Another Offshore Explosion and Its Impact to Oil Politics

This decade is perhaps one of the busiest decades for any U.S. President. The economic recession has created a domino effect that affected not only business and financial institutions but various government departments and functions as well. The ballooning budget deficit along with the increasing unemployment rate has kept U.S. officials very busy in solving these potential dangers to the American society. You may have also heard about the BP Oil spill disaster. Just as we thought that luck will finally be in our side, another impending oil spill is waiting to happen.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded spilling along tons of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. It was considered as the worst oil spill by any offshore oil rig in U.S. history. The environmental impact was horrendous prompting the government to take immediate actions to contain the oil leak. And not long after, another similar disaster would happen in the same gulf where oil is ultimately abundant. The oil platform Mariner Energy, located west from the site of the April oil spill, exploded creating concerns about another possible oil spill to occur.

The explosion was first reported at 0930 local time (1330 GMT). Rescuers and firefighters were quick to respond to the scene saving 13 rig workers and were able to put out the fire immediately. An immediate investigation has been called upon to determine the presence of an oil leak and to assess the risk to the environment. Fortunately, investigators were quickly to point out that there is indeed no oil leaking from the platform. The owners of the platform, Mariner Energy, also said that the platform was undergoing maintenance and was not producing any oil or gas at the time of the explosion.

The recent disaster has created a major impact especially on the offshore oil production industry. Since the BP oil spill last April, the energy industry has been battling tough sanctions and regulations imposed by the government to offshore oil operations. Environmental groups and politicians are now more than determined to impose a permanent ban to offshore drilling. The hazards and dangers it impose not only to the environment but also to its workers are beyond the normal and safe operating levels. There is now an ongoing debate on how feasible these offshore oil platforms are.

The American Petroleum Institute is planning to stage rallies and protests nationwide next week to urge the Obama administration to lift its moratorium on deep-water drilling and to pressure Congress to avoid imposing new taxes and liability measures. BP has evened threatened that if the ban will continue, then they will lose the money to pay for the cleanup and recovery effort. Oil politics is gaining its popularity with a tough battle going on between the White House and Oil platform owners.