oil disaster

[CMIKE]

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

 

The answer to that question is typically kept private to that company. You don't go around telling how much money you have in the bank.

You may hear an rough estimate of the reserve there since it is involved with all this.

Corporate espionge is very real. They guard the real information closely.

During Katrina...we had 8 Blackwater Guys guarding the office building during the storm and after it till we could re-man the facility...to prevent corp espionage.

 

Tyically deep water wells such as this have multiple producable zones and can do upwards of 25 to 50 thousound barrels a day (barrel of oil is 42 US gallons)...but keep in mind all oil wells decrease as soon as you start producing it. It may start at 50K then in a month go to 40 K, in 2 years go to 5 or 10K...5 years go to 1-2K. Some may go down to nothing in a year and start making just water.

 

One thing for sure...if they spent the money to drill a well in that deeper water and with the cost of drilling today, there was something there worth going after. All drilling is a Risk. You can bet it is a big reserve there or companies would not take the risk of couple of billion dollars to punch a hole there. It is all about RISK management. Nothing garantees it will produce what they hope. With what has happend to this well...there now may be some serious formation damage and may not be albe to produce it all without some serious work and maybe multiple drills.

[islandmech]

I find this subject interesting in that all the Gov't types are acting suprised that there was an accident.... These are mechanical devices and they WILL fail. I work in the airline industry which is the most regulated,safety aware,analysed industry in existance and guess what, airplanes still have accidents, some of which are mechanical faults. I think this accident has just proved the debate about offshore drilling off the B.C coast ...NOT

[hig4s]

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..

 

While this may be true, I am skeptical. This is after all, BP. Remember in 06 when their pipe in Alaska leaked. The one that was supposed to be checked several times a year but hadn't been properly inspected in years, and the president of BP knew it.

 

And this happened shortly after he was publicly bragging about being the most environmentally concerned oil company.

[Zfrebird4]

1st pg someone mentioned the valve that is required in European off shore drilling NOT being required in the US. It costs ca $500,000! :mo money: Bet the Washington bums get this changed fast, and I bet BP wishes they had VOLUNTEERED to install one now.

 

Also heard on the radio on one of those beautiful CO rides today that employees may have failed to clean out some of the mud and gunk from one of the valves that was designed to 'leak' out the methane gas. Suggestion that was a could-be3 cause of the accident. Who knows.

 

Meanwhile, we will pray for it to be stoped asap, and for the many whose lively hoods are now uncertain or going under. I am sure this nation will NOT pray for us (as a majority) to stop off shore oil drilling, but just to make it safer and make BP pay. The latter I am sure of, the rest, .... who knows.

 

Just my two cents worth.

 

JackZ

[CMIKE]

While this may be true, I am skeptical. This is after all, BP. Remember in 06 when their pipe in Alaska leaked. The one that was supposed to be checked several times a year but hadn't been properly inspected in years, and the president of BP knew it.

 

And this happened shortly after he was publicly bragging about being the most environmentally concerned oil company.

 

I understand. They have some marks on their record...what about that refinery that blew up in Texas a few years ago?

I was refering to the regulations are in place which is what one of the members here was refering to in the above post and they are supposed to be tested regualarly. OR you face stiff fines and the MMS will shut you down and possibly put the managers in JAIL. I cannot imagine them not testing the equipment as required and risk the possiblity of being shut down as much as it cost to keep the rig on site or even worst...an event like this happening. I suspect somebody is going to jail over this in the end.

I believe they had a equipment malfunction. Time will tell after they get it all sorted out I am sure...all the other companies want to know what happend and why..so we can make sure this does not happening again. I think this will ruin BP, their image with the MMS and the world...not counting finically.

 

I work some contactors that work off and on for all the majors. They tell me BP has so many process and paperwork you have to do before you start a job...it actually takes longer to do the paperwork and get the approvals than it takes to do the job most of the time. I believe that...cause we have a lot of that stuff also...I honestly wonder if my company even cares about efficency anymore. They do not care of you get the job done...just do the paper work and have a meeting and get approvals. That is not a bad thing, I guess but makes me wonder how we did it 15 years ago and we are still alive and did not spill oil everywhere...

I am surprized by what I hearing from the press and the 60 minutes interview. I am not sure I believe most of that.

[chabicheka]

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

 

 

...........and a puff or two of 'FABREZE' and it will be like the oil spill never happened................

[Marcarl]

I understand. They have some marks on their record...what about that refinery that blew up in Texas a few years ago?

I was refering to the regulations are in place which is what one of the members here was refering to in the above post and they are supposed to be tested regualarly. OR you face stiff fines and the MMS will shut you down and possibly put the managers in JAIL. I cannot imagine them not testing the equipment as required and risk the possiblity of being shut down as much as it cost to keep the rig on site or even worst...an event like this happening. I suspect somebody is going to jail over this in the end.

I believe they had a equipment malfunction. Time will tell after they get it all sorted out I am sure...all the other companies want to know what happend and why..so we can make sure this does not happening again. I think this will ruin BP, their image with the MMS and the world...not counting finically.

 

I work some contactors that work off and on for all the majors. They tell me BP has so many process and paperwork you have to do before you start a job...it actually takes longer to do the paperwork and get the approvals than it takes to do the job most of the time. I believe that...cause we have a lot of that stuff also...I honestly wonder if my company even cares about efficency anymore. They do not care of you get the job done...just do the paper work and have a meeting and get approvals. That is not a bad thing, I guess but makes me wonder how we did it 15 years ago and we are still alive and did not spill oil everywhere...

I am surprized by what I hearing from the press and the 60 minutes interview. I am not sure I believe most of that.

Problem is,,, once all the paperwork and consulting is done, we can then do the job without any worries, and so pay no attention to anything that might be going south,,, after all, it can't, can it? we did the the necessary steps and all the paperwork is filled out,,, right?????

[spyderhead]

The official word is now in: it is NOT 5000 barrels per day; it is more like 70,000 barrels per day. Good old BP. At least they are consistent liars.

[hig4s]

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

 

 

...........and a puff or two of 'FABREZE' and it will be like the oil spill never happened................

 

No one has ever actually studied what effect oil dispersant has on shell fish. 90% of all oysters sold in the US come from the central Gulf, and 85% of all other oyster beds in the world have been depleted, and oysters are the major filters for ocean life in general. There are already over 100 dead spots in the ocean around the world. If we kill off any more oyster beds, we may be looking at major die offs of many other species.

[Condor]

...........and a puff or two of 'FABREZE' and it will be like the oil spill never happened................

 

No one has ever actually studied what effect oil dispersant has on shell fish. 90% of all oysters sold in the US come from the central Gulf, and 85% of all other oyster beds in the world have been depleted, and oysters are the major filters for ocean life in general. There are already over 100 dead spots in the ocean around the world. If we kill off any more oyster beds, we may be looking at major die offs of many other species.

 

Want some Zebra mussels back? We have lots of them. Contact the dept of Fish and Game here in California.....

[dunvilsteev]

The "top kill" is now a no-go. About time someone admitted just how big this oil field is and what can be expected. This will bankrupt BP, but its just a corporate name, they will open back up as some other name .... IMO

[Kirby]

It's hard to believe we can send a man to the moon and back safely(many years ago), and the greatest minds in this country along with others haven't put an end to this saga in over 40 days!!! My question is this, If they can cut off a pipe underwater(a mile deep) using hydraulic shears, why can't they use the same equipment to pinch the pipe closed or at least slow the flow down to a trickle????? I hope to God I'm wrong about this but I really think someone is just dragging their feet!!!

[hig4s]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#37368377 last time there was a major oil leak like this, 31 years ago, they tried the same things in the same order and they failed the same way. And that was only at a depth of 200ft.

[Pappa Bear]

OK its a round pipe, so why cant they have a deflated balloon made of heavy rubber kinda like the fire dept uses to lift cars,just long and straight. then slide it into the pipe and inflate? Maybe a temp fix but it would give time to make a perm repair! IMO

[RedRaptor22]

I read somewhere that since 1947 there have been over 60,000 wells drilled in the gulf of mexico without incident untill now....it's still tragic and will impact things for a long time but that's a pretty impressive record...not even nasa has a mission success rate that good.

[hig4s]

I read somewhere that since 1947 there have been over 60,000 wells drilled in the gulf of mexico without incident untill now....it's still tragic and will impact things for a long time but that's a pretty impressive record...not even nasa has a mission success rate that good.

 

 

did you just miss my post where they had a leak like this 31 years ago!!!!!

[RedRaptor22]

did you just miss my post where they had a leak like this 31 years ago!!!!!

 

 

No, I saw it but it was Rachel Maddow and that heiffer gives me a headache so I did'nt watch it but I'm sure she left out some things to serve her agenda in demonizing an industry because it's too successfull despite the fact it accounts for 53% of the gulf coast economy.

 

Sedco 135F was a rig right off the coast of mexico in the bay of Campeche, technically it was in the gulf but it was'nt one of our wells or even in our oil field, not even close.

 

That rig was owned and operated by Pemex, a mexican government owned company so needless to say they have their own regulations and such.

 

Again in our oil fields our rigs have drilled 60,000 over the course of 63 years with this one failure.

 

In case you don't know where the bay of Campeche is here is link to the coordinants where the rig was located.

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=25.183521465658145~-92.10252685546874&lvl=5&sty=h&sp=Point.m717gy795mrh_Ixtoc%20I%20oil%20spill____

Edited June 1, 2010 by RedRaptor22

[Mariner Fan]

No, I saw it but it was Rachel Maddow and that heiffer gives me a headache so I did'nt watch it but I'm sure she left out some things to serve her agenda in demonizing an industry because it's too successfull despite the fact it accounts for 53% of the gulf coast economy.

 

Sedco 135F was a rig right off the coast of mexico in the bay of Campeche, technically it was in the gulf but it was'nt one of our wells or even in our oil field, not even close.

 

That rig was owned and operated by Pemex, a mexican government owned company so needless to say they have their own regulations and such.

 

Again in our oil fields our rigs have drilled 60,000 over the course of 63 years with this one failure.

 

In case you don't know where the bay of Campeche is here is link to the coordinants where the rig was located.

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=25.183521465658145~-92.10252685546874&lvl=5&sty=h&sp=Point.m717gy795mrh_Ixtoc%20I%20oil%20spill____

 

You should watch it. All she pointed out was that another oil rig was damaged back in the 70's and leaked and they tried all the same things that they are trying now. The only way they were able to stop it was with a relief well. Seems we are in the same boat now. The point is that the oil company's could and should have planned for this type of disaster. It's happened before and as we all know, it will happen again.

[RedRaptor22]

You should watch it. All she pointed out was that another oil rig was damaged back in the 70's and leaked and they tried all the same things that they are trying now. The only way they were able to stop it was with a relief well. Seems we are in the same boat now. The point is that the oil company's could and should have planned for this type of disaster. It's happened before and as we all know, it will happen again.

 

If it were a real journalist/reporter I would take the time to watch it, but she's just a sensationalist moron, nearly Glen Beck's equal only she's not even entertaining.

 

Well it's never happened at this depth, thats the difficult part, and despite all those methods being tried in that leak they are the standard fixes that more often than not end up working, they are'nt using them because they have a low success rate.

 

To think they would not use the most effective methods to plug this leak is just daft, it's in the best interest of their checkbooks and future worth to get this thing stopped asap so I doubt they are'nt doing all they can.

 

Where things are really failing in on the gvmt end with the containment and cleanup, over three weeks ago Jindal tried to have a barrier dredged up to keep the oil off the coast, two days ago I beleive they gave him the ok to do it, in that time we could have had around 70 miles of barrier up to keep the oil off the coast, now we've got oil covering the marshes while the dredges that could have stopped it have been sitting idle ready to go for three weeks.

 

 

I do agree that it should'nt have happened, especially in this case because of all of the cut corners with gvmt regulators turning a blind eye because their palms were well greased by big oil.

 

Given the record I think the safety procedures in place work really well....as long as operators follow them and the regulators enforce them, in this case neither of those things really seemed to take place.

Edited June 1, 2010 by RedRaptor22

[hig4s]

 

Well it's never happened at this depth, thats the difficult part, and despite all those methods being tried in that leak they are the standard fixes that more often than not end up working, they are'nt using them because they have a low success rate.

 

The whole point of the link you refused to watch was that there was an oil leak 31 years ago, the same type of safety valve, failed in the same way, it was the same drilling management company, (who changed their name after the 79 accident) using the same excuses, and same techniques (Tophat, junkshot, killshot but with different names at the time) and they all failed at 200 feet so there was no chance they would work at 5000 feet.

 

In 79 they spilled over 1,000,000 gallons a day for over 9 months before they got the relief wells drilled. And apparently the exact same thing is happening again. Advances in drilling deeper have happened in 30 years, but not in stopping and controlling accidents.

 

And as far a being pretty good if safety procedures are followed, sure. That again is the point, BP has had 3 major accidents in the last few years, (Alaska, Texas and now the Gulf) all do to negligent maintenance and ignoring safety procedures. There is no way the people running this company aren't aware of the shortcuts being taken.

Edited June 2, 2010 by hig4s

[Freebird]

and we are going to solve the problem or make ANY difference at all by insulting each other here?

 

I doubt there is a man or woman in the entire nation that is not either very angry or very saddened by what is going on with the leak and the failed efforts in containing it but arguing here about what has or has not been done and getting snippy at each other is not going to solve the problem.

[hig4s]

and we are going to solve the problem or make ANY difference at all by insulting each other here?

 

I doubt there is a man or woman in the entire nation that is not either very angry or very saddened by what is going on with the leak and the failed efforts in containing it but arguing here about what has or has not been done and getting snippy at each other is not going to solve the problem.

 

 

As far as I can tell from the posts, no one insulted anyone here. Redraptor22 did insult what ever her name is from MSNBC. That is the only insult I see.

[Freebird]

OK...I suppose we could argue about what is insulting but that too is not necessary. So I'll just agree and say fine...let's stop this before it DOES become insulting and a series of personal attacks.

[Pappa Bear]

Ok guys the Boss is making it very clear, just stick with what he says on this!

[BradT]

A radio comment up here stated that during the design of buildings an evacuation plan is required, in order to get people to safety similar to the Air plane industry. However they commented that the rules and regulations for a disaster of this type does not have the same safety or planning regulations. If this comment is true then it makes no sense to me.

 

I do not understand drilling but I would think they should or could possibly drill a potential relief well and cap it and in the event of a failure they can remove the cap and use this as a relief instead of waiting months for a new relief well to be drilled.

 

Obviously this may be and initial and substantial cost to the oil company but oh well, it's just the price of doing business. In the case of an accident it is very small price to pay, comparing it to the clean up cost.

 

I never lived by the water but I can not even imagine the mess and destruction this will cause people and the wild life. Very sad indeed and This should change all the present rules and regulations regarding oil drilling.

 

All the best to those that will be affected by this.

 

Brad