Saturday, August 14, 2010

End Of Spill, Ready to Drill

BP has stopped the Deepwater Horizon blowout.  Hooray.  Any talk of stopping deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is now mere political theater with the mitigation of this six-sigma event. 

Consider that much of the feared damage from the spill never materialized.  Much of the spilled oil degraded due to natural environmental action with no help needed from BP and its relief teams.  The U.S. government now has a firm methodology for calculating the potential damage from oil spills.  NOAA's Oil Budget Calculator will help determine the scale of the response needed for future accidents.

The government isn't the only party that's acquired valuable experience from this event.  The supermajors are committing to build a billion-dollar rapid-response system.  The world's leading sub-sea engineers have now nailed down firm procedures for capping gushers on the deep seabed, adding to the industry's body of knowledge.  Future spills can now be solved without wasting so much time with trial-and-error engineering. 

The U.S. simply can't get by without oil from the Gulf.  The offshore oil industry will be indispensable to the world economy for the next several decades. 

Full disclosure:  Long TDW with covered calls.  No position in BP.