Bp Oil Spill
CULF 2301.01
4 November 2010
Deep Water Oil Well Drilling For the last century finding a cheap supply of a sustainable energy source has been one of the major policies of the United States. Since the later stages of the industrial revolution and the first gasoline powered car were invented there has been an insatiable demand for petroleum. Oil well drilling first began onshore and then eventually led to shallow water drilling and finally deep water drilling as the technology evolved. Over the last twenty five years there have been major technology advancements which enabled oil companies to go further out and drill deeper in the ocean. Along with this advancement came several environmental issues. With the huge size of the oil platforms and with the amount of oil produced each day, the impact of a leak or explosion would be huge if not contained in time. Over the years different governmental agencies have put in place many regulations and policies to make sure that the right measures are taken when building and operating an oil platform. As a result of the recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (British Petroleum Horizon) many questions have been raised. Should the current deep water oil well drilling policies regulations and policies be revised? In 1887 H.L Williams drilled the first shallow water offshore well. The drill was placed on a wooden barge extending 300 feet into the continental shelf off Summerland, California. At first wells were only limited to shallow water drilling but in 1940 the emergence of free standing and floating wells enabled rigs to move further out into deeper water. By 1949 there were eleven oil producing fields and approximately 49 wells producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico. “ By the 1950s’ the United State government began responding to increased concerns regarding offshore jurisdictions, environmental impacts of offshore activities, economic factors and safety(Mastrangelo 3)” This led to legislative and regulatory issues that
4 November 2010
Deep Water Oil Well Drilling For the last century finding a cheap supply of a sustainable energy source has been one of the major policies of the United States. Since the later stages of the industrial revolution and the first gasoline powered car were invented there has been an insatiable demand for petroleum. Oil well drilling first began onshore and then eventually led to shallow water drilling and finally deep water drilling as the technology evolved. Over the last twenty five years there have been major technology advancements which enabled oil companies to go further out and drill deeper in the ocean. Along with this advancement came several environmental issues. With the huge size of the oil platforms and with the amount of oil produced each day, the impact of a leak or explosion would be huge if not contained in time. Over the years different governmental agencies have put in place many regulations and policies to make sure that the right measures are taken when building and operating an oil platform. As a result of the recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (British Petroleum Horizon) many questions have been raised. Should the current deep water oil well drilling policies regulations and policies be revised? In 1887 H.L Williams drilled the first shallow water offshore well. The drill was placed on a wooden barge extending 300 feet into the continental shelf off Summerland, California. At first wells were only limited to shallow water drilling but in 1940 the emergence of free standing and floating wells enabled rigs to move further out into deeper water. By 1949 there were eleven oil producing fields and approximately 49 wells producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico. “ By the 1950s’ the United State government began responding to increased concerns regarding offshore jurisdictions, environmental impacts of offshore activities, economic factors and safety(Mastrangelo 3)” This led to legislative and regulatory issues that
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