Spring is really getting going now. The leaves are almost electric green. I take photos and when I look at them afterwards they look almost unnatural.
Sometimes the skies are incredibly blue.
The air is light. The temperature may so 39F outside when I wake up but it doesn’t feel near that cold.
It’s a great time to be in Oklahoma.
I took a walk with a young friend and former coworker. One of the legions of people I know leaving the hydrocarbon industry for renewables like wind and solar power. Amazing the things he told me, the innovations that are occurring right now. He’s telling me about the hydrogen economy and the role ammonia could play. I am falling behind. I have to do my homework.
You hear the phrase, there is nothing new under the sun. I have never believed it. There is plenty new under the sun and the moon.
In celebration of Spring in Oklahoma, here is “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.”
And you know, if you play one Oklahoma song you have to play the ultimate Oklahoma song. In this state everyone knows the songs and the correct arm and hand motions for “lazy hawks circling in the sky.”
Nobody else has as great a state song as Oklahoma does.
I read with a little alarm and much interest about the drone attack on the Saudi Arabian Abqaiq Oil Processing Facility and other infrastrucutre recently. Big deal I say. Yes, it is a big deal, the Abqaiq facility with a capacity of 7 million barrels per day and 5 million throughput is shut down for now! That gets my attention! The Houthis of Yemen are taking credit while the US claims that Iran is behind the attack. It turns out that the Iranians have drones with a theoretical range of almost a thousand miles!!
I say theoretical because the Iranians do not have satellites so they have to use ground stations to control their drones which limits their effective range to 100 to 200 miles depending on what you read.
Still not worried about it? How about the following video which shoes Iranian Drone video of an American Aircraft Carrier taken from directly over the ship?
Don’t get too excited. Iran has great social media people and there is a lot of speculation that the video was faked using video available on the internet. If you have ever looked at Iranian Military social media you will know that they are very enthusiastic but not convincing, and I am not convinced.
What I get excited about is that Iran has well developed drone technology that have used in battle in Syria and other places. hundreds of times. Meet the second generation Shahed 129 drone, their most advanced drone.
According to Wikipedia, this aircraft attempted an attack on coalition personnel but failed. Also, the US Air Force shot down one down. It can carry about to four bombs or missiles, and/or conduct surveillance. From what I read a lot of the US sanctions and embargoes have been efforts to keep the Iranians from increasing the capabilities of their drone technologies.
The US is accusing the Iranians of launching the attacks on Abqaiq. This all points to Asymetrical Warfare which involves war between combatants with vastly unequal capabilities. This seems to be something that American leadership consistently does not take into account and we suffer as a result. The Iranians, the Houthis, Al Qaida, whoever, would be stupid to try and match up the United States and our Allies in stand warfare. They would be wiped out. So they develop other, cheaper strategies that tend to drive us crazy, IED’s for example, that neutralize our advantage.
You always have to be ready for unexpected is what I have learned over the years and one is most vulnerable when you feel most invulnerable. Somebody may not be playing by the rules you set. They will have their own rules. It appears that ten inexpensive drones easily defeated a world class air defense system and shut off five million barrels per day of oil from the world’s energy supply.
Lots going on these days. Logan’s prom is Saturday night, he graduates in a month. We have new carpet coming for upstairs and we (mostly Heather) have been painting. I’ve been a lousy blog friend and I’m sorry about that.
A bridge at Lafortune Park. When Logan was a toddler he liked to hang out under this very same bridge.
Plus lots of stuff going on at work also. People quitting and others moving around. That takes time to adjust to. I spent a few days in New Orleans last week at a Natural Gas Processing conference and have been to a couple briefings since then put on by some high priced consultants. Bottom line, bullish for crude oil, bearish for natural gas. We’ll see what happens! What is really surprising is the inroads that renewables have made into power generation. Yep, solar, wind, and hydro are taking market share. I’m a big believer in the market. The big loser is coal.
I’m kind of an “All of the Above” type guy on energy even though I work in the natural gas industry. You want to know what we need to do if we really want to reduce carbon? Nuclear. Yep, if you are serious about reducing carbon, nuclear can do it and do it on a big scale. That scares all sorts of people half to death. Especially since many of the big nuclear explosions from back in the day are now declassified. They are terrifying actually. Below is a video of the first US Hydrogen bomb test in the south Pacific called the “Mike Shot.”
