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OIL DRILLING IN GULF GOING TO FOREIGN COMPANY

Obama Praises Brazilian Oil Industry While He Blocks Drilling Here at Home

Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, March 18, 2011

 
At least 7 oil rigs moved out of the Gulf area to other parts of the world since President Obama initiated his moratorium last year.

President Obama defended his trip to Latin America today in an editorial at USA Today. He also praised the expanding Brazilian offshore oil industry.

We’ll also work to strengthen our relationship when it comes to energy. Brazil holds recently discovered oil reserves that could be far larger than ours, and as we seek to increase secure-energy supplies, we look forward to developing a strategic energy partnership. We’ll also continue our shared leadership in green economic growth and clean energy, including everything from biofuels to renewables such as wind and solar power. And as the host of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil is expected to invest more than $200 billion in upgrading its infrastructure — an area where America is primed to be a partner.

That’s strange.
This is the same president who has declared war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production since the first day he moved into the White House.
Sarah Palin reported on his anti-energy agenda earlier this week.

The evidence of the President’s anti-drilling mentality and his culpability in the high gas prices hurting Americans is there for all to see. The following is not even an exhaustive list:

Exhibit A: His drilling moratorium. Guided by politics and pure emotion following the Gulf spill instead of peer-reviewed science or defensible law, the President used the power of his executive order to impose a deepwater drilling moratorium. The Administration even ignored a court order halting his moratorium. And what is the net result of the President’s (in)actions? A large drilling company was forced to declare bankruptcy, the economy of the region has been hobbled, and at least 7 rigs moved out of the Gulf area to other parts of the world while many others remain idle. Is it any surprise that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to fall by 240,000 bbl/d in 2011 alone?

…It’s hard to deny that the Obama Administration is anti-drilling.

This was no accident. Through a process of what candidate Obama once called “gradual adjustment,” American consumers have seen prices at the pump rise 67 percent since he took office. Let’s not forget that in September 2008, candidate Obama’s Energy Secretary in-waiting said: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” That’s one campaign promise they’re working hard to fulfill! Last week, the British Telegraph reported that the price of petrol in the UK hit £6 a gallon – which comes to about $9.70. If you think $4 a gallon is bad now, just wait till the next crisis causes oil prices to “necessarily” skyrocket. Meanwhile, the vast undeveloped reserves that could help to keep prices at the pump affordable remain locked up because of President Obama’s deliberate unwillingness to drill here and drill now.

This president is a walking-talking contradiction.
As Sarah Palin said: “2012 can’t come soon enough.”

OBAMA’S FRIEND, HUGO CHAVEZ, SEIZES AMERICAN OIL RIGS IN VENEZUELA

Posted by FactReal on July 2, 2010

MARXISTS LOVE TO STEAL
In January 2009, Venezuela’s state-run oil company (PDVSA) owed the U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne (H&P) close to $100 million. H&P, as any business or employee, cannot operate without getting paid. H&P stopped operations on two of its drilling rigs. Marxist Hugo Chavez responded by nationalizing H&P’s rigs.


Via Reuters:

Venezuela’s government took formal ownership on Thursday of 11 oil rigs seized from U.S. company Helmerich and Payne .

Socialist President Hugo Chavez has nationalized most of the Latin American country’s oil industry, starting with major heavy crude projects worth billions of dollars in 2007, then taking over dozens of smaller service companies last year.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said last week the OPEC member would nationalize the rigs following a year-long dispute over pending payments by state oil company PDVSA.

 

          AP has the background story:

Venezuela’s government has seized control of 11 oil rigs owned by U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne, which shut them down because the state oil company [PDVSA] was behind on payments.

 

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela would nationalize the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company’s rigs. He said in a statement Wednesday that Helmerich & Payne had rejected government demands to resume drilling operations for more than a year.

 

Helmerich & Payne announced in January 2009 that it was stopping operations on two of its drilling rigs, because Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, owed the company close to $100 million. It said it would shut down the rest of its rigs by the end of July as contracts expired unless PDVSA began to make good on its debts.

 

The company said Thursday that PDVSA’s debt was $43 million as of June 14.

 

Referring to Helmerich & Payne, Ramirez said: “There’s a group of drill owners who have refused to discuss service prices and have preferred to have this equipment put away for a year.”

 

President and CEO Hans Helmerich said in a statement on Thursday the company’s position has remained clear: “We simply wanted to be paid for work already performed.”

 

“We stated repeatedly we wanted to return to work, just not for free,” he said.

 

Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling

The Wall Street Journal

Too bad it's not in U.S. waters.

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

 

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

 

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

 

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

 

The Bush Administration's five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.

 

This is progress, however slow. But it still doesn't allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won't allow at home.

 

Additional comments:

 

"Today, even though President Obama is against off shore drilling for our country, he signed an executive order to loan 2 Billion of our taxpayers dollars to a Brazilian Oil Exploration Company (which is the 8th largest company in the entire world) to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil ! The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of  China  and NOT THE  USA  ! Now here's the real clincher...the Chinese government is under contract to purchase all the oil that this oil field will produce, which is hundreds of millions of barrels of oil".

We have absolutely no gain from this transaction whatsoever! 

Wait, it gets more interesting.

Guess who is the largest individual  stockholder of this Brazilian Oil Company and who would benefit most  from this? It is American BILLIONAIRE, George Soros, who  was one of President Obama's most generous financial supporter during his campaign.

If you are able to connect the dots and follow the money, you are probably as upset as I am. Not a word of this transaction was broadcast on any of the other news networks! 

Forward this factual e-mail to others who care about this country and  where it is going. Also, let all of your Government representatives know how you feel about this.

 

 

The link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574346610120524166.html

Petrobras Gets Permit for U.S. Deep Waters

 

WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- Washington has given Petrobras America Inc. permission to start oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, a regulator said.

 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement gave Petrobras approval to use a floating production storage offloading facility at its Cascade-Chinook project in the Gulf of Mexico.

The approval marks the first time FPSO technology will be used in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The oil and gas project is about 165 miles off the coast of Louisiana in 8,200 feet of water. The FPSO has a production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil and 16 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

 

The BOEMRE approved the production safety system permit and a supplemental deep-water operating plan from Petrobras. The regulatory agency said it was satisfied that operations would be safe from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

 

 

 

Petrobras Article

 

Exploration and Production (E & P)

In 2001, Petrobras decided to change its strategy in the Gulf of Mexico to achieve better results while preserving the practical approach of the past. Our plans are to take advantage of our expertise in deepwater exploration and production while building a world-class material portfolio with acreage in deep and ultra-deep regions in the Gulf of Mexico, aiming to secure meaningful mid- to long-term production growth.

 

We increased our working interest in the Cascade and Chinook fields in August 2006 and took over as operating partner. In early 2010 we exercised the right of preference for the acquisition of the stakes held by one of our partners, and as a result hold 100% of Cascade and 66.67% of Chinook. We also have a participating interest in the St. Malo and Stones fields, in water depths ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 ft. Cascade and Chinook will be developed using a Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility (FPSO) to be installed in 2010, a development concept never before deployed in the US Gulf of Mexico. Petrobras has had phenomenal success with this technology in offshore operations in Brazil, mainly in the Campos Basin.

 

In addition to the development of these fields, Petrobras is conducting an aggressive exploration campaign in the Gulf of Mexico, which includes the acquisition of additional acreage and participation in wells currently being drilled or planned for the near future.

 

To accomplish and deliver on its Gulf of Mexico operations goals, in the next few years Petrobras will receive three rigs capable of operating in water depths of up to 10,000 ft.

 

Petrobras is also the operator of the Cottonwood gas and oil field, in the Garden Banks area, with 100% participation, consisting of a subsea tie back to existing facilities in shallower waters.

 

The development and operating partnership of Cascade and Chinook, and the participation in St. Malo and Stones, position Petrobras as one of the leading operators in the ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Our advantage is deepwater expertise and technology, developed offshore of Brazil.

 

________________________________________________

U.S. Loan to Brazilian Oil Company Riles Conservatives in Favor of Offshore Drilling

 

 

By James Rosen

 - FOXNews.com

 

Some see a contradiction in an executive-branch agency facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration President Obama opposes domestically.

 

President Obama has opposed any expanded oil drilling off American shores largely on environmental grounds, turning a deaf ear to conservative cries of "Drill, Baby, Drill."

 

But now Obama may start hearing cries of "foul" after the U.S. Export-Import Bank promised Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, $2 billion in loan guarantees to help finance lucrative drilling off the shores of Rio De Janeiro.

 

Some see a contradiction in an executive branch agency, independent but with board members appointed by the president, facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration Obama opposes domestically.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday he wasn't prepared to address the issue.

 

"I have not seen the story," he said. "I'd have to take a look."

But former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a vocal proponent of offshore drilling, had plenty to say.

 

"So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than $2 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation's state-owned oil company, Petrobas, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources?" she asked on her Facebook page.

In fact, the Export-Import bank receives no appropriations from Congress and thus does not rely on American taxpayer dollars and is also not "sending" $2 billion to the Brazilian company but offering lines of credit to U.S. firms so they can compete to land contracts as part of Petrobras' drilling operations.

 

The $2 billion "preliminary commitment" by the Export-Import Bank to Petrobras is expected to grow, as the U.S. competes on behalf of American exporters of goods and services against those from China. Beijing has extended a commitment of $10 billion -- but the Brazilians are said to prefer U.S. management and technology.

Then there is the George Soros angle.

 

The New York-based hedge fund firm controlled by the billionaire philanthropist and backer of Democratic causes and campaigns bought and sold millions of shares in Petrobras -- the largest of the firm's holdings -- prior to public disclosure of the Export-Import bank's offer of new credit guarantees to the Brazilian energy giant.

No one has accused Soros of wrongdoing, but some say the transactions do not pass the "smell test."

 

 

 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

America, we have a problem, we have been attacked from within! We are being destroyed from within by a group of  DOMESTIC ENEMIES  who have managed to seize political power and whose mission is in fact to bring “change” to America ___ the dismantling of our military defensive power; the allowance of our borders to be overrun by foreign invaders, the diluting of our election process by allowing ineligible persons to vote; the destruction of our manufacturing capabilities; the strangulation of our agricultural industry and ability to produce food under the guise of environmental necessity; the destruction of our nation’s health care delivery system, the looting of both our federal treasury and a mandatory retirement pension fund; the brainwashing of our nation’s children in government operated schools; the trashing of our nation’s traditions and moral values; the creation of an iron fisted control unauthorized by our written Constitution over America’s businesses and industries; the devaluation of our nation’s currency, and, the future enslavement of our children and grand children via unbridled debt and inflation, not to mention an iron fisted government which intends to rule their very lives!

 

WFK