oil disaster

[dunvilsteev]

I was wondering if there are any members awaiting black sludge in their backyards?

 

I feel a little stupid, I did not realize once you "pierce" into one of these gas or oil deposits you had to suck it dry or else as soon as you pull the drill out the whole mess comes pouring out.

 

And now their saying 3 months to stop the flow of 5000 barrels per day?! This will become world altering if it is not fixed ... IMHO

[Flyinfool]

It is already changing things.

On the way into work today I noticed that ALL gas stations went up 20 cents over night.

[Condor]

It is already changing things.

On the way into work today I noticed that ALL gas stations went up 20 cents over night.

 

They never miss a beat when it comes to any excuss to raise the price of fuel....

[RandyR]

I can't imagine drilling on the ocean floor and not having a device to automatically cut off the flow if there is an emergency. Maybe that's more difficult than my simple mind imagines?

[Godlover]

I can't imagine drilling on the ocean floor and not having a device to automatically cut off the flow if there is an emergency. Maybe that's more difficult than my simple mind imagines?

 

 

That's my opinion!

[Dave77459]

I can't imagine drilling on the ocean floor and not having a device to automatically cut off the flow if there is an emergency. Maybe that's more difficult than my simple mind imagines?

There is a blowout preventer at the seafloor spec'd to accommodates 7 million foot-pounds of bending load capacity. That's about eight fully fueled Boeing 747s. Apparently, the stresses created by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon exceeded that, breaking the valving.

 

The latest reports is that they are creating a heavy box that will capture the outflow, which will then be sucked up to a tanker on the surface. They'll do that until the relief well is drilled in 6-8 weeks.

 

A report I heard this morning says they are pumping an oil dispersal agent at the sea floor that is breaking up the oil into droplets that evaporate more readily.

 

Dave

[Flyinfool]

From the underwater video it looked like they were trying to shut off the valve at the ocean floor, but when the platform sank it broke that last emergency shut off valve.

[Marcarl]

I would think that they could just get one of those BIG FAT CATS to go and sit on the end of the pipe,,,,, that should shut it done right pronto,,,,,, if not, feed him some beans before they send him down there.

As it is, there must be good money to be made with this somehow, it seems almost unrealistic that it would take sooo long to shut down one pipe. You would think that there would have been a backup plan somewhere.

[M61A1MECH]

This is a terrible thing that has happened, it is the wildlife that I am most concerned about, they are totally innocent in this and have no way to know that something is changed in their world until they encounter the sticky mess.

 

Don't get me wrong I feel for the many folks that will be affected by this , but at least they can understand what is affecting them, the birds, turtles, marine mammals and fish have no understanding of what they are dealing with or why.

[BigBoyinMS]

Someone just mentioned that about 20 dead sea turtles have already washed up on shore.

[CMIKE]

I work in the industry. This is a disaster. I HATE it happened more than anyone. I am very sadden by the loss the folks that died and thier families. They may never get closure cause in reality they may never find the bodies of the missing.

I am hoping the damage from the spill will be light as possible to the enviroment.

No one in this industry wants to disaster like this to happen. We do all we can to prevent it. Our companies spend millions and millions of dollars in spill prevention and pays big money also for contengency crews to stand-by in event this does happen. That is where all these oil booms came from and were on site immediately. Money is no object to prevent this from happening. The oil companies empoyees all have kids and do not want to ruin the enviroment for future generations, although that is not what most think.

It is seems they had equipment that is tested regularly fail. This equipment failure caused all this to happen. It is not like you can swim down 5000 feet to fix it. You might as well be working on the Moon. It is going to take a while to get a handle on this leak. You would not believe the safety proceedures in place daily on one of these operations. Sometimes it takes 3-4 hours to do all the safety processes before you can start work. This is a dangerous industry.

The press is spewing a lot of mistruth about the situation. They find the worst sistuations they can and report on it. I wish they would at least stop verify and report the facts and stop the stipulation.

The weather last week and weekend did not help things at all. With the winds and seas we had, the sheens were rolling over the oil booms making them useless. The seas were washing the entire booms up on the beach along with the oil.

Now that the goverment is on sean...now there is more kaos than you can imagine. Different departments of the goverment barking orders that contradict what the first one said. BP is trying to please the goverment agencies but doing everything possible to contain and clean this up. Most of the goverment agencies on site do not know BEANS about oil spills or clean up operations. Most of them are hindering the operation more than they are helping due to thier ignorance. BP is responsible and trying to take care of it. If the goverment would help instead of trying to run the show...I think all would go a lot quicker and smoother. 1 outfit needs to be incharge and direct the entire operations.

Lots will be impacted by this...fishermen with possilble decrease catches and lost revenue, tourism dollars, wild life of all kinds, plants, and of course we can expect more regulations from Uncle Sam, some probably worth wild and some sinceless I am sure.

One more thing...oil companes do not set prices on oil or gasoline. It is traded on the market and the market sets the prices. Just like PVC, and copper for example. The markets react to incidents like spills or WAR in the middle east. If it is not profitable to produce they will not bother spend all that money to drill or produce the oil. Why would you sell your Venture for $5000 if the market was bringing $10000 for it?

[dunvilsteev]

Well, it looks like the "cap" didn't work out. Now they are talking about shooting a "wad" of stuff to plug the hole. They say the 5000 barrels/day could possibly go up to 40,000 barrels/day!! OMG this is going from bad to worse!

[Monty]

I have a feeling this is political and done on purpose. Let's hope not, but you remember Obama just approved more offshore drilling for oil. I wonder if someone is trying to send him a message?

 

 

Just something to think about.

[jfoster]

Has anyone in the panhandle of Florida heard what the status is on the beaches around Destine? On the bubble whether to cancel our reservations at Grayson the first of June.

[clawed]

I was told by a friend that in europe, and other countries around the world, that it is mandated for offshore drilling to install a remotely operated shut off valve. And that here in the USA this is not required. sure would seem like a smart move to see the possibilities of a disaster , such as this, B-4 hand! Is this true?

[Dano]

From what I understand, and this is limited, a methane gas bubble came up the pipe, expanding as it reached the lower pressures around it as it rose up the pipe. By the time it got to the blow-out preventer, it was too massive a bubble (and pressure) to contain, came on up the pipe into the drilling room. There it spilled out into another room that had ignition sources, this is where the explosion came from.

 

The box they are trying to use had some type of "ice"-type crystals form inside of it, causing them to move it off to the side and see what's going on with that. They are currently in the process of drilling a "relief" or plugging hole off to the side so they can cap the well till they can set up a new rig to use it.

 

Comcast.net home page can get you to this info, that's where I found it.

 

And PS Monty, nothing political about this, except the government getting in the way again instead of letting the proffesionals do their job (as usual).

[DragonRider]

Randy, they do have them, but for some reason they didnt work on this one. They have had them in place for a long time, but not everything is perfect now is it, just look at our motorcycles.................:stirthepot:

 

 

I can't imagine drilling on the ocean floor and not having a device to automatically cut off the flow if there is an emergency. Maybe that's more difficult than my simple mind imagines?

[CMIKE]

I was told by a friend that in europe, and other countries around the world, that it is mandated for offshore drilling to install a remotely operated shut off valve. And that here in the USA this is not required. sure would seem like a smart move to see the possibilities of a disaster , such as this, B-4 hand! Is this true?

 

This is NOT a true statement. I have been working in the industry for 30 years and can tell you they are in place and tested regularly as required by the US Mineral Management Service. You have to submit a plan on how the well will be drilled...what equipment you will use and it must be approved by the MMS before you are allowed to start drilling. MMS inspects on a regular basis...and gives surprise inspections at a rather frequent intervals. You can face a big fines for sometimes relative minor infractions. Some of that is a good thing but sometimes it is up to the interpretation of the rules by the inspector and he may know nothing about oil/gas wells, drilling rigs or oil/gas production. You can get a hell of a fine for something as little as House Keeping. Now how do you define house keeping on a rig or production platform with tons of equipment sitting around? I could go on and on about this with examples. Many of these infractions can cause you to be shut down completely. Some have fines to your company...some have civil fines to the persons in charge. They can and will put you in jail if things are not according to the regulation.

 

USCG also inspects all oil drilling and production platforms, not necessarily the drilling or production part but for Safety at Sea. Coast Guard wants you to fight the fire to the end to save the vessel. Most companies want you to abandon to prevent injury to persons. USCG can also fine you for infractions and shut down all operations till they are satisfied. The fines are the same as MMS...they both can put the person in charge (and sometimes others involved) in Jail for a long time.

 

These inspections and fines most of the time are a good thing. If a company wants to drill or produce oil/gas they must follow them or they will be forced out of business with fines and jail time. Some of these smaller companies try to cut corners to get more bang for their buck and usually get caught and pay dearly for it...get thier permits pulled and loose the lease they are working on. Bigger companies do what they are supposed to do and go beyond the standards set by the Government to give them room for error in the standards. Kind of a cushion to prevent problems with the inspections and regulations.

 

Deep Horizon/BP had equipment malfunction that was recently tested.

[Yammer Dan]

Randy, they do have them, but for some reason they didnt work on this one. They have had them in place for a long time, but not everything is perfect now is it, just look at our motorcycles.................:stirthepot:

 

Yeah they did make the 1st Gen and then go to the 2nd gen.

[Rocket]

Here is an interesting idea. Looks like it could work, simple enough too.

 

http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/

[dunvilsteev]

Now I hear BP is trying to limit their financial responsibility in all this, I smell a rat.

[mraf]

60 minutes had a employee that lived through this ordeal and is talking. Lead investigator has publicly "as through the show 60 minutes" said that BP is to blame. At this point we are all praying that something can be done to contain this. I have relation in Pensacola, Fla. and have fond memories of deep sea fishing off the coast with them. The sooner this is stopped the better. We can wage war with unlimited money but we can't stop a major man made environmental problem? Come on?!!

[CMIKE]

Yep it is hard to believe...they are trying all kinds of stuff to stop it...and hopefully they will eventually get it stopped. Better sooner than later.

 

You know at 5000 foot under the ocean...it is almost like working on the moon.

Very difficult to do anything down that deep. Not making excuses...just the facts.

We all hope and pray they find a resolution soon.

[mraf]

Hey, I'm tired of the same old picture of this leaking hole in the ground. It's time to do some 007 sleuthing and get a different picture of it. I'd bet the news would gobble them up at a healthy price!:mo money:Can anyone hold their breath long enough?

[dunvilsteev]

I haven't heard this asked yet: How big is that oil field if it all drained out? 5000 barrels/day for how long?