| Author | Message | ||
     Hex |
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/28/us/2 0100428-spill-map.html?ref=us | ||
| Xb12xmike |
I hope they figure out a way to stop the leak soon and are ready for it in case this happens again. It's tragic. | ||
| Hootowl |
I hope this wasn't sabotage in order to make a point about offshore drilling. | ||
| Hex |
Call in the Navy. | ||
| Kilroy |
So much for "Drill Here - Drill Now" Sux | ||
| Hootowl |
So much for "Drill Here - Drill Now" Which is exactly why someone might want to sabotage an offshore rig. | ||
| Blake |
Blowouts on offshore rigs are virtually unheard of in the last three decades. I'm VERY curious to learn how the heck this happened. | ||
| Sifo |
Blowouts on offshore rigs are virtually unheard of in the last three decades. I'm VERY curious to learn how the heck this happened. I agree. Even if accidental it is very unusual and no doubt new standards will get implemented. Even after that it will be used to fight any new drilling though. | ||
| Blake |
The instant the mud (drilling fluid that circulates down through the inside of the string of drill pipe, out the bit and back up the well/casing/riser to the rig) begins to rise (gas bubble rising in well) or fall (mud draining into porous formation) in the pits, the well is sealed off at the ocean floor via the BOP, and the situation is slowly/carefully rectified through a "choke and kill" system while the density of the mud is corrected. The mud is basically acting like the cork in a champagne bottle. Pull the cork out (mud not dense enough) and the gas erupts. Push the cork into the bottle (mud too dense) and the gas erupts. With a reported 5,000' water depth, that's a LOT of mud. My guess is that they hit a pocket that allowed the mud to disappear into the formation very quickly, weren't paying close enough attention, and missed the opportunity to choke off the well. The oil may not make landfall, which would be a good thing. (Message edited by blake on April 29, 2010) | ||
| Road_thing |
The word I have from folks who claim to be "in the know" is that the blowout occurred in the annulus between the production string and one of the intermediate strings. This will make drilling the relief well very interesting. rt | ||
| Hex |
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7653662/President-Obama-says-BP-ultimately-responsible-for-spill-clean-up.html | ||
| Aesquire |
It would be premature and paranoid to think that 11 people had been murdered in an act of sabotage to push a greenie agenda...... Come to think of it, it is just premature. | ||
| Sifo |
It would be premature and paranoid to think that 11 people had been murdered in an act of sabotage to push a greenie agenda...... Come to think of it, it is just premature. Premature to claim any cause of it. It is a remote possibility that I seriously hope is not true. I don't think anyone is trying to push the sabotage idea as the likely cause at this point though. | ||
| Whatever |
 This is not looking so good... | ||
| Aesquire |
Like, I said, premature. ( forgot the smiley guy...)  And the list of suspects ranges from Greenpeace to the KGB, with no evidence of anything of the sort. That does look like a major disaster in progress, doesn't it? Oh, Crap. | ||
| Blake |
It would be very difficult to sabotage an oil rig unless you were working on the rig as one of the key people in charge of down-hole operations, driller, mud-man, sub-sea engineer, maybe the assistant driller. It's not likely. | ||
| Hootowl |
Like I said, I hope it isn't the case. That would really blow. | ||
| Spdrxb |
Nobody thought an Airliner could be hijacked as it was rolling down the runway for takeoff either. By people that had been living and training with us for years before 9-11. Maybe the "sabotage" went bad and ended up worse than they planned. Either way, the military is just now getting involved to try and stop the slick. Why did they wait so long to take more aggressive measures? | ||
| Whatever |
How is the security on those rigs Blake? I would guess it is pretty stiff after 911 and would not be surprised if they had armed guards on duty. Why do people have to jump to conclusions about sabatoge... seems pretty far fetched to me... I mean really, what did Greenpeace secretly have a diver go down 5000 feet and mess with the BOP? Or did they somehow sneak an ROV down there without anyone noticing? Whatever...  | ||
| Hex |
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_b log/2010/04/28/deepwater_horizon_disaster_will_imp act_p | ||
| Spdrxb |
The reasons of how it happened is a issue in itself. I'm not guessing how, just providing other possibilities. As sad and unfortunate as it is, I hope it was just an accident. The real issue right now is how to fix the spill. Why wait so long to access all resources available? | ||
| Sifo |
Why do people have to jump to conclusions about sabatoge... seems pretty far fetched to me... I mean really, what did Greenpeace secretly have a diver go down 5000 feet and mess with the BOP? Or did they somehow sneak an ROV down there without anyone noticing? Whatever... I don't think anyone is jumping to the conclusion that it was sabotage, but your argument against sabotage is very weak. The rig burned and sank. That doesn't require a sophisticated underwater attack as you suggest. In fact it would probably require very little sophistication. It is certainly a distinct possibility. I hope they can clearly identify the events that led to this disaster though. Clearly something went horribly wrong and knowing the facts of what happened is the best way to prevent it from happening again. | ||
| Xb12xmike |
We still need oil. I can see not drilling in Deep sea for a while, until we have better safeguards and laws but otherwise we should still increase closer offshore as proposed. (Oh, I just heard OBAMA say they stopping "deepsea" drilling for a bit as I type this!!!lol) | ||
| Whatever |
And just exactly what was burning on the rig? Oil. Oil comes from the ground. Where in the ground did it come from? 5000 feet under water. Gee... did they have safegaurds in place? Yes, the BOP. Where is the BOP? It is 5000 feet underwater. Seems pretty clear cut to me where the problem was... I am surprised no one on here is blaming islamo-facist terrorists... | ||
| F_skinner |
Either way, the military is just now getting involved to try and stop the slick. Why did they wait so long to take more aggressive measures? I have been involved in this since it happened. Because the DoD has to get a request from FEMA or DHS for support (Defense Support to Civil Authorities). They have not done that yet and each service is briefing capabilities that may help. The military is leaning as far forward as they can within the legal limits of the AOR (North America). I can understand your perception but it is not correct. Remember Katrina? People were commenting on TV (I hate Nancy Grace) about the same point you just brought up. "Why can't the military drop supplies on New Orleans." The reason it took the military so long to get involved was because the idiotic leadership in New Orleans and the other effected areas did not see the need to request support until it was too late. The military (I am not separating title 32, 10 or 14 forces here) was in support of FEMA when the support was requested and SECDEF approved. Incidentally, SECDEF at the time positioned Navy Hospital Ships and Coast Guard resources long before the request came in. Military Operations in the Homeland or near the Homeland in the AOR are constrained by legal authorities and, unless under special circumstances, are always in support to a federal agency like DHS or FEMA. Frank | ||
| Spdrxb |
I would think that after Katrina that mistake would not be made twice. The way in which "Military Resources" are obtained, and the channels from FEMA or DHS allowing them to help, should not be the same as when Katrina happened. Shame on us if it is the same mistake. | ||
| Blake |
If there was sabotage it would in all probability have had to have been an inside job, a very insidious operation. The BOPs when I was offshore were run hydraulically. If my recollection is accurate--it may be far from it--if the BOP hydraulics control system was taken offline, then the rig would have no way to defend against a blowout. There are others here who can speak to the issue much more expertly than I. | ||
| Hex |
Gee... did they have safegaurds in place? ...if the BOP hydraulics control system was taken offline... http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/update s-on-the-oil-slick-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/ In March 2005 a massive explosion ripped through a tower at BP’s refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring 170 others. Investigators later determined that the company had ignored its own protocols on operating the tower, which was filled with gasoline, and that a warning system had been disabled. The company pleaded guilty to federal felony charges and was fined more than $50 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Almost a year after the refinery explosion, technicians discovered that some 4,800 barrels of oil had spread into the Alaskan snow through a tiny hole in the company’s pipeline in Prudhoe Bay. BP had been warned to check the pipeline in 2002, but hadn’t, according to a report in Fortune. When it did inspect it, four years later, it found that a six-mile length of pipeline was corroded. The company temporarily shut down its operations in Prudhoe Bay, causing one of the largest disruptions in U.S. oil supply in recent history. | ||
| F_skinner |
Spdrxb, my personal opinion, and only my opinion, is DoD is being set up to fail on this one. I will explain that later when I have more time but you might have seem on the news about the C130s... | ||
| Spdrxb |
No need to explain. Its sad that we cant rely on any of the news channels to give accurate info. If you believe what they are saying now, the "situation" is being handled to the best of our ability Military and all. Weird because thats not the impression I got early this morning. Public opinion swayed them or political pressure? I suppose some of the bad info might have been coming from BP? |
