Oil Well Disaster

[Bingo]

Day 52

New estimate: Up to 40,000 barrels a day was coming from BP well.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/10...ex.html?hpt=T2

[sebberry]

If not more....


I was talking to someone a few days ago who hadn't even heard about this spill...

[victorian fan]

I can't remember the spill 30 years ago. Of course we didn't have The Web or 24/7 TV news channels at the time.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by victorian fan

I can't remember the spill 30 years ago. Of course we didn't have The Web or 24/7 TV news channels at the time.

Some did.

The Cable News Network was launched at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday June 1, 1980.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN

[Bingo]

Day 54


LATEST NEWS
– House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused BP of having "misrepresented what their technology could do."

– Oil giant BP gets support from billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well," he told a radio program.

– Nearly 42,000 claims have been submitted and more than 20,000 payments made, totaling more than $53 million, BP says. So far, the cost of the response is $1.43 billion, it said.

– Uncertainty about the depth of BP's pockets has spurred calls for the company to suspend its dividend payments. London's TimesOnline reported Friday that the company may funnel its second-quarter dividend into an escrow account to be paid to shareholders.

– More than 25,000 contractors, volunteers and members of the military were involved on the ground, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

– As early as Monday, BP plans to deploy a secondary to a primary cap that was put in place over the leaking well last week. Allen has said he expects that the Q4000 will be able to take an additional 5,000 to 10,000
barrels per day.

– A delegation of U.S. senators traveled Friday to the heart of coastal Louisiana to assess the damage. "Until you see if first-hand, until you really smell it, get a sense of it, you can't understand it fully," said Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana.

– An Obama adviser brushed off assertions Friday that the government had not prepared for a disaster of such magnitude.

– If the latest estimate of 1.7 million gallons of oil spewing per day is correct, that would mean 90.1 million gallons have spewed in the 53 days since the rig exploded. That's more than eight times the amount spilled by the supertanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/category/l...-spill/?hpt=T1

[martini]

Thank you Bingo for keeping us up to date.

[North Shore]

Hey, Davek, are you following this thread? I heard something on the radio this morning, partially blaming this foul-up on a culture of de-regulation in he USA over the last 10 to 15 years. IIRC, you are a libertarian, and (forgive me if I'm putting words in your mouth!) as such do not support government intervention in the marketplace. So how would a libertarian government avoid situations like the one facing the Gulf now?

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by North Shore

So how would a libertarian government avoid situations like the one facing the Gulf now?

35,000 wells have been dug like this one, it's the first to blow out. A libertarian government would allow BP to go bankrupt, and all the other oil companies insurance rates to go up as a result, so it will never happen again.

[LJ]

Originally Posted by VicHockeyFan

35,000 wells have been dug like this one, it's the first to blow out. A libertarian government would allow BP to go bankrupt, and all the other oil companies insurance rates to go up as a result, so it will never happen again.

You miss my post #72? The exact same thing has happened before.

[davek]

Originally Posted by North Shore

Hey, Davek, are you following this thread?

Speak of the devil, and he appears.

I am always surprised to hear the de-regulation myth put forward, although it shows up time and time again. In fact, the growth of government in the US over the past decade has been breathtaking. If someone can show me where this massive de-regulation has taken place, particularly concerning oil drilling, I'd love to know.

Sadly, there is no way even a libertarian government could guarantee that events like this leak would never occur. After all, even when honest people make a good faith effort to anticipate and avoid mistakes, accidents will happen. In times like that, the only thing to do is make sure the responsible parties make good on whatever damage they cause. However, leaving regulation to the market would greatly decrease the frequency and scope of such disasters, because government regulation often protects those who are liable from the full force of market discipline.

For example, in this particular case, there are two parties who stand to lose a lot of money - BP, and its insurers. The amount of effort they have put in to preventing disaster is directly related to how much they stand to lose, and thanks to the US government, that amount is lower than what the market would dictate. This lower amount results from government-mandated caps on liability, and from the fact that the US government shares responsibility for the leak because it regulates oil drilling in the Gulf through the Minerals Management Service. Also, it's important to note that oil-drilling in the Gulf takes place in federal waters, where no government regulator will suffer a financial loss as a result of the leak. If drilling took place in private waters, a private owner would suffer direct costs in the event of a disaster, and would likely be a vigilant overseer.

So the key to protecting the environment is to get it out of the government commons and into private hands, allow businesses to suffer the full force of market discipline, and insure the government protects property rights.

[Bingo]

On June 3rd, 10 days ago...

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc sheared away the riser from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well, a precursor to the company’s attempt to lower a cap that would divert oil to ships on the surface.

Cutting away the riser allows London-based BP to mount a cap on top of the blowout preventer, a five-story tall stack of safety valves.

It also means the oil leak is no longer constrained by kinks that formed when the riser, consisting of pipe and fittings that connected the well to the drilling rig, broke off the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded April 20 and sank two days later. Any potential boost in the leak rate because of the cut is unknown.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-update2-.html

It is known now!



Oily pelicans await treatment at Buras, Louisiana.

[Bingo]

Day 57


BP enlists help from Kevin Costner in cleanup

By the CNN Wire Staff

The oil giant announced Monday that it had ordered 32 machines from Costner's company, the actor told CNN in an exclusive interview on "AC360."
The machines use a centrifuge mechanism to separate oil from water and recycle the crude at the same time, Costner said.

"Skimmers are picking up 90 percent water, 10 percent oil, and they throw it into a barge ... What this machine simply does, in that particular case, will give a pure payload. Suddenly a barge will be coming back to shore with 99 percent oil as opposed to the other way around,"

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/15...ex.html?hpt=T2

[LJ]

I certainly hope they work as advertised. I notice he didn't mention how long it would take to get 32 machines up and running, lets hope it not too long.

[VicHockeyFan]

I knew Waterworld would be good for something...

[Bingo]

Day 58

BP agrees to put $20 billion in escrow fund, official says

Washington (CNN) -- BP has agreed to place $20 billion in an escrow fund to pay for claims in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, a senior administration official told CNN on Wednesday.

The development came as President Obama sat down Wednesday with top BP executives at the White House in a highly anticipated meeting that follows repeated administration insistences the company must pick up the tab for the disaster.

During his speech, Obama made no reference to the announcement earlier Tuesday by government scientists they had increased their estimate of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico by 50 percent -- to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day.

That translates into 1.5 million gallons to 2.5 million gallons per day.
The government's previous estimate, issued last week, was 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/16...ex.html?hpt=T1

[Bingo]

Day 66

Well, it's still leaking.

[Bingo]

Day 74

World's largest oil skimmer heads to Gulf spill

NEW ORLEANS – With hurricane-whipped waves pushing more oil onto the Gulf of Mexico's once-white beaches, the government pinned its latest cleanup hopes Wednesday on the world's largest oil-skimming vessel.

The Taiwanese-flagged former tanker named the "A Whale" is the length of 3 1/2 football fields and stands 10 stories high. It just emerged from an extensive retrofitting to prepare it specifically for the Gulf, where officials hope it will be able to suck up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day.

The ship looks like a typical tanker, but it takes in contaminated water through 12 vents on either side of the bow. The oil is then supposed to be separated from the water and transferred to another vessel. The water is channeled back into the sea. But the ship has never been tested, and many questions remain about how it will operate.

As of Wednesday, between 71.2 million and 139 million gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from the leak caused by the April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100630/...gulf_oil_spill

[martini]

Originally Posted by Bernard

Given the thousands of oil rigs in the region of the blowout, it is a testament to how well they work that there have been very few blowouts.

The volume of oil that is coming out is in the bigger picture not that much, the blowout would have to left open for more than four years to equal the Exxon Valdez spill.

In January there was an oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico that spilled the equivilant to 50 days of the current blow out.

Globally, the oil leakage from ships has been a much bigger source of ocean oil than headline oil spills in almost every year.

It sucks that this is happening, but it is hopefully not a long term thing, though the 1979/80 Ixtoc 1 in the Gulf of Mexico blowout went on for 10 months and spilled close to a 1/2 million barrels of oil, 12-13 Exxon Valdez spills.

In general, the number and size of oil spills globally has been falling even though volumes of offshore oil and global oil transport has risen dramatically.

As to Site C, it will do more damage environmental damage than all the run of the river projects built and proposed in BC, several times more. Site C - 14,000 acres flooded - Plutonic Power Bute Inlet - less than 50 acres flooded. Plutonic's project will produce 2/3s the power of Site C.

Site C will not make it through the environmental assessment process because BC Hydro will not be able to come up with a way to mitigate the loss of the land flooded.

Going back to the beginning of this thread, I can't believe we've reached day seventy four in this disaster.
Based on what's unfolded Bernard...what is your opinion now?

[Bingo]

Day 75

BP braces for a shake-up at the top

Pressure for change is building in the run-up to BP's second-quarter earnings on July 27, when the company will make a statement about the liabilities it faces as a result of the spill, likely to run into tens of billions of dollars.

A critical point for the company will be when the relief wells allow the leaking Macondo well to be killed, which is scheduled for August. That will end much of the uncertainty about the costs that BP will face and should enable the company to regain the initiative, helped by a management shake-up.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by martini

Going back to the beginning of this thread, I can't believe we've reached day seventy four in this disaster.

"The volume of oil that is coming out is in the bigger picture not that much, the blowout would have to left open for more than four years to equal the Exxon Valdez spill."

Based on what's unfolded Bernard...what is your opinion now?

The Gulf spill surpassed the Exxon Valdez spill in just 5 weeks, back at the end of May.

[LJ]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Day 57


BP enlists help from Kevin Costner in cleanup

By the CNN Wire Staff

The oil giant announced Monday that it had ordered 32 machines from Costner's company, the actor told CNN in an exclusive interview on "AC360."
The machines use a centrifuge mechanism to separate oil from water and recycle the crude at the same time, Costner said.

"Skimmers are picking up 90 percent water, 10 percent oil, and they throw it into a barge ... What this machine simply does, in that particular case, will give a pure payload. Suddenly a barge will be coming back to shore with 99 percent oil as opposed to the other way around,"

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/15...ex.html?hpt=T2

Haven't seen any mention of them yet so maybe they are not ready for prime time. Now he has been upstaged by the "super skimmer" A Whale supertanker.

[Bingo]

Gulf spill a familiar story in oil-soaked Nigeria

While the world is transfixed by the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, oil spills have become a part of everyday life during the 50 years that foreign firms have been pumping out Nigeria's easily refined fuel.

Environmentalists estimate as much as 550 million gallons of oil have poured into the Niger River Delta during that time — at a rate roughly comparable to one Exxon Valdez disaster per year.

Oil companies can't be blamed for all the spills. Militant groups have targeted pipelines, kidnapped oil workers and fought government troops here since 2006. Fearing attacks and kidnappings, firms are hesitant to send staff to spill sites, and often confine employees to offshore platforms and military-protected compounds.

In Ogoniland, a swampy, oil-rich portion of the delta, villagers rebelled and drove out the oil companies in the 1990s. Still, Shell pipelines run throughout the area. As the tide ebbs at Bodo City, a town in Ogoniland, exposed mangrove roots drip black from spilled crude. There are no birds in the sky or fish in the creeks.

read the full story:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...wvpDQD9GOLHT06

[Bingo]

Day 78

US Navy blimp to track oil slick

The 178 foot long airship can stay aloft longer and uses less fuel than a helicopter, and has a 2000ft long snout to siphon the fumes to the blimp for conversion to fuel. The slick now covers an area the size of 10,000 football fields and is covered with football ball sized tarballs. The navy is using sophisticated equipment to look for the oil slick, in hopes of recovering the balls.

A huge tanker built to skim the ocean surface, will be standing by, and once the blimp locates the balls, will speed to the area to retrieve them with 12 ball catching holes located near the bow of the ship.

The coast guard will be standing by with pumps should the tanker start to sink. The holes in the bow of the tanker, are thought to be a design flaw.

for the real story:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/06...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[Bingo]

Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.

Experts say such wells can repressurize, much like a dormant volcano can awaken. And years of exposure to sea water and underground pressure can cause cementing and piping to corrode and weaken.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38113914...r_in_the_gulf/

[Bingo]

Day 80

The Navy arrives...

...crackle, crackle, uh Joe what are we doing up here, aren't we supposed to be down there in a boat?

Uh Pete, no it's safer up here and the view is fantastic. Say, why does the ocean have that brown look to it?

crackle, crackle...that sewage pipe must be leaking again Joe, say where did you put the lunch?