An oil leak was discovered close to Shell’s Brutus platform on Friday, releasing nearly 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before it was closed, according to officials. The leak reportedly issued from a subsea infrastructure, but an exact cause has not yet been determined. Spokesperson Curtis Smith said that the leak is under control and no drilling activity is going on at the Brutus for now. The platform is connected to four subsea wells in what is called the Glider Field, about 97 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A sheen was reported by a company helicopter observing the area, which led to an immediate shut off of operations.

Oil spills have so far been an inevitable part of the industry, which is one of the biggest and most important industries in America. Oil operations in the Gulf produce about 17 percent of the oil in America and account for a quarter of a million jobs, but sometimes at the cost of environment and animal life.

During the Deepwater incident in 2010, an explosion of a BP well caused the death of 11 workers, sank the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, and released 134 million gallons of oil into the sea. This led to an uproar from anti oil activists, who now get support for their argument from recent events. Earlier this year during a federal auction of oil and gas leases in the Gulf, a massive group of protesters from different environmental groups interrupted the event, fighting to stop the sale. The sale still happened, but it was a big step forward for the clean energy movement, and according to Anne Rolfes, founder of the group Louisiana Bucket Brigade: “People have woken up. We’ve always known this was hurting us, but now we’re also willing to act.”

By Friday night cleaning operations of the Shell oil spill had started, as well as an investigation of what caused the leak by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Hey y’all!

As I’ve mentioned before, I just took the LSAT and have started the process of applying to law school. One of my top choices is South Texas College of Law, which is located in Downtown Houston and has a great reputation. While researching law schools I came across an interesting–and to be honest shocking–new addition at South Texas. The school recently started the region’s first Oil & Gas Law Institute. The shocking part is that such an institute didn’t already exist, considering how big the oil and gas industry is here and how badly it always needs lawyers.

Houston is the capital of the oil and gas business. Everywhere I turn there is another oil and gas company or a company that has some kind of association to that industry; Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Technip, Worley Parsons, and Mustang Engineering are all here. These six companies are within a two-mile radius of my house and there is no escaping them. I’ve also considered a law career in the oil and gas sector; it makes sense being a native Houstonian with plans to stick around here for a while longer.

Establishing this Oil & Gas Law Institute will allow South Texas to respond to the more specific needs of the energy industry by which its surrounded and promote better education and training for students interested in working in that sector.

The idea is that this Institute will mostly concentrate on creating applied petroleum-related transactional, regulatory, and title practice skills. Christopher Kulander, a visiting associate professor at South Texas, has been appointed the Institute’s, and he has quite the resume; he taught oil and gas law for three years at Texas Tech University (wreck’em!), is a legal writer, is used as an expert witness, and frequently gives presentations about the oil and gas industry, not to mention he is also Of Counsel at Haynes and Boone, LLP.

Kulander states that one of his “main goals is to make the third year in law school much more specialty-focused and practice responsive” for those interested in going into this particular field. The Institute also plans to place advanced students in the legal departments of Houston oil and gas companies, a great way to get in the door of these corporations, which is no easy feat. There are also hopes to expand the areas of study in the Oil & Gas Law Institute with courses focusing on international petroleum transactions, midstream and downstream oil and gas activities, as well as other sources of energy.

This is a small step into a massive industry that definitely needs lawyers on its side.

Allison Dawson

Allison Dawson was born in Germany and raised in Mississippi and Texas. A graduate of Texas Tech University and Arizona State University, she’s currently dedicating her life to studying for the LSAT. Twitter junkie. Conservative. Get in touch with Allison at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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