Oil Spill: 3rd week at 11mil barrels and it is still going...

Amazing, $450M spent and still going around $10M per day to contain the damage, this is already turning into just another "big" business, I hope BP pays for it, well most of it? They said the gushing was about 5,000 barrels per day, the scientists disagree with BP figures that it can be as much as 5 times.

Some of these people discussing seem knowledgeable and they are saying that the conditions and pressure down there is extremely difficult to stop something so out of control;

I made a career out of assembling BOP's for twenty years. The preventer used on this well would have been rated at 20,000psi. They are tested weekly and if they dont pass they are brought up from the ocean floor at a cost of millions of dollars to retrieve them from the ocean floor. I dont think any but those involved in offshore drilling can fathom (no pun intended) the difficulty involved in working at such depths and with such pressures. The BOP would have four set of Rams designed to close off the well around the pipe or in an open hole situation. The most likely reason for it failure is a lack of hydraulic supply caused by damage from the explosion or the sinking rig which would have severed the riser and allowed it to collapse onto the sea floor. And to all of those that dont believe BP has a concern over the environmental situation, I have seen men loose their jobs for pissing overboard. The best people in the world are working on this. Trust me.

I am no a drilling expert, heck I know nothing, but I do not understand why they did not still lower over there a simple hydraulic clamp to at least flatten the pipe to reduce the flow. Some people say that the pipe can be frozen slowly by pumping liquid nitrogen around it, it will eventually freeze the entire flow and then install a valve or whatever around it... At this point they really need to figure out how to slow it down before doing anything. BP is trying to stop the flow all at once, obviously there is no such method to contain them all at once... It's been 3 weeks, installing a new rig around there to divert the flow will take about 3 months they say...

Good Bye Gulf!

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/41524/1d/www.globalregina.com/world/Huge%20chamber%20positioned%20over%20Gulf%20leak/2998715/2998748.bin?size=sw380nws&.jpeg

Edited by arbman, 15 May 2010 - 08:55 PM.

It's been 3 weeks, installing a new rig around there to divert the flow will take about 3 months they say...

Good Bye Gulf!

Ah! The middle of the hurricane season, one that is predicted to be the biggest season in years. I wish them luck.

Edited by milbank, 15 May 2010 - 08:56 PM.

I think the best method would've been to crush the darn pipe and reduce the flow at least by 90%, I guess there is nothing that works at those debts. The sea floor over there is already as dense at it can be standing to thousands and thousands of psi of pressure. So, apparently you cannot even detonate explosives on the sea floor to clog the flow (by compressing and hence collapsing the sea bed). (edit: I am sure US Navy has a big enough bomb to crush that seabed though, I guess they should've already gone for it... )

This goes to explain how strong that gushing is, the oil deposit is basically squeezed out by the millions of tons of earth and water pressing down. I guess freezing is a good idea without disturbing anything for a little while, but it may not be possible to extend pipes a mile down to the ocean floor to do that...

I am afraid they won't be able to stop this...

Edited by arbman, 15 May 2010 - 09:12 PM.

The enormity of this disaster has been vastly underestimated. BP's estimate of 5,000 barrels per day is way way below the actual rate of 20,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. And, this can go on for a few more weeks..... soon, some platforms in the Gulf may have to shutdown, and oil slicks will reach the the coastal areas. This is a MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER .... that could also affect the economy.

It's easy to arm-chair this, but one has to ask why a company chooses to drill at such depths. Because we can? This situation has demonstrated demonstrably that BP and associated parties were ill-prepared to manage such a catastrophic failure. I believe I heard that BP was soliciting input from "concerned" citizens on "ideas" on how to clamp the flow. If this is true, you have got to be kidding me. It is apparent that they still do not have a clue on how to stop this oil gusher. I have an acquaintance in New Orleans who has friends involved in the Louisiana arm of Emergency Response Center operations. In speaking just this afternoon - word is is that they still have not ruled out an intentional act of sabotage with this incident. This is all I could get, and personally not sure how this could happen with such confined quarters and personnel on-board such a rig. Maybe a disgruntled employee. Who knows so take that for what it's worth, which isn't much quite frankly. I'm sure everything is on the table. But this is a tragedy on an ever increasing scale. With no end in sight.

"It's easy to arm-chair this, but one has to ask why a company chooses to drill at such depths. Because we can? " They wouldn't have to if we just let them ruin all the national parks and forests. Time for folks to wake up here-our oil addiction needs to STOP. The energy has to be substituted for-and for my 2 cents worth, the 200 year supply of natural gas we are sitting on "might" be a fine start.

My guess they just didn't think it was going to cost so many millions maybe, or hard to stop it, but it is probably going to come out over a billion dollar in total cost now.

I just do not understand why Army Corps of Engineers is not already on their way to sink a ship with boulders and sand filled on it. They can bomb around the BOP and crush the hole and naturally plug it. They can crimp the riser pipe several times to reduce the flow or even stop it. I am pretty sure if you drop something big enough over the leak it would eventually crush the pipe, heck at least they should do something to slow it down!

Everybody is busy trying to clean up while BP is really incapable of stopping the problem. BP initially focused on a single solution which actually tried primarily in saving their investment (the leaking oil) and failed, then they decided to try several alternatives and weeks passed in the mean time. They are only now considering to plug the pipe for the first time!!!

There seems to be the technology already available to plug it in any way they want to (freeze, fill with concrete, cold/hot tapping), I mean this is 21st century, these guys are like the bankers over-leveraged at the extreme debts, err I mean depths they operated and now they have no idea how to stop a deflation, err I mean leak...

Edited by arbman, 15 May 2010 - 09:57 PM.

BP must be held responsible for this and should pay for damages, cleanup, loss of earnings etc
--------------
Scientists Find Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf
Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given.
http://www.nytimes.c...s/16oil.html?hp


Crew Argued Over Drilling Plan Before Rig Explosion
About 11 hours before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, a disagreement took place between the top manager for oil giant BP PLC on the drilling rig and his counterpart for the rig's owner, Transocean Ltd., concerning the final steps in shutting down the nearly completed well, according to a worker's sworn statement. The confusion over the drilling plan in the final hours leading up to the explosion could be key to understanding the causes of the blowout and ultimately who was responsible.
http://online.wsj.co...IDDLETopStories


Officials Ask BP to Assure It Will Cover Spill Claims
As BP’s experimental efforts to reduce the flow of oil spewing from disabled well in the Gulf of Mexico met another obstacle, the Obama administration sought assurances from BP that it would not attempt to limit its liability to the $75 million prescribed by law.
http://www.nytimes.c...16spill.html?hp

You know this asking for assurances part is really weak! How can the US govt can ask for assurance? I would simply ORDER them to pay or get the heck out of the US waters, that simple. But of course, instead they will institute a clean up tax to everyone, after all big oil is like big bankers, part of the govt...

You know this asking for assurances part is really weak! How can the US govt can ask for assurance? I would simply ORDER them to pay or get the heck out of the US waters, that simple. But of course, instead they will institute a clean up tax to everyone, after all big oil is like big bankers, part of the govt...

This is an unmitigated disaster of gigantic proportions..

a) They are lying about the volume flow of the gushing well (extend and pretend mentality).
This will destroy the echo system in the gulf of Mexico with unknown repercusions on the atlantic and the Missisipi.
c) Hurricane season is fast approaching , if they don't solve this by August, that's it.
d) Oil Rigs and Gas rigs in the gulf along with sea lanes will be disrupted significantly
e) Other jurisdictions are going to think twice about drilling willy nily and the NIMBY mentality will grow everywhere, particularly in the US.
f) There should be a resurgence on using Natural Gas given the abundance of the thing.
g) I 've heard some idiots talking about a nuke to seal this thing, given the high pressures at that depth you might actually have an inward blasting effect that will gauge the planet and start Volcanic eruptions someplace else and make this hole the size of several football fields. while starting a mega-tsunami of major proportions as the water of the gulf caves into that hole.......you don't F*&K with mother nature. Careful going sailing anywhere in the gulf.....

They should nationalize BP and sell their assets to other oil companies to pay for the Billions in damages that can't even be quantified. Otherwise it is just another bailout of sorts.

GS.