Going...Going...

The picture you see is the construction of another offshore oil production/drilling platform at Stavanger, Norway.

Nice!...

Wish it was here!...

The reality is now that, we have about six days left to get Exxon/Mobil, Chevron and the rest of the consortium back to the bargaining table and get a deal signed for the development of the Hebron-Ben Nevis oil field.

Reading an article in the New York Times on the stand that the Newfoundland and Labrador government has taken in negotiations has got me thinking about the implications of what is going to happen in the immediate St.John's area in the coming months,let alone the rest of the province. Already, I've noticed that the "for sale" signs are on the lawns a little longer and real estate agents are starting to have backed up inventories of properties that can't be moved.
You might have to register with the Times to get it.
See Danny's interview with the New York Times here:http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/business/worldbusiness/14oil.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=35854415Q2FQ27Q3BVzQ27RQ51!HbQ51Q51pkQ27kQ3CQ3CQ7BQ27Q3CQ7BQ27-Q2AQ27zPHatVHHQ27Q3BQ51b8RzPHatVHHQ27-Q2AQ51a8Q2B)pF8

It's the last line of the story that gets to me and I'll quote:
"I'm independently wealthy, so I'm not in the pay of any particular group or industry.I'm able to take tough stands"...

Trouble here is that, the common joe here is not independently wealthy,but we'd certainly like to have the chance".....

It's getting just a little bit slower in the taxi too...

If the deal gets shelved in six days time, cabbies in the St. John's area will have another couple of dry years where no one cares. I'm sure they remember the days of heading up to YYT and picking up the odd $140.00 fare to Bull Arm from someone freshly landed. The construction jobs at Bull Arm kept the Avalon and surrounding areas humming.

If the deal dies, so does the four billion dollar construction project for a new offshore platform.

My sources in Texas tell me it would have been the first of two.

Work gone, the chance to advance the province and to keep some of our kids home for a change. The chance to do something POWERFUL for a section of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. The longer it sits under the waves, the more likely we'll lose the construction project and the more likely that the companies will "glory-hole" the project and use the Hibernia platform to get the stuff up from the seabed.

Gone is another opportunity to advance the cause of building an oil industry, but perhaps Danny wants to do the deal on his own?....Lower Churchill...Hebron...What's next?...Orphan Basin?

Just where does the government draw the line on who has the right to the resource?

It's six days and counting...