Would Like To Thank The Oil Industry For Doing Such Great Work

[LynnF]

Speaking of fish....anyone seen the video of the marlin stuck in the wellhead contraption? Very sad....I'm surprised PETA hasn't wormed their way into this on a large scale.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

U.S. oil spill could hit Atlantic tuna

Last Updated: Monday, May 3, 2010 | 10:43 AM ET Comments65Recommend49CBC News

Tuna bring in big money for some fishermen in the Maritimes. (CBC)

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could have a serious long-term impact on tuna stocks off Atlantic Canada.

 

The Gulf is the spawning ground for bluefin tuna that migrate to the Atlantic region.

 

"Many fish are going down to the Gulf to spawn," said Jackie Savitz, a marine biologist with Oceana, an international conservation group based in Washington.

 

 

The fishermen all seem to care but...there has been a huge fight about over harvest for years. The mean size of bluefins has been dropping for some time. I think they are one of the coolest fish. I would love to catch a release a monster some day. Hopefully they will weather this catastrophe.

[PGK]

.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

If George Bush was an Australian...

 

 

THE FRONT FELL OFF!

 

On August 19th, 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in

two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the

Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the

Australian public. This actual interview is so funny, you'd swear it was a

Monty Python skit. But it's the real thing.

 

How smart are politicians.

[jack]

OK, so how long has this thing been "leaking" at 5 times the rate of initial estimates? And nothing has actually worked, yet? And apparently, "depth" is an issue? At what point does this become a "Just maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all", moment?

 

No, this isn't a gloating, I told you so, thing. This is a geez, mother, this is just getting worse and worse and the "can do" attitude just hasn't made a dent in the problem of 5000 barrels a day spewing into the ocean.

j

[jksnijders]

OK, so how long has this thing been "leaking" at 5 times the rate of initial estimates? And nothing has actually worked, yet? And apparently, "depth" is an issue? At what point does this become a "Just maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all", moment?

 

No, this isn't a gloating, I told you so, thing. This is a geez, mother, this is just getting worse and worse and the "can do" attitude just hasn't made a dent in the problem of 5000 barrels a day spewing into the ocean.

j

 

 

It's a fairly unprecedented set of circumstances. For the number of wells in that area the statistics are pretty low as far as wrecks go from what I've read. And depth is most certainly an issue, 1500 meters into pitch black ocean, currents, (at surface and on the floor) hydrostatic pressure, and a well that is blowing out are all huge factors. I've worked at depth, under pressure, and on blown out wells (though nothing that serious, thankfully, just a 2 am seeding time wellhead runover by the Hutterites out by Nanton) but never offshore, so I can only imagine what that throws into the mix. I was near another one once a few miles from my parents house, and it's not as though they just do their thing and thats the end of it. As I watched from a distance the pressure at surface fluctuated very noticeably, visible in the fireball over the wellhead. Same with this one, I'm sure, the worst part being god knows what its doing on the ocean floor. Depending on where the gas/oil are escaping, there are really good chances that by now most of the BOP's are washed out (fluid, sand, gas all under pressure basically sandblasting the Blowout Preventer til there's nothing left..) Just the fact that it's going as hard as it is gives you some idea of the zonal pressure behind the well, (being that the seawater hydrostatic pressure is obviously not slowing it down). Obviously the initial accident, the BOP failure, and the fact that there are almost definitely rig parts scattered all around the wellhead makes it one hell of a thing to deal with. As well as damaged parts and the obviously huge pressures escaping them that make patching them up difficult to say the least. I've worked off bigger drilling rigs that were using shear rams in their BOP's, essentially a last ditch effort if everything goes south, that basically cut off whatever may be in them, be it casing, drillstem, etc. With pressure tested surface casing in place at least with everything shut in you have a chance after the fact. Who knows what led to the failure though. When I first heard about it I thought to myself how bad the outcome could be, and that was going on the little info initially available. The worst part about things like this is the fact that they never truly know what they may encounter while drilling until they encounter it. Throw in human error when things go really south and there are lives on the line, and thats how quickly things can go really far south. And not like a Valdez type incident where you have a known quantity in the water and can deal with it (though that makes it no better obviously..) its coming straight from the tap, so to speak. It's an absolute disaster, for sure, but as rickr said the economics of the business drive the exploration into areas like that where everything is high risk, high reward. I am not envious of anyone who has to be on the hot seat trying to fix the mess, nor of anyone who has to deal with the outcome, I have no doubt it'll not be a quick fix, unfortunately.

[SanJuanWorm]

The only way to fix this problem that BP has is with a relief well. The domes are just a bandaid solution.

[jksnijders]

The only way to fix this problem that BP has is with a relief well. The domes are just a bandaid solution.

 

 

 

Yup.

[Ricinus]

Sounds like things could get really ugly.

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Political-...l-well-runs-dry

 

Regards Mike

[jonn]

It's a horrible situation I hope they come up with something soon. I wonder how much of an effect this will have on all off-shore drilling in the future? I could really see them shutting it down in the Gulf for quite awhile!

[dutchie]

http://www.bnet.com/2346-13239_23-419915.html

 

these pictures really show the wreck on the rig , sad to see the mess and i think they won't get it stoped till she's run dry of oil , they say 2 years , worlds going to a mess ,

 

can someone tell me why they just don't burn it off , must be a reason and i'v often wondered why ?? , i think it would be better then killing all wildlife

[Guest Sundancefisher]

http://www.bnet.com/2346-13239_23-419915.html

 

these pictures really show the wreck on the rig , sad to see the mess and i think they won't get it stoped till she's run dry of oil , they say 2 years , worlds going to a mess ,

 

can someone tell me why they just don't burn it off , must be a reason and i'v often wondered why ?? , i think it would be better then killing all wildlife

 

If the is dead flat it will burn. If there is any chop it would not sustain a burn. Oil emulsifies.

[Weedy1]

Now they're talking about clogging the well up with tires and golf balls. Experts say this opens up the possibility of further damage to the wellhead and has the potential of increasing the flow twelve fold if it fails. I'm putting my money on BP screwing up further and turning this into the worlds worst economic and environmental disaster.

[jksnijders]

Now they're talking about clogging the well up with tires and golf balls. Experts say this opens up the possibility of further damage to the wellhead and has the potential of increasing the flow twelve fold if it fails. I'm putting my money on BP screwing up further and turning this into the worlds worst economic and environmental disaster.

 

 

 

I saw that, have no idea how anyone thinks that will do anything. How exactly do you place them in the well with thousands of pounds pressure coming at you, let alone hope they will actually seal anything off? A roomful of golfballs or tires is both porous and permeable, no matter how much of each you cram into it.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/braces+g...2665/story.html

 

Now they have some explaining to do. They are going to get roasted. I betcha every single offshore operation in North America is going to have the full on microscope test to see what they are doing to make sure the same mistake never happens again. Those with bad safety and operational plans will hopefully be sent packing to do a better job prior to drilling.

[jack]

How does one clean up something they can't see ??

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/us/16oil...l?th&emc=th

 

j

[Weedy1]

These guys are scraping for solutions to the flow problem. This is the next attempt.

 

 

 

They must have hired THIS this guy to come up with their solutions.

[Weedy1]

It worked!!! Well, not really, only 40% is being captured.

 

This whole affair has become the epitome of irresponsible.

 

Here's something from 60 minutes some may find interesting:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/...ain;cbsCarousel

 

 

[jack]

Nobody should be surprised that shortcuts and irresponsible conduct are involved when the name "Halliburton" comes up. This is the same outfit that 'The Prince of Darkness" Dick Cheyne was associated with, the same outfit that was 100% behind the Irag War, and made millions of dollars a day flipping Iraqi and Kuwaiti-produced fuel to the U.S. military for obscene markups with a no-bid contract.

 

Sort of like not being surprised at political unrest and civil war in a nation when the name "CIA" comes up.

j

[fishfreak]

greetings from n'awlins, the weather is hot and sticky, but the oysters are still good and fresh (well, at least at the acme oyster bar). nobody has served me any with a mysterious crude brown sauce yet, but the word on the street right now is that the seafood supply is tightening up as it's being brought in from further up north.

 

people here are "thanking" (sarcasm intended) bp for the price of crawfish and shrimp going up, and there's an underlying sense of worry as it will continue to affect tourism here. all i see are pictures of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil on the news.

 

clean-up and recovery may take up to 10 years, as seen in other major spills. let's hope all the people out of work here will get compensated by those responsible.

[jack]

"clean-up and recovery may take up to 10 years, as seen in other major spills. let's hope all the people out of work here will get compensated by those responsible. "

 

Unfortunately, past experience has shown that somewhere along the line a "damages cap" gets put into place and "cleanup" becomes somewhat incomplete. Precedence has already been set by Exxon in the Valdez case, the "cap" was put in place and only the clearly visible oil was cleaned up as best they could. The residents are still cleaning oil up, on their own.

 

I don't trust the media to be fair, honest or impartial, by any stretch of the imagination, but this just gets uglier by the day. Any whiff of negligence by industry will get trumpeted loud and long.

 

j

[Guest Sundancefisher]

"clean-up and recovery may take up to 10 years, as seen in other major spills. let's hope all the people out of work here will get compensated by those responsible. "

 

Unfortunately, past experience has shown that somewhere along the line a "damages cap" gets put into place and "cleanup" becomes somewhat incomplete. Precedence has already been set by Exxon in the Valdez case, the "cap" was put in place and only the clearly visible oil was cleaned up as best they could. The residents are still cleaning oil up, on their own.

 

I don't trust the media to be fair, honest or impartial, by any stretch of the imagination, but this just gets uglier by the day. Any whiff of negligence by industry will get trumpeted loud and long.

 

j

 

Just to be clear. Again...painting "industry" with BP's problem is like linking bad drinking water in Ontario with drinking water everywhere. BP has a major problem. Other companies I hear are offering support and services to help. Industy is not negligent...but rather coming to the aid of a major catastrophe. Over all industry will learn valuable lessons of what "NOT" to do.

 

I also highly doubt this is going to get hidden by any media conspiracy theory you may think of. There are way to many special interest groups, towns, cities, government agencies and businesses watching this issue to let anything slip. CNN for goodness sake has their own submersible camera going out for photos daily. The area is swarming with media. The scarier they make it the better for ratings. They are not going to belittle anything and all sensible people know this is a horrible outcome insofar as environmental damage is concerned.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/26/gulf.oil.spil/index.html

 

will it work?

 

My fingers are crossed!

[jonn]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/26/gulf.oil.spil/index.html

 

will it work?

 

My fingers are crossed!

 

I sure hope it works, but to be honest I think it will be a failed attempt. I think the hydrostatic pressure will be to much for a top kill situation. But I guess they have everything at this point!

[reevesr1]

This is a few days old, but interesting.BP's Plan