The Chairman and CEO of ATP wrote an open letter to President Obama which was published in the Times Picayune dated 12/27/10. One would think the Chairman, T. Paul Bulmahn would have been satisfied not to make the letter to the President public but propaganda has always been a part of the oil and gas industry dealings with the public. During the administration of Bush 43, V.P. Chaney met with the energy industry executives and their discussions and decisions were and still are secret. They did not think the people had a right to know. If Mr. Bulmahn's company participated in those meetings with the V.P. perhaps he should write another letter and make the discussions and decisions of that meeting public.
Mr. Bulmahn starts his letter out by reminding the President gasoline at the pump is already climbing over $3.00 gallon. He fails to note it hit $4.00 gallon on Bush's watch and has been at its highest sustained cost since Bush took office. During the Gulf War in 1991 when Bush's father, George H.W. Bush was President, the average yearly cost of a barrel of oil during his 4 years in office was $32.04. (See Note 1) Today it is over $90 barrel and on Bush's 43 watch it hit $140 barrel.
The import of Mr. Bulmahn's letter to the President is to approve a permit to drill OCSG 16661, Mississippi Canyon Block Well #4 which has yet to be approved. He also speaks about his company's safety record and the fact that offshore drilling has been taken place in the Gulf for over 60 years. He ends his letter asking the President to give ATP a permit to return to work rather than forcing more American jobs to be lost.
What was missing in the letter is the fact that with over 60 years of drilling experience in the Gulf, Mr. Bulmahn's industry does not have the technology or equipment to TIMELY cap a blow out such as BP's Macondo well nor the equipment to TIMELY clean up any leaked oil from the waters before the oil hits shore. One has to assume ATP does not possess that ability to do so any more than BP. If I am wrong he should have told the President about his company's ability to do so.
The price of a barrel of oil and gallon of gasoline is manipulated by the oil industry and the sustained high price of both since Bush 43 took office and their secret discussions with V.P. Chaney is the Rosetta Stone. The industry is noted for cutting production to bring about shortages which is used to manipulate prices. The American people need to keep in mind that the industry has been given special tax breaks and incentives since the very beginning to find and produce more oil but our nation is more dependent on foreign oil today than ever before. Just ask Boone Pickens.
We hear a lot about lost jobs from the industry because of the moratorium and about rigs moving over seas. Well lets explore the following: In 2001 the average number of drilling rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico was 119. In 2008 it was 64, a loss of 55 rigs and there was no moratorium in effect during that period of time. Where did those 55 rigs go, what happened to those jobs, did they go overseas? Were those workers laid off? The industry has never made comment on this. According to the oil and gas industry there were 35 rigs working the Gulf when the BP rig blew. (See Note 2)
The oil and gas industry own, lease or rent millions of acres that they have yet to drill one well on. Instead of laying off workers they should be drilling those properties and putting their people to work. The American oil companies will never produce enough oil to make our country self reliant. They would have to stock pile the inventory and that would bring prices down. They perfer the manipulation game, continue to cry wolfe and continue to receive tax breaks and other incentives that do not produce one extra barrel of oil or one extra gallon of gasoline.
The major oil companies should be broken up and scattered to the wind. Their take over of other oil companies thru the years has also not produced one extra barrel of oil or gallon of gasoline. It has only produced larger companies and wealth for their CEO's and Executives. That says it all.
Note l: Inflation Data.Com. Historic Oil Prices May 2008
Note 2: Times Picayune report dated 1/17/10, page E-4
