Gulf coast oil spill

[Spexxvet]

Schwarzenegger, whose administration as recently as Friday defended the proposed Tranquillon Ridge offshore drilling project, said images of the spill in the gulf changed his mind.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz0mybHZVqd

Once again, it takes a catastrophe to convince people.

[Shawnee123]

Yeah, a carefully orchestrated catastrophe.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Blame Classicman and merc.

Why do you want to suck my cock?

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Stormieweather seems to have cofferdams in mind. Exerpt:

BP has rushed to produce giant domes called cofferdams that it intends to place over the leaking well head

This is not correct. The initial dome/cofferdam would not be placed over the wellhead. They would be placed over the end of the severed riser which is some distance from the well head. The majority of the oil is pouring from this location. Others may be placed over smaller leaks in the riser line as well. There is no plan to place one over the wellhead itself. They need to keep that as clear as possible for additional repairs on the failed BOP unit.

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by glatt

Why would this spill cause rate hikes? Maybe down the road if it results in greater safety regulations that cost more. But the oil lost is relatively small compared to the entire oil supply out there. It's huge in terms of an oil spill, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what we use.

BP is going to lose a lot of money, and they may raise prices a little, but if they raise them too much, people will just shop elsewhere.

This rig was not yet in production, so this spill does not impact what's available on the market unless other Gulf rigs are shut down due to oil slick.

As for BP's losses, yes they will be responsible for cleanup costs, however their liability for non-cleanup related costs are capped at $75MM. This cap was put in place by Congress after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

I want to know how those 40' tall silo-thingys they're making to contain the oil are going to be placed in 5,000 ft of water. WTF?! And what do they need 3 of them for?

I'm pissed as hell about my beautiful Clearwater beaches being ruined. Not to mention the wildlife .

I had a bunch of summer fun planned that involved the coast and coastal islands. Bet all that is fubar'd now.

I read that the high-tech shut off valve would have cost $500k, so BP declined to install it. Now the cleanup is estimated to cost into the billions.

The oil is not leaking from the well head. The majority is leaking from the end of the severed riser (pipe that ran between the wellhead and surface rig) There are also two lesser leaks from cracks which formed in the riser due to bending/flexing stress that it was not designed to withstand.

Here's a pic of the units that are going to be laced over the severed end and leaking cracks in the riser



There will be a pipe that attaches to the tops of these units to allow the oil to be brought to the surface vessels

Hope it works

[GunMaster357]

Cofferdams and pumps ? May be

But how long will they be pumping ?
Will they continue theirs attemps at closing that damned thing ?

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by GunMaster357

Cofferdams and pumps ? May be

But how long will they be pumping ?
Will they continue theirs attemps at closing that damned thing ?

My assumption is that these are temporary solutions to be in place until they can drill an intercepting well, seal off the one leaking which will then cut off the oil flow to the leaking riser. At that point the cofferdams would no longer be needed.

[GunMaster357]

Let us hope it'll work.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Brianna

gas is up to 2.89 - was 2.67 pre-spill. sheesh.

Originally Posted by classicman

I think that was more due to the seasonal increase.
I don't believe the rate hikes from this spill have started yet.

We must be a week behind you Bri. Our gas just shot up more than $.10 to over $2.90 around here ... just in the last couple days.

[Undertoad]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...#ixzz0n6Epi66e

Hmmmm

Oil that seeps naturally from the ocean floor puts 47 million gallons of crude into U.S. waters annually. Thus far, Deepwater Horizon has leaked about three million gallons. That sounds like a lot of oil, and it is. But the Exxon Valdez leaked 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound. Even those figures are dwarfed, according to the Economist, by the amount of oil spilled in man-made disasters elsewhere around the world. Saddam Hussein's destruction of Kuwaiti oil facilities during the Gulf War dumped more than 500 million barrels of crude into the Arabian Gulf. The 1979 blowout of Mexico's Ixtoc 1 well resulted in 3.3 million barrels being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.

[classicman]

Criminy - I saw regular unleaded for $3.09 on my way home today WTF?

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...#ixzz0n6Epi66e

Hmmmm

The 1979 blowout of Mexico's Ixtoc 1 well resulted in 3.3 million barrels being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.

Something doesn't sound right about that Ixtoc number. That spill ran for 9 months....

[xoxoxoBruce]

OK Flickster, fess up... are you in the oil business?

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

OK Flickster, fess up... are you in the oil business?

Not directly - provide services to engineering firms, some of which do oil & gas related projects