by Brian P. Nanos
01-10-05
Interior Secretary Gale Norton compared the country's reliance on oil and
natural gas from the Gulf region to having all of one's eggs in one basket and,
she said, "we've now dropped the basket."
According to the Department of the Interior, 3,050 of the 4,000 platforms that
the government Minerals Management Service administers were in the path of last
month's hurricanes.
Norton said that before the hurricanes damaged both the region's ports, and
the on- and offshore facilities, natural gas prices had been high enough to
cause some jobs and industries to move overseas. She expects the cost of natural
gas to be even higher when demand increases this winter. She does not expect oil
prices to be affected as strongly because the country can tap into strategic oil
reserves.
The initial effects of Katrina and Rita were felt mainly by the states most
directly in the paths of the hurricanes, Norton said, "The reverberations will
continue to be felt in our oil and gas supplyin every state."
Recently, the MMS reported that 90 % of Gulf oil production and 72 % of Gulf
natural gas production remained shut down. Repairs on facilities with
substantial damage may not be complete for months, Norton said.
The rebuilding has been slowed by the cumulative effects of having two
hurricanes in one region and by the high demand for the construction materials
and equipment needed to get the system back up and running.
Although 109 platforms in the Gulf were destroyed by the storms, all but one
were older rigs, accounting for only 1.7 % of the region's oil production and
0.9 % of its production of natural gas.
The newer platform destroyed by the hurricane may have been damaged not by winds
but by a collision with an offshore drilling unit which the storms had torn from
its moorings.
Source: www.sunherald.com/