Oil Storm
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Oil Storm is a 2005 television docudrama portraying a future oil-shortage crisis in the United States, precipitated by a hurricane destroying key parts of the United States' oil infrastructure. The program was an attempt to depict what would happen if the highly oil-dependent country was suddenly faced with gasoline costing upwards of $7 and 8 per gallon (as opposed to the national average of around $2 per gallon when the show first aired). Directed by James Erskine and written by Erskine and Caroline Levy, it originally aired on FX Networks on June 5, 2005, at 8 p.m. ET.
The crisis arises from a hurricane wiping out an important pipeline at Port Fourchon in Louisiana, a tanker collision closing a busy port, terrorist attacks and tension with Saudi Arabia over the oil trade, and other fictional events. The program followed several fictional people, being portrayed by actors, in various situations (a couple that owned a mom-and-pop gas station, stock market and oil analysts, government officials, etc.), and includes a substantial amount of human drama.
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[edit] Detailed synopsis
The movie deals with the impact that a fictional Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico would have if it hit New Orleans, destroyed large numbers of offshore oil rigs in the Gulf, and crippled the primary nerve center of the Gulf Coast petroleum industry at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. It shows how the effects of that disaster could have significant consequences throughout the United States, even in areas far removed from landfall.
While the loss of life and property in the storm is staggering, the greater impact is on the crippled energy industry. Due to the destruction at Port Fourchon and in the Gulf, oil prices skyrocket, and the U.S. government is forced to take immediate action to rebuild the Gulf's energy infrastructure. Once the storm passes, the government starts to rebuild the infrastructure at Port Fourchon (requiring a minimum of 8 months) and repair or replace damaged offshore rigs (requiring a similar amount of time). Also, shipping that would normally go to Port Fourchon is rerouted to the Port of Houston, and Houston's port facilities work around-the-clock at higher-than-usual throughput, with attendant higher risk of accident.
With widespread gas lines and prices over $3.00 per gallon, the U.S. persuades Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production by 1m barrels a day. The Saudi decision to aid America causes a backlash among a restive Muslim population already energized because of the U.S. intervention in Iraq. Local terrorists stage an attack on an upscale shopping mall in Riyadh which (after intervention by Saudi special forces) kills about 300 Americans associated with multinational oil companies. This attack leads the U.S. to send troops to Saudi Arabia. In the meantime, the oil crisis escalates when two large tankers collide in the narrow Houston Ship Channel, shutting down the Channel.
Once winter sets in, gas lines take a back seat to critical shortages of heating oil during a bitterly cold winter, with thousands dying in the cold. Some time after the Houston accident, on Christmas Eve, the same Saudi terrorists blow up sections of the mammoth Ras Tanura refinery complex, killing 142 U.S. soldiers who were protecting the Saudi oil infrastructure. With a government budget crisis due to military and economic pressures, farm spending is cut dramatically, leading to a subplot in which the social and political effects of this are explored. Oil prices reach $130 per barrel, and gas prices top $8 per gallon.
In the spring, the U.S. makes a deal with Russia to send 8m barrels of oil by tanker, but the oil companies involved subsequently make a deal with China, which, equally hungry for oil and with greater financial reserves, outbids the U.S. This leaves America in a state of chaos, as well leading to soul-searching on whether China has now become the world's economic superpower. The country considers fast-tracking development of alternative energy sources, but there is little that can be done in the short-term to alter an economy structurally dependent on cheap foreign oil. Later, the U.S. government, showing unexpected diplomatic skill, resurrects the Russian oil deal (by agreeing to a $16bn long-term investment in its oil industry), and the China-bound tankers change course to the U.S. The crisis finally eases a year after the hurricane, with Port Fourchon back onstream, with oil prices dropping from $130 per barrel to $77 per barrel and with gas prices just below $4 per gallon, but the country has been through a stress as great as the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and will never take cheap oil for granted again.
[edit] Real-world events partly anticipated by the film
[edit] Hurricane Katrina
The events of Hurricane Katrina, its economic impact and the ensuing price increases nearly parallel some of the events in the movie. However, the damage to US oil infrastructure is less severe than in the film, and the lack of the compounding events (shutdown of Port of Houston, loss of some of Saudi Arabia's supply) means the consequences of Katrina are much less than of the fictional Julia. However, especially given the coincidence of dates (in the film, Julia strikes in early September 2005), the similarity of the early impact of the two storms has been noted.
On August 28, 2005, Hurricane Katrina was on a direct path to hit Port Fourchon and New Orleans. Many of the initial scenes of Hurricane Julia were playing out in real life with Hurricane Katrina, such as the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, the opening of the Superdome, and the changing of traffic to contraflow. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina did not directly hit Port Fourchon but across Barataria Bay at Buras, but nonetheless some oil rigs were damaged. Saudi Arabia agreed to increase oil production to help.[1]
On August 30, 2005, many gas stations raised prices by a considerable amount putting most of America over $3.00/gallon, as shown in the movie. [2] On September 1, 2005, gas stations throughout the country began to run out of fuel due to worries of mass shortages. Some stations in Atlanta, Georgia sold gas at nearly $6/gallon. Most of this was due to panic buying, as noted in the film, rather than physical shortage. Subsequently, as the extent of the damage became clearer, prices eased.
[edit] Automotive layoffs
Both Ford and GM announced layoffs and plant closings in late 2005 and early 2006. However, while one reason for the layoffs was increased gasoline prices, it was not the sole reason for the layoffs (i.e., incompetent management). In addition, the layoffs were on a much smaller scale than the ones shown in the film.
[edit] Attacks on Saudi refineries
In the film, al-Qaeda makes a terrorist attack on the oil facilities at Ras Tanura. On February 24, 2006 al-Qaeda attacked the nearby facility at Abqaiq, though no damage was inflicted on the facilities themselves.
