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Washington (AFP) July 4, 2010 Despite its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, energy giant BP remains a key supplier of fuel to the Pentagon, The Washington Post reported late Sunday. Citing data from the Defense Logistics Agency, the newspaper said BP had contracts with the US Defense Department worth at least 980 million dollars in the current fiscal year. In fiscal 2009, BP was the Pentagon's largest single supplier of fuel, providing 11.7 percent of the total purchased, and in 2010, its contracts amount to roughly the same percentage, the report said. The paper quoted BP spokesman Robert Wine as saying he was aware of at least one "big contract" signed by the US military after the oil rig explosion on April 20 that led to the largest environmental disaster in US history. An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil per day has gushed from the ruptured well since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank on April 22, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana. A containment system has captured about 557,000 barrels of oil, but rough seas delayed the deployment of a third vessel that could boost capacity from 25,000 barrels to 53,000 barrels a day. That means an estimated 1.9 to 3.6 million barrels -- or 79.5 to 153 million gallons -- of oil has now gushed into the Gulf. Using the high end of that estimate, the spill has now surpassed the 1979 Ixtoc blowout, which took nine months to cap and dumped an estimated 3.3 million barrels (140 million gallons) into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, members of Congress have discussed barring BP from any new oil and gas drilling leases, not from fuel sales to the government, The Post said. However, the Environmental Protection Agency had begun to explore cutting off BP from all federal contracts -- including those with the Defense Energy Support Center, which buys all fuel for the military services, the paper noted. The EPA's move was sparked by BP's 2006 oil spill in Alaska and a 2005 explosion at a refinery in Texas, according to the report.
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Russia, Italy pursue chopper assemblyMoscow (UPI) Jul 2, 2010 Russian Helicopters and Italy's Agusta Westland have set up a production plant assembling helicopters outside Moscow, the Russian capital. The plant will roll out AW139 medium twin choppers and the production is the first of its kind in Russia, allowing domestic helicopter makers to tap into modern technologies of the West. "We will gain access to new technical production solutio ... read more |
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