T. Boone Pickens was on CNN’s Larry King Live and discussed the state of the BP oil spill. Boone reminded Larry that he had predicted the “top kill” technique about a month ago would not work (and it did not). He also said he thought the relief well would work once it is in place and cement is pumped in to seal off the well.
Larry King asked Boone if he had given any advice to President Obama. Boone said he wanted to focus on reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and didn’t want to be seen as giving advice on everything dealing with oil or energy.
Boone said that the original problem might have been an engineering issue – both the design of the well, and some of the decisions that were made when they were cementing the well. Boone said he didn’t think Halliburton had any part in the accident.
Boone said that we would know what the causes were and how to better prevent a recurrence once the investigations are completed. “We’ll bring up the blow-out preventers, take them apart, and then we’ll know why they didn’t work.”
After a 15 minute discussion about the Gulf oil spill, Larry King and Boone Pickens discussed the status of the Pickens Plan.
Larry asked Boone why the Pickens Plan only calls for reductions on foreign oil. Boone said, “It’s even more narrow than that. I want to get off OPEC oil.”
Larry asked how much oil we’d be importing from the Middle East in 20 years. Boone said we need to get off the OPEC oil first – “oil from Canada and Mexico is OK” – but the only replacement for foreign oil is domestic natural gas.
Boone said China has passed us in energy consumption and they “will go way past us.” We use 20 million barrels a day and we can’t afford to keep spending a million dollars a day for foreign oil.
A caller asked where he could get his car converted from gasoline to natural gas. Boone reminded the audience that he was “after the 18-wheelers” which cannot run on batteries and which use about half of the oil we use for transportation.
Boone called on the President to remind everyone of his promise to get off OPEC oil in ten years when he was accepting the nomination of the Democratic Party. He then said he would like the President to say that this has nothing to do with politics – it has everything to do with our economy and national security.
— The Pickens Team