Oil and Gas Issues

[jai mitchell]

jai

Yes, good points.  I am sure that Mr Berman knows about all of that and could discuss it.  But perhaps he chose to stay somewhat out of things he does not consider himself a deep expert upon (after all he made fun in his presentation about false experts pontificating on oil and gas issues to general laughter) and there is also only so much time in a presentation of course. 

1.  In afterthought, I didn't see who he was talking too.  As a professional speaker, I am sure that he was tailoring his discussion to the audience he was serving.  Perhaps the international aspect was not (as) relevant? 

2.  I would give my just about anything to have a 3-hour sitdown talk with your climate scientist.  While I have been working on specific structural solutions to climate change I have also been looking at the current science and recognize that the only solution we have left is a total societal mobilization, and very soon we will not even have that.

perhaps you could pass this along to your friend and if he cares to discuss these issues you can invite him here or send me a pm?

[JimD]

Ahh... the presentation was at a conference of oil and gas industry geologists.  Berman is like a superstar among them lol.  Pretty nerdy group.  Which includes a lot of climate deniers btw though I to not think Berman falls into that group.  The oil and gas industry is full of them as one would expect.  It is the old "you can't get someone to understand something if their salary depends on them not understanding it.", or their way of life as is applicable for the BAU proponents.

Sadly I cannot accommodate item 2.  I anxiously await him or one of his contemporaries reaching the breaking point and going full public.  But there are so many who could do that but don't.  It makes one despair at times.

[Neven]

Actually the quoted words are mine, not yours.  They are part of a comment I wrote.  I apparently quoted something you had said.

The rest of my comment has disappeared and the words below starting with "Because...." are someone else's words and sentiments with which I do not agree.

Someone apparently edited my comment and took a bit of creative license putting words into my mouth, er, keyboard.  There is an 'Edited by' attribution at the bottom.

D**it! I'm sorry, Bob. I wanted to reply to your comment, but apparently I pushed the Modify button instead of the Quote button. They're next to each other, and because I'm an admin I could actually change your comment.

I'd never change your comment without letting you know. I apologize.

[Sigmetnow]

The U.S. just got new environmental rules for fracking on public lands, and Republicans are freaking out.

On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its final version of rules governing the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on America’s public lands. Under the rules, companies that want to frack on lands like national parks and forests would have to comply with stronger standards to protect the environment.

Republicans and the oil industry are not happy about this. So unhappy, in fact, they’ve already taken up drastic measures to stop the rule. According to Politico, 27 Senate Republicans have introduced a bill to block them, and two oil industry groups have filed a lawsuit to nullify them.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/20/3637106/republicans-freaking-on-fracking-rules/

[Sigmetnow]

The Obama administration imposed the first major federal mandates on hydraulic fracturing Friday, unveiling a plan forcing companies to disclose the chemicals they pump underground and seal off waste water in storage tanks instead of open pits.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/03/20/new-federal-mandates-target-hydraulic-fracturing/

[Sigmetnow]

The Senate Had A Hearing On Oil Exports And Didn’t Mention The Environment Once
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/20/3636291/oil-export-environmental-impacts/

[Sigmetnow]

The White House is excoriating Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for advising states to ignore the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate rule for power plants.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/236393-white-house-mcconnell-advice-on-epa-inappropriate

[JimD]

Another excellent article from Arthur Berman about the situation in the tight gas (shale gas) industry.  All is worse than not well.

Most would probably say that natural gas prices have already collapsed, so if they are getting ready to crash according to Berman it is going to get ugly I guess.

Natural Gas Prices To Crash Unless Rig Count Falls Fast

...Investors should pay attention to this growing problem. Bank of America fears sub-$2 gas prices now that winter heating worries are over. Low natural gas prices affect the economics for gas-rich oil production in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian basin plays as well as for the shale gas plays.

Meanwhile, an orgy of over-production is taking place in the Marcellus Shale. Well head prices are now below $1.50 per thousand cubic feet of gas because of limited take-away capacity and near-saturation of regional demand. Even companies in the Wyoming, Susquehanna, Allegheny and Washington County core areas of the Marcellus play are losing money at these prices.

The rig count for shale gas plays has decreased by only half as much as for the tight oil plays. The reason appears to be that most shale gas companies do not have significant positions in the tight oil plays and must continue to drill to maintain production levels....

This has puzzled me because the shale gas plays are not commercial at less than about $6/mmBtu except in small parts of the Marcellus core areas where $4 prices break even. Natural gas prices have averaged less than $3/mmBtu for the first quarter of 2015 and are currently at their lowest levels in more than 2 years....

The table shows financial data through year-end 2014. What it reveals is not pretty. 2014 negative cash flow reached $15.5 billion, an increase of $7.2 billion over 2013. Much of this increase involved Southwestern Energy’s puzzling acquisition of Chesapeake’s West Virginia Marcellus Shale position that increased that company’s negative cash flow by almost $5 billion over 2013.

On average, shale-gas companies earned only 68 cents for every dollar that they spent in 2014. Total debt increased almost $10 billion to $93.5 billion and average debt exceeded stated equity by 18% excluding companies with negative equity including the now-bankrupt Quicksilver Resources.

Shale gas plays are commercial failures....

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Natural-Gas-Prices-To-Crash-Unless-Rig-Count-Falls-Fast.html

[Laurent]

When will they pay for the real price of CO2. A CO2 that will stay (globally) in the atmosphere for 10.000 years (and more)...

[JimD]

When will they pay for the real price of CO2. A CO2 that will stay (globally) in the atmosphere for 10.000 years (and more)...

Is this an actual question?  If so, the obvious answer is that they will not.  Or one could answer that we all will and since we all share responsibility for it then the bill will come due and will be paid.

I must say that the way you focus on this all the time makes no sense to me.  Trying to punish people for what we all have done will not get us moving in the right directions.  You should not even say things like this unless you can honestly state that you use zero fossil fuel products in your life and never have. Bet that is just not the case either now or in the past.  We all share responsibility for what we have done, are doing and for trying to fix things.

This topic has a point and purpose.  And that is to educate the readers here about certain aspects of the fossil fuel industry.  A common theme amongst those most focused on climate change is an almost complete ignorance of the fossil fuel industry in how it operates and the impacts it has on the global financial situation and big parts of our lives.  I am tying to provide insights into factors of this industry which will educate and enlighten the readers.  I am not an advocate for it in any way.

If one really understands this industry and how it is key to where we are today and how dependent we are upon it then it helps us understand better how to proceed.  A real understanding of it will do much to temper ones unbridled advocating for the green BAU approaches being able to let us maintain our current industrial civilization.

So tell me what the macro effects are going to be over the next few years of this plunge in oil and gas prices and the real possibility they will go even lower.  It has huge import to everything you advocate.  Will it help speed or slow your renewable roll out?  Will it raise consumption of fossil fuels, which and why?  For how long?  What will that do to consumption patterns over the next 5 years or so?  What will be its impact on the global economy, the economies of specific countries and why does it matter?  What will be its impacts on the politics of key countries.  Etc.

People do not say that "Oil is the economy." for no reason.

Let's have meaningful dialogue. 

[JimD]

It appears that Saudi Arabia has decided the time is right to ramp up the pressure on the US oil producers.

They have ramped UP production by some 350,000 barrels per day.

...rent futures LCOc1 for May delivery were trading down 20 cents at $55.72 at 0856 GMT, while U.S. crude CLc1 dropped 31 cents to $47.14 a barrel. Its discount to Brent CL-LCO1=R widened to $8.58 a barrel.

The Chinese data followed comments from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia that it is pumping around 10 million barrels of crude per day, close to an all-time high and some 350,000 bpd above the figure it gave OPEC for its February output.

OPEC's decision to fight for market share rather than cutting output has contributed to a halving in oil prices since June as the global surplus of oil supplies has grown.

The market is expected to be at its weakest in the second quarter as winter fuel demand wanes while peak summer driving activity is yet to kick in. Energy consultancy FGE forecasts a global surplus of 2 million barrels per day between April and June...

the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA), showed a crude stock build of 5 million barrels on average last week. [EIA/S]...

This will, of course, put real downward pressure on prices and raise the rate at which available storage is used up.  There is a good chance of a train wreck coming.  Presuming that we are not counting what has happened so far as a train wreck I guess.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/24/us-markets-oil-idUSKBN0MK07B20150324

[viddaloo]

Discussing a (hypothetical) cool–down of Norwegian oil & gas extraction in Oslo tonight, the speaker made the comparison for having a 50–50% chance of making the "2–degree target" with Russian Roulette, where your odds of surviving are actually better.

Another important difference between the two risk assessments is that a loser in Russian Roulette only kills one person (himself) with the revolver, while victims of runaway climate change are counted in billions.

Bottom line here is that our BAU–till–you–drop "leaders" are prepared to play Russian Roulette with one species instead of one man at stake. The irony is we call these people rational and conservative.

[Sigmetnow]

On Tuesday, Maryland legislators passed legislation that would place strong limits on the extraction of natural gas in the state.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/25/3638686/maryland-fracking-yes-no-maybe/

[JimD]

jai

I was reading through some of the above posts and came across this which I sort of missed originally.

...While I have been working on specific structural solutions to climate change I have also been looking at the current science and recognize that the only solution we have left is a total societal mobilization, and very soon we will not even have that....

I completely agree with this assessment.  That conviction of mine is why I argue so strongly that the BAU approaches are no different than suicide. 

Others also mention in their posts the desire for a total societal mobilization.  A great amount of the writing I do is to focus on our weaknesses and also some of our strengths in trying to do this.  There are limitations to what are possible paths towards such mobilizations.  Some things are possible and some are not.  But it is not impossible and the alternatives are dire.

[Laurent]

UK's biggest plastic milk bottle recycler on brink of collapse
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/26/uks-biggest-plastic-milk-bottle-recycler-on-brink-of-collapse

[SATire]

jai

I was reading through some of the above posts and came across this which I sort of missed originally.

...While I have been working on specific structural solutions to climate change I have also been looking at the current science and recognize that the only solution we have left is a total societal mobilization, and very soon we will not even have that....

I completely agree with this assessment.  That conviction of mine is why I argue so strongly that the BAU approaches are no different than suicide. 

Others also mention in their posts the desire for a total societal mobilization.  A great amount of the writing I do is to focus on our weaknesses and also some of our strengths in trying to do this.  There are limitations to what are possible paths towards such mobilizations.  Some things are possible and some are not.  But it is not impossible and the alternatives are dire.

Full agreement to that. I see some chance, that we might get an other strong ally soon: Production industry here is quite anoyed by low emissions costs (rendering previous investments in energy saving useless), subsidies for energy intensive companies (unfair competition from large consumers) and all the rescuing of banks (after US housing bubble, European public spending bubble and very soon the coal/oil bubble collapse...) with taxpayers (so also industries) money. In Germany such production industries employ most people - so they could kick the politicians in the right direction together with 50% of the people.

Also companies are head by normal people knowing, that in the long run all business must be sustainable. And there are a lot of good examples just like the private examples already today.
But again also in the economy we have this nasty 1% of super powerfull companies (>100,000 employes) moving like oil-tankers and leading the pack and the politics in the wrong direction. That must be changed, too.

So maybe we just have to force the top 1% (persons, companies) each year and we'll solve the problem? I know that this is unrealistic, just because people believe that it is unrealistic and because they only want to do serious action if all the neighbors do the same. That has a long tradition here...

[Neven]

So maybe we just have to force the top 1% (persons, companies) each year and we'll solve the problem? I know that this is unrealistic, just because people believe that it is unrealistic and because they only want to do serious action if all the neighbors do the same. That has a long tradition here...

It's all about not respecting limits, so make the first limits about how much the 1% is allowed to own.

[AbruptSLR]

The linked article says that crude oil prices dropped 5% today on trade's concerns that a nuclear deal could be reached with Iran soon.  If so crude oil prices will likely continue to drop for some time as Iran attempts to regain market share:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/27/markets-oil-idINL3N0WT1C520150327

[jai mitchell]

interesting, so perhaps the Saudi move in yemen and in oil price dumping is a pre-emptive strike against the release of Iran sanctions?

[AbruptSLR]

The US government predicts that the shale boom won't last much beyond the next decade.  Thus as the linked article indicates, the National Petroleum Council (as advisory to the US Department of Energy) recommended on Friday that the US begin to develop its Arctic oil & gas reserves immediately, & I imagine that the Obama administration will soon issue more permits for exploratory drilling offshore of Alaska:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d4aa1d761b244c4a97a6370e8a1106f7/oil-council-shale-wont-last-arctic-drilling-needed-now

[Clare]

Naomi Klein video :

"Climate change should be a catalyst for a major change, but we're not treating it as a real emergency. Naomi Klein believes that capitalism is at war with the climate, but she says sometimes it gives us a gift – the sudden drop in oil prices. So let's not blow what could be our best chance to prevent catastrophic global warming"

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2015/mar/25/naomi-klein-climate-change-lets-kick-oil-price-video

[jai mitchell]

Insider News Reveals Second Oil Crash Coming

http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/03/26/second-oil-crash-coming/

I am 100% confident that, sans extramarket forces aligning in a kind of "plunge protection team" cornering of trades, we will see oil drop down to the low $30s or even the high $20s.

My sources in Hong Kong, who are connected to major players on the mainland, are indicating that the slowdown in China may be even greater than the official numbers.

China’s “official” growth rate fell to 7.4% in 2014, the lowest in 25 years. But other sources are saying it will be lower.

The International Monetary Fund is projecting growth to come in at 6.8% in 2014. Analysts from Oxford Economics, a well-respected consulting firm that covers global markets with the likes of Accenture (ACN), are calling for growth to come in at 6%.

[crandles]

Insider News Reveals Second Oil Crash Coming

http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/03/26/second-oil-crash-coming/

I am 100% confident that, sans extramarket forces aligning in a kind of "plunge protection team" cornering of trades, we will see oil drop down to the low $30s or even the high $20s.

so what does 100% confident mean in terms of amount invested in put options?

[JimD]

There is certainly a high probability we have not seen the bottom yet in oil/gas prices.  I too think they will go much lower before the year is out.

Demand is quickly rising in some areas.  Gasoline in the US for instance which is being pushed by increased driving as well as the big rise in purchases of high consumption vehicle like large pickups and suv's.  The later dial in higher consumption for years of course.  Lower gas prices can result in lower coal consumption which is good, but they also become much more competitive with the large scale renewables so that will cause some to have concerns.  But the elephant in the room on this issue is the state of global finances and what happens with China, the EU, US and the developing countries.  We look to be set up for a global economic slowdown which should depress overall demand.  A few well placed wars in or related to oil producing states can send the equation either way depending - Libya going the way of ISIS or Saudi ending up in a long term conflict in Yemen as examples of possible disruptions.

I am pretty much a fan of Naomi Klein but I question the good to climate change action which could come from low oil/gas prices.  i don't see that they present an opportunity but rather put the breaks on rapid change.

They will likely raise consumption of oil/gas as they result in them being more competitive with alternatives and I would expect a big slow down in utility scale renewable installations should the low prices persist for very long.  They do not really transfer to more wealth being available to spend on climate change mitigation strategies like renewables  as many seem to hope. They contribute to economic problems in many countries and this feeds into the other factors pushing us towards another economic meltdown.  Progress has been being made on coal but the surplus of coal is resulting in the price dropping (this runs some mining operations out of business - like in WVA) and thus for countries in really bad economic shape it might make a lot of sense for them to concentrate on coal also - much to work out still on that issue.

If the fossil industry is in big trouble there will also be a strong emphasis on helping it in those countries where it is a major player in the economy and this will bleed resources away from other possible uses.  Everyone is filling their strategic petroleum reserves right now for instance which amounts to a stimulus for the oil industry.

Lots of complications.

[JimD]

No words are necessary.

http://www.alternet.org/fracking/fracking-towns-desperate-laid-workers-they-dont-tell-you-its-all-lie

[Sigmetnow]

Two Years After Exxon's Mayflower Spill, Will Tougher Pipeline Rules Go Beyond Talk?
If a new rule takes effect, about 95 percent of all pipelines would be subject to stricter safety testing because of their age, location and other factors.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032015/two-years-after-exxons-mayflower-spill-will-tougher-pipeline-rules-go-beyond-talk

[werther]

I’m ‘enjoying’ myself in reading “The Energy of Nations – Risk blindness and the Road to Renaissance” by Jeremy Leggett. In doing so, I struck upon this documentary, which is a little outdated but, at least to me, illustrating:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3201781.htm

For those who missed this, like me.

[jai mitchell]

Stanford Economist, "Global Oil Price Drop May Last Decades."

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/march/oil-prices-wolak-033015.html

The primary reasons for continuing low prices include the slowing demand for oil in the industrialized world and ever-advancing technological change in the extraction and use of oil, wrote Wolak in a new policy brief for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

[Laurent]

Deepwater oil spill: BP steps up PR effort to insist all is well in the Gulf
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/31/bp-pr-effort-gulf-coast-deepwater

[jai mitchell]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-could-fall-below-30-a-barrel-but-heres-why-thats-a-good-thing-2015-03-30?siteid=yhoof2

Oil could fall below $30 a barrel, but here’s why that’s a good thing

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Oil futures could tumble as far as the mid-$20s before bottoming. But if history is a guide, that could be a positive scenario for stocks as corporate earnings and consumers reap the benefit of lower energy prices, said Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners.

But first, Minerd sees little reason to expect a significant near-term rebound for oil prices.

I don't recommend playing this or any other stock market scheme.  I believe that the commodity markets are cornered by speculators.  This is why the Saudi shift in production targets is so telling on how the price had been completely manipulated through August of last year.

[Sigmetnow]

Residents in Pennsylvania agree to sampling of their water and air before fracking starts in their neighborhood.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/31032015/fracking-begins-air-and-water-tests-still-rare-precaution

[Laurent]

What the Advertisements Aren't Telling you About Natural Gas
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rosaly-byrd/what-the-advertisements-a_b_6970846.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green

[Laurent]

Guardian's fossil fuel divestment pledge allows gas, fracking
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2815495/guardians_fossil_fuel_divestment_pledge_allows_gas_fracking.html

[Revillo]

Fire and fatalities at Gulf oil rig. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/explosion-and-fire-on-the-oil-platform-in-gulf-of-mexico--45-hurt-and-300-evacuated-2015-4

Mexican state-run oil company Pemex said at least four people died after a fire broke out on a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday, sparking the evacuation of around 300 workers.

Local emergency services said as many as 45 people were injured in the blaze, which erupted overnight on the Abkatun Permanente platform in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche.

[AbruptSLR]

The linked article on the Iran nuclear deal implies that the price of oil will drop further as Iranian oil enters the international market place.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/iran-nuclear-deal-announcement-expected/story?id=29952510

[AbruptSLR]

The linked article discusses an oil index that shows that different crude oil sources and different crude oil products have different carbon footprints (see attached images)

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/16/climate-oil-index-carnegie-endowment/

[AbruptSLR]

The linked WSJ article states that crude oil prices surged today based on growing demand for crude (which of course will increase carbon emissions proportionately).  However, assuming that the Iran nuclear agreement is completed in June, we can expect Iranian oil supplies to increase shortly thereafter:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-rebounds-as-markets-weigh-u-s-jobs-data-iran-deal-1428330439

[Laurent]

Hydraulic Fracturing Offshore Wells on the California Coast
http://www.fractracker.org/2013/10/hf-offshore-ca/

[Sigmetnow]

The cars Google Earth uses to capture street views will start sniffing out methane and natural gas.

Obama is announcing that Google will donate 10 million hours of advanced computing time to new tools, including risk maps and early warnings for things like wildfires and oil flares using the Google Earth Engine platform. Google's "Street View" camera cars will start measuring methane emissions and natural gas leaks.

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/04/07/obama-presents-climate-change-as-hazard-to-your-health

[Sigmetnow]

The biggest foreign lease holder in Canada’s oil sands isn’t Exxon Mobil or Chevron. It’s the Koch brothers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/20/the-biggest-land-owner-in-canadas-oil-sands-isnt-exxon-mobil-or-conoco-phillips-its-the-koch-brothers/

[JimD]

Least anyone get confused and think that the little daily weekly fluctuations in the oil markets - up one day and down the next and up again (with the ups always sold as the bottom is in to sucker in investors) - are indicative of real meaning think again.

Saudi is going to drive a large number of the high cost producers into bankruptcy.  That is the plan.  Here is some more evidence of it.  BTW Iraq is going to help them.

OPEC Boosting Production To Keep Pressure On U.S. Shale

Saudi Arabia has decided to turn up the heat on U.S. shale producers.

The de factor OPEC leader ramped up oil production in March despite the fact that it is pumping into one of the worst bear markets in years. A new report from the International Energy Agency found that OPEC increased oil production by an estimated 890,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in the month of March.

Iraq managed to boost output by 350,000 bbl/d and Libya also brought about 190,000 bbl/d back online.

But Saudi Arabia made up the difference, increasing output by an additional 390,000 bbl/d to 10.1 million bbl/d, a near record-high. The move to increase oil production in the face of a well-supplied market is likely a strategy to maintain market share and force higher cost producers – such as U.S. shale – out of the market.

And there is growing evidence that Saudi Arabia’s strategy is bearing fruit. U.S. rig counts have fallen below 1,000 for the first time since 2009. Rig count declines in the U.S. appeared to be slowing after several weeks of only a dozen or so rigs being taken off the market, but last week an additional 40 oil and gas rigs were removed, indicating that additional cut backs are in the works....

Saudi Arabia is keeping the pedal to the metal. It is actually increasing rig counts in order to keep production going full tilt. That means that oil prices could remain subdued for quite a bit longer. The painful adjustment will have to come on the shoulders of U.S. drillers.....

Capitalism is such a wonderful thing.  The dark side of all this is that the persistent low prices will result in a large demand increase - another thing we don't need.

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/OPEC-Boosting-Production-To-Keep-Pressure-On-U.S.-Shale.html

[Sigmetnow]

Can fossil fuel companies be transformed into allies in the fight against climate change?

As unlikely as it might seem, a coalition of environmental groups and investors is trying to persuade coal, oil and gas companies to turn away from carbon-polluting sources of energy and invest in low-carbon alternatives.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/17/ceres-fossil-fuels-sec-carbon-chevron-exxonmobil-cnr

[Sigmetnow]

BP has agreed to reveal which of its oil reserves could be “unburnable” if governments place effective action on climate change, after a shareholder campaign.

http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/16/bp-adopts-climate-risk-proposal-after-shareholder-vote/

[Sigmetnow]

Mexico: 500,000 left without drinking water after oil spill
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mexico-500000-left-without-drinking-water-after-oil-spill-1496717

[BornFromTheVoid]

Another AMA on reddit.com/r/science that some may find interesting.

Science AMA Series: I’m Marcia McNutt, editor-in-chief of Science, former director of USGS, and head of the Deepwater Horizon Flow Rate Technical Group. I was on the scene at the Deepwater Horizon spill. AMA!

Hi Reddit!
Five years have passed since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I’m Marcia McNutt, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, former director of USGS, and head of the Deepwater Horizon Flow Rate Technical Group. I’m here to discuss the factors that led to the disaster, what it was like to be a part of the effort to control the well, and the measures we’ve put in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen again – as well as answer your questions about the science behind quantifying the oil spill.
Please note: I’m not an expert on the environmental damage caused by the spill.
Related links:
Me on Twitter: @Marcia4Science[1]
A recently published article about the legacy of Deepwater Horizon: “Five years after Deepwater Horizon disaster, scars linger”[2]
My recent Science editorial about Deepwater Horizon: “A community for disaster science”[3] (And a nifty podcast [4] .)

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/33pafe/science_ama_series_im_marcia_mcnutt_editorinchief/

[Sigmetnow]

Oklahoma Lawmakers Vote To Outlaw Fracking Bans As Earthquakes In The State Spike
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/23/3650316/oklahoma-local-drilling-bans/

[Neven]

Oklahoma Lawmakers Vote To Outlaw Fracking Bans As Earthquakes In The State Spike
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/23/3650316/oklahoma-local-drilling-bans/

Tamino had a post on this today.

[Sigmetnow]

In an effort to stop a string of fiery train crashes, the federal government today passed new rules overhauling the way North America moves crude oil by rail.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-federal-rules-aim-stop-fiery-oil-train-crashes-n352221

[Laurent]

Seattle Mobilizes to Shut Down Shell Operations to Protest Arctic Oil Drilling
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/14/seattle_mobilizes_to_shut_down_shell

[Laurent]

Exclusive: Anti-Fracking Filmmaker Josh Fox Arrested In Finger Lakes Protest
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/13/exclusive-anti-fracking-filmmaker-josh-fox-arrested-in-finger-lakes-protest.html