Oil leak in Gulf

[trini123]

Does this worry you? Are they ever going to be able to stop this leak of 5000+ barrels per day? Plan A failed. Plan B is in link below. This is scary.


http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=3007407

[trini123]

BP is now making plan #7. If BP plan #7 is to train a whale to fart on the leak in hope of stopping it I would not be surprised. This is truely a huge disaster.

http://www.waow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12569040

[Randall]

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Boycott-BP/119101198107726

Boycott BP stations until the spill is cleaned up!...FOREVER. BP brands to boycott include Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, and Wild Bean Cafe. http://twitter.com/bayoulee.

[Wayne]

The Obama Administration is working on it.

[amzz]

They're not working fast enough.

[straphanger]

this is such a tragedy

im still appalled by the use of dispersants to break up and sink the oil with no regard as to what will happen on the ocean floor!

[trini123]

Criminal investigations started and BP advised not to shred docs. Oil can also flow up the eastern states. What a mess!

[straphanger]

obama will face a lot of flak for this
He visited LA almost 2 weeks after the explosion which caused the spill- Lousianians? arent too pleased with this...and to think the dems criticized Bush for his reaction to Katrina!

Below is a timeline of the spill and its impact:

April 20, 2010 - Explosion and fire on Transocean Ltd's drilling rig Deepwater Horizon licensed to BP; 11 workers are killed. The rig was drilling in BP's Macondo project 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, beneath about 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed.

April 22 - The Deepwater Horizon rig, valued at more than $560 million, sinks and a five mile long oil slick is seen.

April 25 - The Coast Guard says remote underwater cameras detect the well is leaking 1,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It approves a plan to have remote underwater vehicles activate a blowout preventer and stop leak. Efforts to activate the blowout preventer fail.

April 28 - The Coast Guard says the flow of oil is 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) -- five times greater than first estimated. A controlled burn is held on the giant oil slick.

April 29 - Obama pledges "every single available resource," including the U.S. military, to contain the spreading spill.

-- Obama also says BP is responsible for the cleanup. Louisiana declares state of emergency due to the threat to the state's natural resources.

April 30 - An Obama aide says no drilling will be allowed in new areas, as the president had recently proposed, until the cause of the Deepwater Horizon accident is known.

-- BP Chairman Tony Hayward says the company takes full responsibility for the spill and would pay all legitimate claims and the cost of the cleanup.

May 2 - Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts first hand. U.S. officials close areas affected by the spill to fishing for an initial period of 10 days. BP starts to drill a relief well alongside the failed well, a process that could take two to three months to complete.

May 5 - A barge begins towing a 98-ton containment chamber to the site of the leak. BP says one of the three leaks has been shut off by capping a valve, but that would not cut the amount of oil gushing out.

May 6 - Oil washes ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off the Louisiana coast, uninhabited barrier islands that are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

May 7 - BP tries to lower a containment dome over the leak, but the 100-tonne device was rendered useless by a slush of frozen hydrocarbons that clogged it. -- A fishing ban for federal waters off the Gulf is modified, expanded and extended to May 17.

May 9 - BP says it might try to plug the undersea leak by pumping materials such as shredded up tires and golf balls into the well at high pressure, a method called a "junk shot."

May 11/12 - Executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear at congressional hearings in Washington. Senate Energy committee chairman Jeff Bingaman says that it appeared that the explosion on the rig was due to a "cascade of errors, technical, human and regulatory. The executives blame each other's companies.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6503IJ20100601

[straphanger]

i think our phrase...'pressure does buss pipe' has been scientifically proven! :D

[Acid]

Today they made progress in cutting the pipe after the saw couldn't do it yesterday. But the cut was jagged. This poses another dilemma as the cap wouldn't fit snuggly.

Even when the cap is put on there will still be leaks.

Two reliefs are being drilled. A relief well is one that goes into the path of the original well to starve it from the reservoir. A well takes about 3 months to plan (not even talking about execution yet) so expect leaks till at least August.

This is bad for bp and the oil and gas industry as a whole. bp stocks dropped by more than US$6 yesterday and they are almost down nearing 40% YTD. So this would be a time to look to see if you want to buy shares.

Lots of bp personnel that were planning to retire this year have temporarily shelved plans because their stock funds have nose dived.

[straphanger]

BP's OTHER spill (http://www.gregpalast.com/smart-pig-bps-other-spill-this-week/) :\

[Acid]

They have put on the cap on the pipe. However the cap has a ring of open vents on the top of it. The plan now is to close the vents one at a time. The initial oil spill was at a rate of 60000 barrels of oil per day (now this has to be some sort of super well because we don't get this high performance things these days even with artificial stimulation) and will be reduced to a spill of 1000 barrels per day until the two relief wells are drilled in August (at best) to starve the original borehole.

The US government has upped the heat on bp now with a plethora of law suits some of which are Criminal suits. Oil sludge has started to come ashore on the tourist beach resorts of Florida.

[Scorpio]

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Boycott-BP/119101198107726

Boycott BP stations until the spill is cleaned up!...FOREVER. BP brands to boycott include Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, and Wild Bean Cafe. http://twitter.com/bayoulee.


c'mon now !!!

As a fomer employee of BP (BPTT), I cannot help but think about my colleagues who still work for trhe company when I hear all the talk about boycotting the company and, on CNN this morning, one person said that BP should go bankrupt.

BP's search for oil in deep waters is driven by mankind's greed and unrepentent consumerism with little thought for our own carbon footprints.

So, boycott bp if you will, and pray that the company goes bankrupt, accept no blame, disregard the fact that YOU help create the demand for more and more oil, pushing companies like BP to exceed the safe limits of technology to serch for new oil in challenging places like the Deep Waters of the Gulf.

[Scorpio]

...also, a boycott of BP is not good for TRinidad - BP is a major partner in ALNG.

[Scorpio]

THe Gulf Region's ecology will recover, just like Trinidad and Tobago's did after the suffering the largest ship based oil spill in history in 1979, the Atlantic Empress, but, there will always be incidents like this, as long a the demand is there for oil and gas.

http://www.cedre.fr/en/spill/atlantic/atlantic.php


On 19 July 1979 at 7pm, two loaded VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers), the Atlantic Empress (carrying 276,000 tonnes of crude oil) and the Aegean Captain (carrying 200,000 tonnes of crude oil) collided with each other in the Caribbean Sea, off Tobago island. The Atlantic Empress and the bow part of the Aegean Captain went up in flames. 26 sailors were killed.

[straphanger]

c'mon now !!!

As a fomer employee of BP (BPTT), I cannot help but think about my colleagues who still work for trhe company when I hear all the talk about boycotting the company and, on CNN this morning, one person said that BP should go bankrupt.

BP's search for oil in deep waters is driven by mankind's greed and unrepentent consumerism with little thought for our own carbon footprints.

So, boycott bp if you will, and pray that the company goes bankrupt, accept no blame, disregard the fact that YOU help create the demand for more and more oil, pushing companies like BP to exceed the safe limits of technology to serch for new oil in challenging places like the Deep Waters of the Gulf.

Scorpio, you are acting as though BP is performing some sort of humanitarian effor for human kind, and that their motives are not driven by greed as well :\

There will be a scapegoat so as to push the agenda for alternative fuels. BP will most likely be it

And btw, who asked BP to exceed safe practices. With correct oversight, that should not have happened.

[Acid]

bp claims to rigidly implement the STOP card system, initiated by Du Pont, however their performance is far from exemplary. bp seems to be a micro managed organization - they like to focus on small issues while they are clueless when big things happen like the Texas Refinery Explosion a few years ago and items like Piper Alpha.

bp has been destructive to much of Africa in their exploration, completions and production practices. It's only because this recent activity is in the broad daylight and the US President is taking them to task that we know about it. All their unsafe practices in 3rd world countries get neatly covered over and swept under the carpet in the name of "we are developing your country and people."

[Scorpio]

And btw, who asked BP to exceed safe practices. .

Name one oil company that doesn't routinely do this.

[straphanger]

Name one oil company that doesn't routinely do this.

I pointed that out because you are claiming that they exceed safety standards to fulfill our demands, when in fact it's to fill their own coffers

[Tipp]

According to London Sunday Times, June 6, 2010, News Review, go
www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/newsreview, section 4, pg 4,titled: "Another Disaster awaits the land of oil addicts",
Abstract: "BP has a shameful safety Record, America must also change its ways"... states that US dept regulating health and safety and compliance therein has cited several companies for negligence or corner cutting when Exxon had 1 citation, BP had....760". We need remember that BP took over Amoco which was a difficult company to regulate in TT, but Amoco people may still be there under a BP management. These are two cultures at work here. I could see bad things happening to BP's future in the USA.

[Acid]

Today bp's stock price dropped by more than $5 - they are into the $20s range now which represents a 50% YTD loss

I suggest now is the time to start thinking about buying. Start transferring your money into your chequings account and be prepared to invest. This is ideal buying time. Throw in the cash for these low shares.

Even with a mild increase in price by say $3 that would alone represent 10% profit.

[straphanger]

BP fake twitter account (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/bp-fake-twitter-account-t_n_588675.html)

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/7052/slide_7052_93270_large.jpg?1276130277850

[Tipp]

A fall out from the Oil disaster:

DOI issues directive with new offshore safety rules
http://www.ogj.com/index/article-display/4344519839/articles/oil-gas-journal/general-interest-2/government/2010/06/doi-issues_directive/QP129867/cmpid=EnlDailyJune92010.html

The US Department of the Interior issued a directive to offshore oil and gas lessees and operators implementing seven safety requirements. Salazar recommended in his 30-day safety report to President Barack Obama.
DOI: under the new requirements, lessees and operators will have to show certification by an operator’s chief executive officer that operations comply with all regulations and that drilling equipment has been tested, personnel have been properly trained, and procedures to protect employees and the environment have been reviewed.

Before any new drilling using a surface or subsea blowout preventer (BOP) begins, a professional engineer will need to certify all well casing and cement design requirements, including that there are at least two independent tested barriers for the well, and the operator will have to adhere to new casing procedures, DOI said

UK to double offshore- rig inspection rate

http://www.ogj.com/index/article-display/9049152144/articles/oil-gas-journal/drilling-production-2/drilling-operations/offshore-rigs/2010/06/uk-to_double_offshore-rig/QP129867/cmpid=EnlDailyJune92010.html

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will inspect offshore drilling rigs with increasing frequency in response to the Apr. 20 blowout of the BP Macondo well and continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

HOUSTON, June 9 -- The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will inspect offshore drilling rigs with increasing frequency in response to the Apr. 20 blowout of the BP Macondo well and continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The department said it is recruiting inspectors for its Aberdeen office in order to double its inspection rate, although it has reviewed the regulatory regime and found it “fit for purpose.”

DECC also is reviewing indemnity and insurance requirements for operations on the UK Continental Shelf.

DECC noted that it is participating in an advisory group set up by Oil & Gas UK to review oil and gas spill response practices of the UK offshore industry (OGJ, June 7, 2010, p. 39).

DOI: under the new requirements, lessees and operators will have to show certification by an operator’s chief executive officer that operations comply with all regulations and that drilling equipment has been tested, personnel have been properly trained, and procedures to protect employees and the environment have been reviewed.

Before any new drilling using a surface or subsea blowout preventer (BOP) begins, a professional engineer will need to certify all well casing and cement design requirements, including that there are at least two independent tested barriers for the well, and the operator will have to adhere to new casing procedures,
Somethings I have been saying to TT Min of Energy, lets see if they have a plan or waiting on Oil Cos to do the plan

[Acid]

bp's stock price jumped $3.58 today over yesterday which means if anyone took my advice and bought yesterday, they would have already made a 12.26% profit in 1 day.

[Scorpio]

I pointed that out because you are claiming that they exceed safety standards to fulfill our demands, when in fact it's to fill their own coffers

Same thing - they fill their coffers by fullfilling our relentless demand by any means necessary, including exceeding the safe limits of available technology to search for new oil & gas.

[Scorpio]

bp's stock price jumped $3.58 today over yesterday which means if anyone took my advice and bought yesterday, they would have already made a 12.26% profit in 1 day.


BP is strong enough to survive this oil spill, but I wouldn't buy their stock or bonds because the way that company is being run, you just never know when next BP desaster will hit.

Shell and Exxon are much better run companies.

[Acid]

Today Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell turned on bp at the Congress questioning.

[Tipp]

yes their backs are to the wall, they call the disaster and aberrant event. like its from outa space. They themselves soon forget: Piper Alpha in the N sea, Valdez, Ecuador Sushufindi ecological disaster in courts now and the oil lakes in Nigerian villages in NY courts now. Yes BP is accident prone; their organization in USA is mainly an Amoco culture but I dont understand why they did not clean up their image and fix their standards. Is it the rush for black gold then to refine it? Exxon and others in the same boat but you dont hear of so many citations against them nor so many accidents. Why do BP go around operating like that? like there are no internal controls? Look at the BP Alaska pipeline leak caused by bacteria corrosion, for good sake, this is well known to happen but they overlook how to get rid of the bacteria in the line? Its their own fault.

[straphanger]

if there is no govt oversight...hey...might as well take the risk....

[Acid]

Under pressure from Obama, bp says it will give out $20B

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/BP-says-its-sorry-and-apf-3017422868.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

And bp hold back on giving out dividends to their shareholders

[Ali]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnFVTP2414

lol

[lexbarker]

I have been hearing reports that this is a super deep well, 4 miles in the ground under 1 mile of sea. This is the first time this depth had been reached in the West and Russia has a few of them. The pressure could be anywhere between 20,000 to 70,000 PSI. Apparently, the safety valves buckled under that pressure.

[straphanger]

^^ of course they buckle
why would you have the same safety measures you would have for a few hundred feet for 1 mile
werent these people thinking??

[Tipp]

They say the pressures are 100,000 psi, that BOPs are rated at 1000 psi........The Well from Hell
By Christian A. DeHaemer | Friday, June 18th, 2010
The Dwarves dug too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame.

— Saruman, The Lord of the Rings
Abstract of an Energy article from EAC: ""Some geologists say that BP's arrogance has set off a series of events that may be irreversible. There are some that think that BP has drilled into a deep-core oil volcano that cannot be stopped, regardless of the horizontal drills the company claims will stop the oil plume in August""
Shut off valves are quoted for 1000 psi, Some say its a well from hell, others say this area is rich in methane that there is an extensive underground methane cap and escaping methane is implicated in the Bermuda Triangle. Doomsday scenario- starts with reports of sea bed fissures appearing as we speak, that this area could blow like a volcano taking everything topside with it and covering hundreds of miles into the coast with deadly methane gas sucking away the air and oxygen, Talks are going on now about this and talks of using a nuclear missile to melt the rocks and the tubings and glassify it all, but who knows what will happen then?

Its doomed as the ship collecting the oil from the cap rerouter, burst into flames from a lightning strike, IT could be BP interferred with hell? Then on a live TV, on the incident someone spilled coffee on the desk, hmmm, I am worried.

[lexbarker]

That 100,000 psi is unthinkable. I used to work in a chemical plant with 3,000 psi and it is frightening to hear when the relief valves activated.

[lexbarker]

Is it a coincidence that these 3 transactions took place just days before the big blowout?

http://inspiredeconomist.com/2010/06/17/why-did-halliburton-buy-an-oil-cleanup-company-8-days-before-the-oil-spill/

http://nwoandsecretsocieties.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/bp-chief-tony-hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill-so-did-goldman-sachs-and-halliburton-made-sure-they-bought-a-company-that-cleans-oil-and-gas-fires-before-the-spill/

[Scorpio]

Co - Incidents : Mergers and Aquisition are common in the oil industry as noted in the linked story, and people buy and sell shares all the time.

[Scorpio]

Abstract of an Energy article from EAC: ""Some geologists say that BP's arrogance has set off a series of events that may be irreversible. There are some that think that BP has drilled into a deep-core oil volcano that cannot be stopped, regardless of the horizontal drills the company claims will stop the oil plume in August""


The doomsday theorists at work again, but history is against them .... Drilling relief wells worked for the Ixtoc 1 deepwater well blowout in 1979, this was a very similar senario to the one we are witnessing now; it took 9 months, but the well was successfully killed, and the gulf region's ecology recovered, there is no reason to think it will not work for Horizon.

http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm

[lexbarker]

Interesting article:

Obama Administration Knew About Deepwater Horizon 35,000 Feet Well Bore

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Obama-Administration-Knew-About-Deepwater-Horizon-35000-Feet-Well-Bore.html

[Scorpio]

Interesting article indeed, but it doesnt change the price of coffee .... sorry, I mean oil. :)

[lexbarker]

The doomsday theorists at work again, but history is against them .... Drilling relief wells worked for the Ixtoc 1 deepwater well blowout in 1979, this was a very similar senario to the one we are witnessing now; it took 9 months, but the well was successfully killed, and the gulf region's ecology recovered, there is no reason to think it will not work for Horizon.

http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm

The challenge is bigger this time. The depth under the sea is doubled with much higher pressures.

[Scorpio]

Why do BP go around operating like that? .

Same reason Toyota sold cars that drive themselves off cliffs .... in the haste to meet demand & fill their coffers, quality & safety always goes out the door.

[trini123]

This spill is now the worst in U history.

Spill has an oil slick of 2,500 sq mi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

[trini123]

Check out these people trying to clean up some of this mess. I hope/pray they can get this under control soon.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100704/FEATURES12/100709771/1292/features12?Title=Oil-cleanup-efforts-progress

[lexbarker]

What I don't understand is that for the pst 5 weeks there are a few international oil skimmers waiting on standby in the gulf for the green light to work but have been deliberately delayed.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/coast-guard-still-reviewing-offers-of-help

[trini123]

What I don't understand is that for the pst 5 weeks there are a few international oil skimmers waiting on standby in the gulf for the green light to work but have been deliberately delayed.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/coast-guard-still-reviewing-offers-of-help

It turns out there is the 1920 Jones Act that prevents non US boats from operating in US coastal waters. By the time they make an exception we'll be up to our arse in oil. :-(

[lexbarker]

It turns out there is the 1920 Jones Act that prevents non US boats from operating in US coastal waters. By the time they make an exception we'll be up to our arse in oil. :-(

Obama could use the Presidential Executive Orders to override it.

[trini123]

Check out the latest: BP falsely promised the Minerals Management Service that its oil spill response plan "could recover 197 percent of the daily discharge from an uncontrolled blowout of 250,000 barrels per day," ...

How could anyone promise to recover more than 100% of anything? Are you saying you are so good you would clean up someone else's mess?

Reality: It turns out they can only clean up 900 barrels a day. I guess they were only off by 196.64%. MMS is run by a pack-a-arse. :-)

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Hard-Questions-for-BP-Over-Cleanup-Failures-4231

[trini123]

Check this out: The Russians think their subs that can operate at below 6000m can stop the leak. This may cause a "race to stop the leak". This is good - competition is always healthy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10564798.stm

[trini123]

BP has lowered an 18-foot, 150,000-pound cap on the oil well head. In the next 6-48 hrs we'll know the results. Say your prayers for the planet! If this blows the leak could be worse. Lets hope all is well(no pun intended).

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-containment-cap-reaches-leak-anger/story?id=11145052

[miktay]

Whiile the below story is a bit off a tangent...this is good Friday...

& BP is the bobolee...


Did BP play a role in the release of a notorious terrorist?

A U.S. lawmaker is calling on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate whether BP influenced the release of Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey wants to know whether a quid pro quo led to the 2009 decision by U.K. and Scottish lawmakers to set the Libyan terrorist free. Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001, but released last year when doctors said he had only three months to live before dying of cancer. A doctor now says he could live a decade, according to the Associated Press. The senator wants to know whether the bomber's release was connected to a BP plan to drill for oil off Libya, which the senator says could earn the company up to $20 billion.


A bomb aboard Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 270 people, 189 of them American. The plane was headed from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's JFK International Airport.

[Photos: Damage from the BP oil spill]

In a letter written to Sens. John Kerry and Dick Lugar, the committee chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, Lautenberg called for a full investigation. He wrote:


"Reports have surfaced indicating that a 2007 oil agreement may have influenced the U.K. and Scottish governments' positions concerning Mr. Megrahi’s release in 2009. BP admits that in 2007 it 'told the U.K. government ... it was concerned that a delay in concluding a prisoner transfer agreement with the Libyan government might hurt' the oil deal. Furthermore, letters have been released showing that Jack Straw, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Justice, initially intended to exclude Mr. Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement but later switched his position, citing the 'wider negotiations with the Libyans' and 'overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom.' BP has just announced it will begin deepwater drilling next month off Libya’s coast, and it is estimated BP could earn as much as $20 billion from the deal. It is shocking to even contemplate that this company is profiting from the release of a terrorist with the blood of 189 Americans on his hands."

Megrahi's August 2009 release — on "compassionate" grounds due to supposed imminent death from cancer — caused an uproar in the U.S. and Europe. Anger over the decision has cascaded with Megrahi's continued survival in the months after the release, climaxing with the news that the doctor who diagnosed him may have been paid off by the Libyan government and that Megrahi could survive for 10 to 20 years.


In response to the letter, the British Embassy in Washington defended the decision to release Megrahi, saying it was "made on the basis of advice from the Director of Health at the Scottish Prison Service, who drew on the advice of a number of medical experts."

BP has refused to comment on what it calls mere "speculation."

http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=326310

[trini123]

BP has stopped the flow of oil. Praise God!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

[Scorpio]

THEY DID IT !!!!!!!!!!!!

THE LEAK HAS BEEN STOPPED !!!!!!!!!!

NATURE WILL EVENTUALLY TAKE CARE OF RESTORE THE ECOLOGY OF THE AFFECTED AREAS, WITH SOME TLC FROM CONCERNED PEOPLE & BP's $20 BILLION !