BP Pleads Guilty to 11 Felonies and Agrees to Pay $4.5 Billion to Settle Criminal Case on Deepwater Horizon Tragedy

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 platform workers and resulting in the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Today BP, the … Continue reading

Deepwater Horizon, Two New Reports – BP & Transocean Failure at Spill Prevention & Dead Dolphins

Two recent reports look at the actions and inaction of BP and its contractor Transocean before the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the consequences of the resulting spill on the environment.  The explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and … Continue reading

Fire on the Horizon – The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster, by John Konrad and Tom Shroder

gCaptain is one of my favorite blogs. It has a done a great job of covering the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Now gCaptain’s John Konrad has written a book, Fire on the Horizon – The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster, … Continue reading

Coast Guard Cracks Down on Major Oil Spill Which You Probably Never Heard Of

Fourteen years ago, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil-production platform owned by Taylor Energy in the Gulf of Mexico. The wells associated with the platform have been leaking ever since and may soon become the largest recorded offshore spill.  Federal officials … Continue reading

“Paddle in Seattle” Protests Around Shell’s Polar Pioneer — Saying “Shell-No” to Arctic Drilling

Just over a week ago, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management granted conditional approval for Shell to begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea in the Alaskan Arctic. Last Thursday, the Polar Pioneer, a semi-submersible drilling rig, owned … Continue reading

Twenty Five Years Ago Today, Exxon Valdez Grounded in Prince Edward Sound

On March 24, 1989, the 210,000 dwt crude oil tanker Exxon Valdez sailed from Valdez Marine Terminal and entered Alaska’s Prince William Sound. At 12:04 am, the single hulled ship ran aground on Bligh Reef, resulting in the largest oil spill in … Continue reading

The Sorry Saga of the Ore/Oiler A Whale – From Miracle Skimmer to Bankruptcy & Abandoned Sailors

Unfortunately, the story is not that unusual. A ship owner in financial trouble and sailors find themselves abandoned on a ship, far from home, with no wages, and running out of food and fuel.  This is what has happened to … Continue reading

Update 2: Explosion on Oil Rig in Gulf of Mexico – Eleven Injured, Four Critically and Two Missing

Update 2: Current reports say that eleven were injured, four critically. Two workers are still missing. An oil and gas rig in the Gulf of Mexico, about 20 nautical miles southeast of Grand Isle, La., was hit by an explosion … Continue reading

Bombs in the Gulf’s Offshore Oilfields

We have previously posted about unexploded bombs from World War II being exposed by drought along the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Germany, about similar bombs being found in the port of Marseille and about World War II phosphorus munitions burning two … Continue reading

Record Year for Ship Scrapping & ex-Exxon Valdez Heading for Scrap Yard

The twenty eight year old bulk carrier Oriental Nicety was recently sold for scrap for $16 million.  The ship was originally a tanker and has four owners and as many names. She is best known as the Exxon Valdez, the single hull … Continue reading

What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico? Public Relations, Dead Turtles and Dolphins

Hundreds of dead dolphins and sea turtles are washing ashore on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.  No one knows exactly what is killing them though  many point to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of a year ago.   In the mean … Continue reading

First Permit to Restart Deep Water Drilling

Yesterday we reviewed John Konrad’s new book, Fire on the Horizon:  The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster, which went on sale in bookstores today.   Coincidentally,  yesterday the Interior Department approved the first new deep water drilling permit in the Gulf … Continue reading