Oil and gas trade publication editors see a lot of news from many sources. Most is straightforward, but some is, well, weird. Wacky, even. Occasionally, just plain funny.
Oil & Gas Journal, with its stated goal of providing news that industry executives must read, doesn´t run these stories. But that doesn´t mean we can´t share, in this space, some of the stranger things we read about.
Penguin fashions
Let´s start with the penguins. The penguins are still my favorite.
The Tasmanian Conservation Trust last year asked volunteers around the world to knit wool ´jumpers´ for fairy penguins, to be stockpiled for use in oil spill response kits developed by the Parks and Wildlife Service in Tasmania (see photo).
Oil clogs the birds´ feathers and poisons them when they try to preen; the tiny sweaters save penguin lives during the rehabilitation process.
The trust expected to collect a total of 10,000 jumpers from at least 13 countries by the end of last year.
Washington weirdness
In more political news, actor Martin Sheen, who plays US President Josiah Bartlet on the popular US television drama ´The West Wing,´ has filmed an advertisement for a group that opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Sheen volunteered his services for the ad, which is showing in movie theaters in Washington, DC, and in 12 states. The real US president, George W. Bush, however, has made ANWR coastal plain leasing the centerpiece of his national energy plan.
In August, Interior Sec. Gale Norton named the 145-acre Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill a National Historic Landmark. The designation was temporarily rescinded, however, when it was pointed out that the landfill is on another impressive US location list-of Superfund toxic waste sites.
ExxonMobil eccentricities
The ExxonMobil Corp. refinery in Baytown, Tex., maintains a 19th Century cemetery on its grounds, the only US refinery known to do so, says the Houston Chronicle.
At least six Texas pioneers and early settlers of the area are buried in the cemetery. Precursor Humble Oil & Refining Co. committed to maintain the cemetery when it acquired the land.
US breakfast cereal maker Kellogg Co. in 2000 sued ExxonMobil (then Exxon Corp.) over an advertising campaign that used a cartoon tiger in retail advertisements. Kellogg said Exxon´s cartoon tiger was too similar to its own ´Tony the Tiger,´ which hawks cereal to small children.
More bizarre bits
Here´s more:
- In August, a radio station selected a German woman as a winner in a competition to make dreams come true. The woman flew to Chevron Corp.´s Alba platform 100 miles from Aberdeen to propose to her boyfriend, an employee of drilling contractor KCA Drilling Ltd. He said yes.
- The University of Connecticut Health Center is studying a sleeping mat made of layers of aluminum and polyester to see if natural energy fields generated by the layers moving against each other will enhance intercellular activity and help prevent or treat osteoporosis. A 6-month randomized study will examine the effect of the mat on bone breakdown and formation, mineral density, and calcium metabolism.
- Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio has ´struck´ oil. It shut down nonessential services for a weekend in August when oil shows appeared in the base´s drinking water supply.
- Ness Energy International Inc., Willow Park, Tex., is exploring for oil in Israel on the basis of biblical interpretation by its president, Harold ´Hayseed´ Stephens. Stephens cites Job 29:6 (… and the rock poured me out rivers of oil) among many other verses. Encoded information in the Old Testament, says the company´s web site, indicates that Ness Energy is fated to discover a huge field in Israel.
This is not exactly news you can use. But it provides a welcome break in a day of statistics, technical news, and financial maneuvering.
