Here's the latest graph showing the progress of returning oil and gas wells in the gulf to full porduction. Zero on the graph is full production. That is to say, down is good. They claim that the upspike in the oil is due to late reports. Data is from these
reports at mms.gov.
Remaining Shut-in Oil And Gas
(Shut-in means un-producing wells)
In any case what is clear now is that all the relatively undamaged rigs and platforms are back on line and what is left are the ones that require repair.
More worrying for us in Illinois are the natural gas loses. A lot of home heating is via natural gas.
From
the U.S. DOE:
The LOOP (Louisiana Offshore Oil Port) where oil is offloaded from tankers is at 75% and expected to be 100% next week. BP Whiting Indiana refinery is the only local refinery still receiving Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil.
Tropical Storm Ophelia became a category 1 hurricane today. It is not moving at the moment, it's just sitting there. It's expected to move away from the Florida and Georgia Atlantic coasts when it does move.
NOAA reports one of the largest solar flares on record on 9/7/05. These flares disrupt high frequency radio transmissions and some electrical power grids which could impact emergency work in the gulf.
(Crossposted from SoapBlox/Chicago)