A March 17 press release from BOEMRE announced the approval of Petrobras’s permit application for the Gulf of Mexico’s first FPSO (”Floating Production Storage Offloading” facility), offshore Louisiana.
I have no problem with FPSOs per se. The technology has been used around the world, in places like Brazil, Angola, the North Sea and off Australia. But this would be the first FPSO in U.S. waters, under BOEMRE and U.S. Coast Guard jurisdiction.
What I do question is the timing of this particular permit approval. Shallow water operators are experiencing difficulty with routine Shelf gas well permits, where the potential environmental consequences of a mishap are miniscule compared to the multitude of things that might go wrong with an FPSO.
Plus it’s for Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil, which President Obama apparently likes better than any American oil company.
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