Map of Oil Rigs in the Gulf/Not Built to Last

Hurricane Rita is reprepsented by the red line
Mobile Rig Locations (as of September 20, 2005) are represented by orange dots
Fixed Manned Platforms in the Path of Rita are represented by gray dots
Cities represented by black squares

The above picture is the current Hurricane advisory from the National Hurricane Center. It would appear that if Rita remains on her current path, a good portion of the fixed manned platforms are going to get slammed hard.

According to the Seattle Times, “…federal and industry documents obtained by the Mobile Register show that the most-recent design criteria for offshore oil and natural-gas platforms require only that these structures withstand winds and seas typical of a borderline Category 2/Category 3 storm, well below the Category 4 and 5 winds that affected Gulf oil fields at least four times in the past five years.”

The article goes on to say that, “Katrina, along with current closures in anticipation of Hurricane Rita, shut 1.1 million barrels, or 73 percent, of daily crude-oil output in the region, according to a report yesterday from the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which manages offshore resources. That was almost 15 percentage points more than the previous day.”

Bloomberg reports that, “Texas is home to the biggest concentration of U.S. refineries, accounting for 26 percent of the nation’s total capacity. Four refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi, representing 5 percent of U.S. capacity, remain shut because of damage caused last month by Katrina.

“The impact of what it could do, heading into Houston, is something we need to worry about,” said John Waterlow, an oil analyst at Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. in Edinburgh. “The market is going to focus on, and react to, every storm from now on because of the experience we had from Hurricane Ivan and Katrina.”

European stocks fell, led by insurers Munich Re and Swiss Reinsurance Co., as Rita headed toward Texas. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index dropped 0.6 percent, declining for the second consecutive day after five days of gains.

U.S. 10-year notes may rise for a fourth day in Europe, the longest advance in almost four months. Yields fell to a more than one-week low. The benchmark 10-year note’s yield fell 1 basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 4.16 percent as of 9:53 a.m. in London, according to bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP. Bond yields move inversely to prices.”

So for those keeping score, most of our oil refining capacity is in Rita’s predicted path of destruction; the platforms themselves are not built to withstand a Category 4 or 5 hurricane, which is currently what’s bearing down on the Texas coast; and today, before the hurricane actually made landfall, oil rose to $68 a barrel.

I’m just curious, is it possible to impeach a president and his entire cabinet for not having a proper energy policy and instead keeping the American people married to singularly one undependable source of energy? I’m just asking…