Who owns all that Oil?

So, BP leases the rights to the oil from the US Government, correct?

So, do they lose that lease when they # up like this? Or is that oil still technically 'theirs'?

Is all that oil out there fair game for some industrious person to gather and sell back to an oil refinery?

I'm curious abut the legal implications and where the line is drawn as far as 'ownership' of the crude.

reply to post by justadood


Who owns all that Oil?

Well Mexico of course!

[edit on 6/19/2010 by ladyinwaiting]

BP paid for the lease... if the oil they drilled for is gushing from a well with no capture mechanism--- then its their oil to clean up...

now the important thing to consider is the free flowing oil is not being taxed which it would be if contained in a pipeline & capture model.

you know.... a tanker will get pumped up with a gadzillion barrels of oil (taxed at a certain rate) and the gov't leasing the field get monies for the resource taken

Well in this case, the unrestricted gusher is wasting/losing all the oil that BP is not capturing --- So BP pays for the clean-up and absolutely should be charged the oil that was extracted (regardless IF they made a profit on it)

thanks for bringing it up...
it appears that BP has to pay for the clean-up, the disrupted business' the lost wages of the maritime fleets AND THE ESTIMATED LOST / SQUANDERED RESOURCE (oil) that never made it to market but was lost to the Nation


that escrow $20 billion should pay for the oil resource already gushed from the lease area... another $20 bn for the economy & anothert $20bn for the cleanup

thats $60bn from the get-go... and we might think about leveling some countryside just to even thing up

Originally posted by justadood
So, BP leases the rights to the oil from the US Government, correct?

So, do they lose that lease when they # up like this? Or is that oil still technically 'theirs'?

Is all that oil out there fair game for some industrious person to gather and sell back to an oil refinery?

Good question

I would think that once this oil enters international waters ownership could be subject to international maritime salvage law.

www.admiraltylawguide.com...

reply to post by In nothing we trust


Interesting point. It seems to me that perhaps one of the reasons they are keeping the main spill area on lockdown is to prevent anyone from getting that crude.

Does anyone know if BP technically still holds the lease on that oil?

I could see a very lucrative pirate business if someone had access tot he right equipment.

Hmmmm, moderators... Any way we could move this thread to the appropriate area? I did not realize i started it in the 'video' section.

Thanks in advance

Thanks for (finally) moving this thread, mods

Anyone have any concrete answer about who is allowed to collect the crude?

Is the corexxit really just to prevent other companies from profiting from t he crude?