood harvester. As of Friday, the NOAA extended the area closed to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico to 25 percent of Gulf U.S. federal waters—an area covering 60,683 square miles (up from 20 percent previously, with a warning that more closures should be expected. Mind you, all of these economic effects are for a single state, currently receiving a lot of attention. I can only imagine the more subtle effects of this crisis.

WILDLIFE
As reported, Oil—in thick sheets, surface sheen and tar balls--has come ashore in Louisiana wildlife reserves like the Breton National Wildlife Refuge in the offshore Breton and Chandeleur Islands, and the Pass-a-Loutre refuge further to the south. Large amounts of methane gas has also been released from the source having an unseen/unknown impact. However, during the 43 days since the spill started, wildlife officials report that 491 birds, 227 turtles and 27 mammals, including dolphins, have been collected dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to an update released on Sunday by the oil response unified command.

TOURISM
Tourism operators in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida-- from hotel owners to restaurateurs and boat charterers -- have reported cancellations as a result of the oil spill.

From HotelNewsnow.com we learn that “Tourism officials and hotel operators in Gulf of Mexico coastal regions say they are struggling with occupancy and reservations, but some areas are suffering more than others.”
[…]

We have had some cancellations. It is hitting the beachfront properties hard and the casinos have seen some impact … and the charter boat companies,” said Richard Forester, executive director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau in Biloxi. The timing is unfortunate, since many hotels and casinos had been experiencing an uptick in business earlier this year as the U.S. economy started to improve, he added.


SHIPPING

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Friday it has begun surveying a new ship anchorage site at the mouth of the Mississippi River for ships to undergo inspection and oil decontamination before entering ports. This is a subtle if significant development as we are beginning to see the outlier impacts of the BP spill moving forward.

U.S. authorities are anxious to sustain Gulf shipping operations as the Mississippi Delta is extremely vital to U.S. exports and imports. NOAA says the Lower Mississippi River ports export over 50 million metric tons of corn, soybeans and wheat per year, more than 55 percent of all U.S. grains inspected for shipment.

REAL-ESTATE
If the bursting of the housing and commercial real estate bubble wasn’t weighing on the real-estate already, it is hard to believe that anyone would desire to buy up oil-front property. This particular point might seem far off at the moment, but remember that the source of this oil is over 1 mile below the surface of the water. It will take time, even after the oil well is successfully and completely capped, for all the oil that comes out, to find its way to the surface.

OIL INDUSTRY
There is likely to be a significant impact to the oil industry moving forward for a number of reasons. The most obvious will be the immediate cost to BP to clean up the physical mess—estimated by Credit Suisse to be 37 Billion—but that does not include what it will take to repair their image after this colossal crisis. The expectations of these profit losses has not only brought down BP’s market value, but the entire oil industry as it is a major component of the S&P500 and nearly all energy indexes. Also weighing on the industry are expectations of new costly regulations that will be put in place to make sure this never happens again. The end result amidst a continuing debt crisis in Europe is more strain on an already weak recovery.

Simulation of Expected Trajectory of Oil Spill Damage to East Coast if Oil Is Not Stopped in Next 72 Hours

Simulation should load immediately, if not please go directly to Ocean Currents Likely to Carry Oil to Atlantic



A summary of events up until Day 44 of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, that killed 11 workers. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well.

Giant Scissors
Engineers have been forced, yet again, to reconfigure hopes and plans to somehow stave off the worst oil spill in U.S. history. This time, they are hoping giant, industrial-sized scissors will work where a diamond edged saw did not.

CEO Admits Company is Unprepared
BP's top executive acknowledged the global oil giant was unprepared to fight a catastrophic deepwater oil spill. Tony Hayward, Chief Executive, told The Financial Times Newspaper that it was "an entirely fair criticism" to say his company was not prepared for a deepwater oil leak, certainly not one of this proportions. Calling it a "low-probability, high-impact" accident, Hayward hinted at the business perspective with which his company viewed a possibility of such an event occurring.

Criminal Indictments Next?
BP and other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are now facing criminal charges and civil penalties that could translate into hundreds of millions of dollars in fines--assuming that the spill is capped before it reaches the Atlantic currents. However, in order for any company executives or workers to be indicted individually, legal experts say the Justice Department will have to find evidence they orchestrated a coverup, destroyed key documents or lied to government agents. Prosecutors could seek serious jail time - five years or more - if they charge anyone with obstruction of justice, making false statements to the FBI or other U.S. officials or conspiracy to hinder a federal probe. But there must be evidence that a person was aware of the wrongdoing, well beyond mere negligence or incompetence, experts said.

Commission
The new presidential commission investigating the Gulf oil spill will include two experts who have been active on the subject of global warming, including one who wrote just last month that the country should redouble efforts to lessen its dependence on oil. The two will join former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly. Together, the backgrounds of the four panel members selected so far suggest the commission will look at more than just what went wrong, including the bigger picture of the country's conflicting environmental and energy needs.

Cost of Repair--So far...
The Coast Guard directed BP to pay for five additional sand barrier projects in Louisiana. BP said Thursday the project will cost it about $360 million, on top of about $990 million it had spent as of its latest expense update Tuesday on response and clean up, grants to four Gulf coast states and claims from people and companies hurt by the spill.

The Catastrophe Reaches Florida
Oil reached the Florida Panhandle's white sandy beaches, while crews on the mainland do everything possible to limit the catastrophe. The oil threatens a delicate network of islands, bays and white-sand beaches that are a haven for wildlife and a major source of tourist income for the locals in the region. Officials say the slick thus far that has reached the shores consists mainly of "tar mats" about 500 feet by 2,000 feet in size, although larger portions of oil mats are nearby.

Toll on the Wildlife
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reported 522 dead birds - at least 38 of them oiled - along the Gulf coast states, and more than 80 oiled birds have been rescued.

Live Video Feed of BP Oil Spill (PBS/NPR)

This little app was put together by PBS/NPR to keep tabs on the destruction still going on in the gulf.

BP screws America. Again. Iranians chuckle.

You know, after all this time, I figured an oil company wouldn't screw over America. Again. But what do I know? (note: lots of sarcasm there - remember, I grew up in Jersey) BP aka Beyond Petroleum aka British Petroleum has done it again. The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest in US history triggered by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, is wreaking havoc on the region. The damage is mind-boggling. BP is about to start a 3rd try at containing the spill - the previous two have failed. How good were the previous plans? Well, besides failing, they sounded ridiculous as well, as the Daily Show nicely pointed out. But instead of talking about the environmental damage done by the tragedy down south, or the abysmal lack of regulations/inability of Congress to update regulations on deep sea drilling (part of the issue is we're using standards from the 1970s, back when we weren't drilling anywhere near as deep in the sea as we are now), or the obvious and ridiculous amount of control the oil industry holds on our government (BP is fighting regulations, and might succeed - seriously), I'm going to give you a short history lesson. You see, BP screwed over America even worse over fifty years ago. I wrote about this last year, but thought it was worth bringing up again. You see, BP was the main reason for Operation Ajax in 1953 aka the overthrow of the democratically-elected Iranian government.

The US went along with the plan, after the Dulles boys did a Red-scare number on President Eisenhower, making him think Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh was going over to the Soviet Union. But before any of that happened, BP was the issue. Called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), they basically screwed Iran out of most of their oil money. They negotiated a deal with a corrupt leader, and when more responsible Iranian leaders came into power and tried to renegotiate a fairer split of the money, AIOC/BP refused. Britain's initial request for an overthrow of the Iranian regime was denied by President Truman. Eisenhower wasn't really game, either. The US was disgusted at AIOC/BP - it was obvious the deal was unfair, and they wanted them to renegotiate. Eventually, the Dulles brothers resorted to fear of Communism (I think they really believed it, though classified records revealed since then show the threat wasn't that substantiated) to get the US to back Britain, and Mossadegh was overthrown by a team led by CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (Teddy's grandson), and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was put in power. Pahlavi, of course, is better known as "The Shah", the man whose ruthless rule, which the US backed, led to a major backlash in the 1970s that eventually led to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. So yeah, that didn't go so well for America.

At the center of all this was BP/AIOC. Their unwillingness to negotiate a fairer deal with Mossadegh led to all of this. Steve Kinzer has written quite a bit about this episode, most notably in his fantastic book All the Shah's Men. Here is a recent interview he gave on the topic. So, yeah, thanks a lot, BP. You're screwing America yet again. You can bet a lot of people in Iran are chuckling as they hear more about this situation in the Gulf of Mexico. They know all too well the destruction this oil company has wrought.

British Protroleum Ad from 1999: how prescient!

(Saw this on Calculated Risk)

Pay No Attention to the Oil behind the Curtain: the Cheney Administration's Perfect Execution

Behind the excitement associated with the debt concerns of various countries in Europe, allegations of fraud against certain Wall Street titans, the over-heating of the Chinese real-estate market, and of course the record price of gold, there remains a tedious War Against Terror, that has finally dragged on long enough for the majority of ADHD Nation to stop paying attention. Meanwhile, it seems the success of the oil auction in Iraq early last year was timed perfectly, creating a windfall for American oil services companies Halliburton (HAL), Schlumberger (SLB), et. al., just before the market cycle begins to thaw and the stronger dollar begins to deplete the market-exchange value of oil (crude is hovering around $76, down from $87 two weeks ago). Having committed to a drilling backlog of 2,500-3,000 new wells per year for each of the next six years as well as to the development and maintenance of the pipeline and shipping terminal infrastructure that will support this massive number of new wells that will be coming online throughout this time period, it appears that the Chaney administration will have indeed succeeded in making Iraq the world’s largest oil exporter (not to mention putting a solid revenue stream in Halliburton's back pocket). The total value of these contracts may reach as much as $60 billion over the next six years, generating $1 billion in new revenues for each company per year.

Two offshore terminals are currently under construction already (first reported here back in 2009), and another two are scheduled to begin by 2013. Upon completion of all four, oil production in the country will go from the current 2.5 million barrels a day to an awesome 12 million barrels per day by 2016. [Official EIA list of top oil producing countries as of 2008]

Iraq’s oil production peaked at 3 million barrels per day in 1979, and then dropped dramatically after it invaded Iran. Saddam did very little to help the ailing situation thereafter, sucking and stealing what little financial nutrient remained from the teet of the severely broken oil fields at the expense of his own people. Year-end earnings reports from every oil engineering company involved in the region reported dismay at just how poor the state of Iraq’s energy infrastructure is after 40 years of neglect, essentially proclaiming that it all has to be rebuilt from scratch. Granted, I try to keep these proclamations in perspective—after all, common sense tells us not to ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut. Nonetheless, SEC regulations do not permit falsification of facts of any kind in financial statements, and this is one area of government that is fairly well regulated. In the end, if the new Iraqi government can provide the necessary infrastructure (or at least the funding for American and European companies to build it) and political stability necessary to turn Iraq into another Saudi Arabia, we could very well be witnessing one of the largest changes to international trade in a great number of years as it will dump an incredible supply of oil onto the market, essentially putting a long-term cap on dollar denominated oil prices.

Flashback 8 years, and we can see why anti-war activists were the only voices confronting the feeble and unconvincing arguments that were allegedly holding up the United States’ declaration of war and the right to invade Iraq. Early in the planning of the war there was near-open discussion about the US’s ability to reclaim the cost of the war using newly freed oil exports; hence, Iraq’s oil fields were never targeted during either gulf war—well, at least not by the US.

Could it be that much of this philandering stock market entertainment and even the BP oil spill off the US coast is really just a big sideshow meant to distract us from the significant events taking place in the background? Come to think of it, back in 2002 wasn't Saddam Hussein threatening to begin only dealing Iraqi oil in Euro? Funny the Euro is imploding as I write this, down to 1.23354 from an intermediate high of 1.5141 four months ago. It seems the pieces are just falling into place. If I were rooting for the oil mongers and pandering politicos, I might be inclined to say "well done sir! Talk about planning to perfection."