"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
Vince Brannigan wrote in
:
Bjørnar Bolsøy wrote:

Well it is a natural resource. However, oil isn't just "pumped
out of the ground" here, it's pumped off the weather harsh
conditions on the continental shelf at depths of up to 1000ft.
It requires unique technology and huge investments to build and
maintain the collossus production platforms and to transport
the oil and gas to its customers on the European continent.


High technology sure but hardly unique, there are offshore oil platforms
in equally harsh conditions the world over, I know I used to
work for one of the main contractors in the field.

As bad as conditions in winter in the North Sea are I'd hazard they
are less extreme than those found in Cook Inlet Alaska or
off Sakhalin.

At any rate there are half a dozen contractors capable of doing
such work and at least 2 of the leaders are American and another
British.

Keith