Tuesday, March 20, 2001

World's Biggest Offshore Oil Rig Sinks

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The world's largest offshore oil platform sank in just a few minutes Tuesday, five days after powerful blasts rocked the rig and killed 10 people, Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras said.

A Petrobras spokeswoman said she did not have any information on whether there had been an oil spill, but the company has ships standing by, which it says could contain any oil slick.

Three explosions ripped through the rig off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state last week, killing 10 of the 175 workers aboard. Petrobras flew in experts and equipment from around the world to try to keep the rig afloat.

-- (Time@has.com), March 20, 2001

Answers

It must be Y2K.

-- (boom@crash.fizzle), March 20, 2001.

Dubya did it so he could use it as an example of why we can't depend on foreign oil and we must tear up our own land to find more.

-- (bush bastards @ masters. of deceit), March 20, 2001.

Actually, Bush (with the aid of the CIA) has utilized subsonic devices designed to make idiots post all kinds of ludicrous conspiracy theories about him on the internet.



It looks like they are working.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), March 20, 2001.

White House sounds energy alarm Monday, 19 March 2001 19:18 (ET)

White House sounds energy alarm

WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- The White House said the United States was veering toward an energy crisis and pointed to cuts in oil production by OPEC, saying it was "disappointed" by the oil cartel's latest move.

"Demand for energy in the United States is increasing much more so than production is, and as result, we're finding in certain parts of the country that we're short on energy," President Bush said during a meeting with top administration officials tasked with coming up a national energy policy. "One thing is for certain: there are no short-term fixes."

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham underscored Bush's remarks during a speech earlier in the day at the United States Chamber of Commerce, where he said energy shortages threatened to stall efforts to spur the economy.

Abraham said electricity shortages seen in California were harbingers of more widespread power troubles in the United States. Citing projections for increased energy demands, Abraham said New York, the Midwest, Southwest and areas of the central United States could soon face the electricity shortages much like in the Golden State.

"Americans across the nation are feeling the energy squeeze," Abraham said. "Rising demand, tightening supplies and aging power infrastructure, a decade of neglect from Washington; these are the trends that define America's emerging energy challenges."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer used Bush and Abraham's warnings to reiterate the administration's call for increasing domestic oil drilling, including development on the federal lands like the wildlife refuge in Alaska known as ANWR. But increased domestic production would take up to a decade to provide relief.

Fleischer said nonetheless that a long-term energy policy was the best solution for the potential shortages Bush and Abraham cited.

"The President is focused on finding a long-term solution to our nation's energy problems," Fleischer said. "And he believes that's the most beneficial step we can take."

Fleischer said "it was a disappointment" that leadership at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to trim production when it met in Vienna over the weekend, despite appeals by the administration against a production decrease. OPEC officials said economic slowdowns in the United States and Japan meant less oil consumption and therefore a hurtful price drop in oil for exporters unless world supplies were tightened.

The OPEC move was a clear setback to the administration, which had hoped to wield more influence among Arab nations with ranking officials like Vice President Dick Cheney, who served as secretary of defense during the Gulf War in the last Bush administration.

Asked about OPEC by reporters, Bush said he was encouraged because Saudi Arabia, a major player in the organization, vowed to keep oil prices near the $25 per barrel mark, widely seen as the best price for both producers and consumers.

"The piece of good news in their decision was that the Saudi minister made it clear that he and his friends would not allow the price of oil, crude oil to exceed $28 a barrel," Bush said. "That's very comforting to the American consumer, and I appreciate that gesture. I thought that was a very strong statement of understanding, that high prices of crude oil will affect our economy."

New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the ranking Democrat on the Senate energy committee, said he agreed that the country faces "significant energy challenges." But he said the Bush administration's plan was incomplete.

"Any comprehensive response to these challenges must include a balance between increasing supply while curbing demand, increasing efficiency and considering the environmental impacts of our energy policies," Bingaman said. "The Bush Administration approach seems to ignore this bigger picture."

-- (drilling@in.the USA), March 20, 2001.