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NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
Page 6
Winter 2016
tion of this commodity.
As negotiations lessen sanctions on
Iran, they are preparing to ramp up
operations and further contribute to
the glut. Even low prices are better
than not being able to sell their oil at
all. Their gas does them no good
sitting in the ground.
Another factor that militates against
prices climbing in the near future is
the huge amount of stored oil. Pro-
ducers have stockpiled crude to
keep it off the market, as an attempt
to stimulate prices. Storage capacity
has just about filled completely.
Companies have bought old, unused
tankers, filled them to capacity and
stored them offshore, trying to wait
out the period of depressed prices.
There are fewer and fewer places to
stash the stuff. Some speculators
can wait no longer and will soon
have to cash out. And the excess
capacity stored will have to be used
up before there will be any significant
increase in prices
It seems it would be a wise decision
to cut back production to reduce sup-
ply and allow prices to rise, but that
doesn’t seem to be in the immediate
future. OPEC wants to maintain its
market share even at the lower pric-
es. American producers over ex-
panded during the era of low interest
with no concern to the oversupply
that could have been predicted.
They must continue in the short term
to pay the bills.
There have been contractions.
Workers have been laid off. Work
ships have been delayed or stored at
shipyards since there is no work to
do. Drilling ships loiter offshore in
the Caribbean while they wait for
contracts. DUC’s are ‘Drilled but
Uncompleted’ wells. Producers have
paid licenses for sites, rented drill
rigs and contracted workers so drill-
ing goes forward, but the wells are
then mothballed until taking gas out
of them makes sense. That means
there will be no shortage of product
in the near future which would return
prices to their earlier level.
So, as solar and wind eat into fossil
fuel markets, production continues.
OPEC hopes to starve marginal
American producers (as well as
those in the China Sea, North Sea
and Indonesia) into oblivion. No one
blinks.
While some economists decry the
immediate effect reduced oil compa-
ny profits will have on Wall Street,
consumers and industry have more
money to spend since they will
spend less on gas. We are still wait-
ing for airfares to respond to lower
fuel costs (Did I mention ‘Rocket up
– Feather down’?). As a society we
need to ponder the effects cheap
gas will have on America down the
road. Will we responsibly invest our
fuel dividend or simply return to our
old, high-flying, wasteful, expensive
ways?
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF STATEN
ISLAND
By Jim Scarcella
In late November, I was fortunate to
meet up with Mike Aquino and Clay
Halverson for a circumnavigation of
Staten Island.
There was a steady breeze of 11
knots and the waves (some white-
caps) were at 2 to 2.5 feet.
Coming out of Great Kills Harbor
channel,
we headed to the
“BugLight” and we turned left (north)
up towards the Narrows.
The Beach House at Gateway had
its usual stock of Herring Gulls and
Clay spotted a Gannett, a sea bird
that makes spectacular dives from
50 feet or more to attempt to catch
fish.
Off of South Beach, there were two
Eared Grebes bobbing in the waves.
On the approach to Hoffman Island,
we noticed the extensive piling field
and the barren trees.
As we turned towards the Verrazano
Bridge, a huge MSC freighter was
exiting Lower NY Bay, with over 300
TEU's (tonnage equivalency units),
most of them were empty.
Just before we went under the bridge
off Fort Wadsworth, Mike looked
back and spotted a Harbor Seal up
for air, it looked at ease and maybe
four feet in length, brown with large
eyes.
There were a few fishermen on the
rocks below the neighborhood of
Shore Acres.
Continuing west, we passed Alice
Austen House Park and the Sandy
Hook Pilots Association headquar-
ters.
Off the Homeport, there were some
boats fishing for tautaug and sea
bass in the steady wind near the Ma-
rine Fire Pumper station. Behind
that was about 700 new condos for
Stapleton.
We cut across the SI Ferry and saw
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A view of the Yellow Submarine in Calvert-Vaux Park at our May 2015 park
cleanup. Photo by Danny Ingellis
