Permitorium Continues -- It Still Takes An Act of Congress

Link here.

Jim Adams, president and CEO of the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA), said that BOEMER's late-Friday announcement that it has issued an additional permit for deepwater drilling is misleading.

"There were 32 deepwater drilling operations already permitted when the President imposed his moratorium last year. Interior Secretary Salazar is merely allowing existing permit holders to resume their operations," said Adams. "This administration has yet to approve and permit a new deepwater exploration proposal submitted in the last 11 months."

Adams continued, "Secretary Salazar is treating Gulf workers like peasants, tossing us work crumb by crumb and expecting us to be grateful," Adams said. "We're tired of fighting for scraps. We want to get back to work—all of us, not just a handful of crews."

Adams noted that Secretary Salazar's latest announcement follows on the heels of another round of Congressional hearings this week on the Obama administration's de facto moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

"It still takes Congressional intervention or court orders to compel the Interior Department to issue a scant number of 'permits'," Adams said.

Anything to kill the domestic drilling industry.

But great news for the Bakken.

WTI oil remains at $100/barrel.

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By the way, this is how the political process works:

• President Obama makes a speech that the Gulf of Mexico moratorium has been lifted.
• The Secretary of Interior Salazar institutes a new review process for drilling in the Gulf.
• President Obama makes a speech saying his new review process makes the Gulf safer.
• Oil companies ask for details on the new review process.
• The bureaucracy says they will get back to them.
• With great fanfare, the Secretary of State issues the first new permit using the new process.
• At a press conference, when asked about the permitorium, President Obama reminds the nation that permits are now being issued for drilling in the Gulf and that the moratorium has been lifted.
• A second permit is applied for. It is denied. Oil companies don't understand the process or the new requirements.
• Secretary of Interior says he will get back to the oil companies. 

Anything to kill the domestic oil industry.

Meanwhile the price of oil closed at the end of the week at over $101/barrel, and the administration blames speculators for the price of oil

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Some folks have written in to say my "political process" analysis is off-base. On CNBC "Squawk Box," Monday, March 21, 2011, the host noted that the US has issued the 2nd permit in the Gulf. It was met with much laughter when he said that "we're moving along" with regard to opening the Gulf again. They apparently see it the same way I do.

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March 21, 2011: A third permit has been issued.