The regulatory system totally failed. Let’s try more regulation. We’ve seen this pattern before and we’re about to see it all again in the oil industry. In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster governments all over the world led by U.S. President Barack Obama are now gearing up thousand-page rule books and new bureaucracies to oversee the global oil industry. Canada and Norway have already imposed curbs on deep water and Arctic exploration.
The result is certain to be declining reserves of oil around the world reduced supply and messed-up markets. Much as many people would like to believe that fossil fuels are a filthy nuisance that can be replaced by wind sun and other forms of green energy the fact is that the world’s people are increasingly dependent on oil and will continue to be for decades to come.
Oil and the financial markets are now in the same political doghouse. “The consequences of catastrophe now are much larger than they’ve ever been and you’ve got to have a government that can oversee these folks in a serious way.” Exactly what Mr. Obama has in mind isn’t known
“The nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico is the energy version of what happened on Wall Street