Hope Not.......

So many posts today.

The news reports are coming fast and furious. Katrina has turned the normally dull summer into a bluster of news.....unfortunately.

This post from The Oil Drum comes from an "anonymous insider" in the oil industry that these folks consider highly credible. Let's hope...sincerely...that it's not true. Excerpt:

There are MANY production platforms missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.

We also set individual wells as satellites and pipe them back to existing platforms. These stand-alone wells are called caisson wells. 90% of those in the storm path are bent over, rendering them a total loss, We would have to remove the existing bent structure and drill a new well, as bent pipe is basically unusable.

[...]

In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production...

Loss of the MARS platform alone cost us 95,000 barrels a day for a year or maybe more.

YEARS, people. I know what this means - hope everyone else gets it too...

This source also references this article as further proof that the Saudis are tapping out in production. And remember, this area provides about a 1/4 of domestic production.....

$5/gal gas anyone?

Oh my......

Update: Via Atrios, CNN is reporting $4.99/gal gas and gas lines in Atlanta. Panic as much as anything can drive this thing in the short run.

Update II: Gas lines in South Carolina and North Carolina.