Oil Slick Getting Real Serious

Snaggletiger · « **on:** April 30, 2010, 01:34:09 PM »

Okay, this thing went from a tragedy on an oil rig out in the Gulf, to a potential eco-catastrophe that most experts are saying will be worse than the Exxon Valdeeeezzz. All those years ago (Many of you are probably too young to recall how bad that was) the Exxon spill was bad news but it was still an event that was seemingly half way around the world and it just didn't hit home. Pull up some stuff on that disaster and it will blow your mind what that did to Alaska's waters and coast. This one is different. This slick could F up the Gulf Coast big time. Wes, what are you hearing? Will it go that far east? Anyone on here living along the coast?

JR4AU · « **Reply #1 on:** April 30, 2010, 01:40:50 PM »

Quote from: Harvey Birdman on April 30, 2010, 01:34:09 PM

Okay, this thing went from a tragedy on an oil rig out in the Gulf, to a potential eco-catastrophe that most experts are saying will be worse than the Exxon Valdeeeezzz. All those years ago (Many of you are probably too young to recall how bad that was) the Exxon spill was bad news but it was still an event that was seemingly half way around the world and it just didn't hit home. Pull up some stuff on that disaster and it will blow your mind what that did to Alaska's waters and coast. This one is different. This slick could F up the Gulf Coast big time. Wes, what are you hearing? Will it go that far east? Anyone on here living along the coast?

If'n I was one to believe in such things...I'd be likely to think God has it in for LA. And yes, this is set up to be a VERY BAD and long lasting eco-disaster.

Tiger Wench · « **Reply #2 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:04:31 PM »

BP is fucked. Royally and completely fucked.

Cameron (the maker of the BOP that did not work) is also fucked.

The thunderstorms in the GOM rightnow have turned this into a disaster beyond reckoning, with the winds and waves pushing oil over and beyond the containment booms and the currents carrying the flow from the leaks along at a faster rate.

This is now a national problem, which makes this Obama's problem. This is his Katrina. How he and his buncha fucking greenie communists handle this will have an effect on his entire presidency.

dallaswareagle · « **Reply #3 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:12:53 PM »

Quote from: Tiger Wench on April 30, 2010, 03:04:31 PM

BP is fucked. Royally and completely fucked.

Cameron (the maker of the BOP that did not work) is also fucked.

The thunderstorms in the GOM rightnow have turned this into a disaster beyond reckoning, with the winds and waves pushing oil over and beyond the containment booms and the currents carrying the flow from the leaks along at a faster rate.

This is now a national problem, which makes this Obama's problem. This is his Katrina. How he and his buncha fucking greenie communists handle this will have an effect on his entire presidency.

They will still blame bush. We should hear that this rig was built on his watch, the standards were set while he was in office.

We as people are fucked, you can't forget about anymore offshore drilling for a long time.

Tiger Wench · « **Reply #4 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:15:19 PM »

Quote from: dallaswareagle on April 30, 2010, 03:12:53 PM

We as people are fucked, you can't forget about anymore offshore drilling for a long time.

You mean we can forget about anymore NEW offshore drilling for a long time. The ban is for new permits, so anyone that already has a permit can drill.

Also, those are federal permits only - for federal waters. Within state waters, you only need a state permit. Louisiana and TX will continue to issue permits.

dallaswareagle · « **Reply #5 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:19:32 PM »

Quote from: Tiger Wench on April 30, 2010, 03:15:19 PM

You mean we can forget about anymore NEW (my bad meant to say this) offshore drilling for a long time. The ban is for new permits, so anyone that already has a permit can drill.

Also, those are federal permits only - for federal waters. Within state waters, you only need a state permit. Louisiana and TX will continue to issue permits.

wesfau2 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:27:35 PM »

Quote from: Harvey Birdman on April 30, 2010, 01:34:09 PM

Wes, what are you hearing? Will it go that far east? Anyone on here living along the coast?

Supposed to be here by Monday. Going to royally fuck up our economy for a long time if it's as bad as advertised.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #7 on:** April 30, 2010, 03:37:57 PM »

Quote from: wesfau2 on April 30, 2010, 03:27:35 PM

Supposed to be here by Monday. Going to royally phuk up our economy for a long time if it's as bad as advertised.

Fuck

RWS · « **Reply #8 on:** April 30, 2010, 09:47:49 PM »

I was out in the boat with dad today. They have booms around Ono Island, Robinson Island, and Bird Island in Orange Beach. I think they were starting to put some on the beach as well, so they could quickly drag them out when the storms passed today. There were crews over by where the marine police are stationed with a shitload of booms when I was out. Gulf Shores just got halfassed right, after alot of layoffs, pay cuts, and other shit for employees. We really don't need this bullshit.

The Prowler · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2010, 01:50:32 PM »

TW, do you know if it's still pumping out 210,000 Gallons a day with the valve at 75% closed? If so, the Gulf Coast seafood industry could go under, along with all of the tourist attractions in the affected areas. It'll take over ten years.

bottomfeeder · « **Reply #10 on:** May 02, 2010, 04:00:04 AM »

It was serious the minute it blew up. I have been de-friended by three people on Facebook because I commented on how this would devastate the economies along the Gulf Coast and how there will be negligence found on the part of many businesses to include Transocean. That was Wednesday night. The main person I was talking to was an engineer for Transocean. They clammed up pretty quick, but no big loss to me, they really don't know me that well anyway. The people who do know me are still my friends because of who I am, and not what others want me to be.

Besides all of the drama "We Are Fucked." And it will take decades to recover our wetland animals if they recover at all. Commerical fishing, oyster, shrimping, the entire ecosystem will be terminated. And, those who use to work those jobs will be flooding the job market on top of what we already have looking for work. This IS the straw.

BZ770 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 02, 2010, 08:08:42 AM »

I read some emails at work about how this might affect our Crude Coming in and our Dock Traffic and it won't be pretty. I hope this gets under control very quick.

Tiger Wench · « **Reply #12 on:** May 02, 2010, 11:33:12 PM »

The primary negligence will most likely be on the part of Halliburton. They were doing the actual cementing operations.

Once a well is drilled, you place casing (thick pipe) in the hole as a support. You cement the pieces of pipe together. Speculation I have heard is that at such depth (a mile under water and then 2.5 miles under the seabed) the cement is not curing. If it does not cure, it can perforate, and gas can leak in through the perfs and come back up the pipe. There is tremendous static electricity on a drilling rig. One spark...

Word is that they had actually competed cementing operations, and if so, the oddds are good that no one was paying attention to the down hole pressures. During drilling and when there is something actively going on down hole, there are guys sitting in a control booth doing absolutely nothing other than monitoring the downhole conditions - pressure, temperatures, etc. If they were between phases, there might not have been the necessary dilligence. That will all be speculation, of course, since the men who might know about that were all incinerated when the well blew. In actuality, this kind of thing has happened before during cementing operations, but the BOP (blow out preventer) worked and prevented a newsworthy story.

BP's biggest issue right now is that they had NO contingency plan whatsoever for a catastrophic event like this. The question will be - did you not consider how to shut in a well at 5000+feet subsea depth? They literally have NOTHING - no fucking clue - how to shut this well in, and neither do any of the other companies that drill deepwater. "This never happens" so no one has the tools or equipment that could handle this scenario at such depths. BP's own internal risk analysis pooh-poohed the idea of such an event occurring. They determined that the risk was so miniscule, that it was not cost effective to waste time and money to come up with a means of shutting in the well if it did happen. And they were right - to a point. This just does not happen on such a catastrophic scale. But now it has, against the odds, and they are caught with their pants down. They were drilling with fingers crossed and it didn't work this time. It could have just as easily been XOM or Shell or Chevron - it just happened to be BP. So all the investigations in the world are not going to change anything. in fact, even if they wanted to buy equipment to work at this depth, it does not exist. There has never been a need and there is no market for it - until now.

So HAL will catch a lot of the heat, and the rig workers were Transocean hands, and the company man for BP will have some 'splainin to do, but at the end of the day, it is BP that will take 90% of the blame, the PR hit, and the monetary loss.

bottomfeeder · « **Reply #13 on:** May 03, 2010, 02:31:14 AM »

I read one idea about angle drilling just below the well head to plug it.

RWS · « **Reply #14 on:** May 03, 2010, 09:37:22 AM »

There are some people I know who are all up in arms at the government and BP. I just really don't understand this. And then you have the hippies who are using this as the justification as why we shouldn't drill in the Gulf. What they fail to understand, as TW has pointed out, is this seems like a one-in-a-hojillion type incident. Some are criticizing the government for their response, but living 10 minutes from the Gulf, I can tell you that it seems that everybody at the local, state, and federal level are all doing a pretty good job, considering there was never any kind of plan drawn up for this.

I think society simple needs to point a finger at somebody. This can't possibly be just some freak accident, it HAS to be somebody's fault. Maybe it is. We will probably never know. Pointing fingers really just doesn't help at this point, though.

bottomfeeder · « **Reply #15 on:** May 03, 2010, 11:38:56 AM »

Quote

Why didn't BP use "super shears" like they do in Brazil? See comment below from theoildrum.com:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6421#more

Toolpush on May 3, 2010 - 6:11am

In Brasil before a rig starts a contract, they must land a tool joint on the pipe rams cut the it with the shears rams to prove the shears are capable at depth. The industry has reconized the problem and have moved from 3000psi operating pressure to 5000psi. The introduction of super shears which are designed to cut through nearly anything that needs to pass through the BOP has also been a change. The differance in the super shears to standard shears is they do not cut and seal. They just cut and the standard shear/blinds are used to seal in the well. the Horizon did not have super shears

The non operation of the BOP is does not just involve the shears, as in the pictures a large shooting flame can be seen coming out of the diverter, which infers the annulus is open, ie the pipe rams or the annualar are not closed and sealed. Also the hot stab on the ROV is not working, which basically rules out the probability of a control problem and points to a blockage in the BOP

http://www.energyindustryphotos.com/videos_of_oil_rig_blowouts_and_f.htm

Here's a great read on the subject.

http://www.drillingahead.com/forum/topics/transocean-deepwater-horizon-1

Interview with someone who was on the rig.

http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=201004131104

Tiger Wench · « **Reply #16 on:** May 03, 2010, 01:02:12 PM »

I will not say where I got this so don't ask. But it kind of backs up my speculation earlier that the gas perfed some uncured cement. The only guys who know the truth are gone.

Quote

TALKED TO MY SON, HE IS AT HOME NOW, AND IN GOOD SHAPE, WHAT I WAS TOLD WAS
THEY HAD SET A 9-5/8 TAPERED PRODUCTION LINER, DID THEIR CEMENT JOB, HAD
POSITIVE TESTED, AND ALSO NEGITIVE TESTED, THEY WERE GOING TO SET A BALANCED
PLUG AROUND 3000' BELOW THE WELL HEAD WHICH WOULD BE AT ABOUT 8000', THE
SENIOR COMPANY MAN WANTED TO SET THE BALANCED PLUG IN MUD, BUT THE ENGINEERS
WANTED TO DISPLACE WITH WATER PRIOR TO SETTING BALANCED PLUG, SO THEY
DISPLACED FROM 3000' BELOW MUD LINE, AND WERE GETTING READY TO SET PLUG. THE
DERRICKMAN CALLED THE DRILLER AND SAID HE NEEDED HELP, HE HAD MUD GOING
EVERYWHERE, AND ABOUT THIS TIME THE DRILL FLOOR DISAPEARED, THEN THERE WAS
AN EXPLOSION, THEN A SECOND EXPLOSION.

THE FLAMES ARE NOW GOING STRAIGHT UP ALLOWING EVACUATION OF MEN, THEN YOU
KNOW THE REST.

THE HANDS THAT ARE MISSING ARE THE ONES THAT WERE ON THE DRILL FLOOR AND
PUMP ROOM. YOU KNOW THE RESULTS OF THAT. THIS ALL TOOK PLACE IN LESS THAN A
MINUTE.

RIG WAS EVACUATED IN ABOUT 25 MINUTES.

IT IS BELIVED THAT THE SEAL ASSEMBLY AT THE WELL HEAD GAVE UP. IF THAT IS
THE CASE AND THEY WOULD HAVE SET THE BALANCED PLUG IN MUD THEN DISPLACED THE
RISER, IT WOULD ONLY HAVE DELAYED WHAT HAPPENED BY A COUPLE OF HOURS.

GAS MUST HAVE CHANNELLED THROUGH THE CEMENT JOB AND UP THE BACK SIDE OF THE
9-5/8 PRODUCTION CASING.

THIS IS ALL I KNOW AT PRESENT.

RWS · « **Reply #17 on:** May 03, 2010, 01:14:47 PM »

Quote from: Tiger Wench on May 03, 2010, 01:02:12 PM

I will not say where I got this so don't ask. But it kind of backs up my speculation earlier that the gas perfed some uncured cement. The only guys who know the truth are gone.

That sucks. Just seems like one of those once in a lifetime things. I have to give credit to BP though, they seem to be all about spending whatever money they have to; even if it is just CYA and so they don't take such a huge PR hit.

GH2001 · « **Reply #18 on:** May 03, 2010, 01:15:01 PM »

Quote from: Tiger Wench on May 03, 2010, 01:02:12 PM

I will not say where I got this so don't ask. But it kind of backs up my speculation earlier that the gas perfed some uncured cement. The only guys who know the truth are gone.

Good info TW. You got skreets.

Tiger Wench · « **Reply #19 on:** May 03, 2010, 01:17:45 PM »

Quote from: RWS on May 03, 2010, 01:14:47 PM

That sucks. Just seems like one of those once in a lifetime things. I have to give credit to BP though, they seem to be all about spending whatever money they have to; even if it is just CYA and so they don't take such a huge PR hit.

BP has no choice - part of the deal about getting federal oil leases is that you are liable for any pollution. The Feds would sue their asses seventeen ways to Sunday if they didn't pay, plus make them forfeit all remaining leases inthe GOM and other US waters, and probably seizze their other domestic assets too. BP is not jsut being "responsible' - they got no fucking choice.

The Feds don't want to have to try and sort out who is at fault, so they make the Operator (BP) eat it all and then let BP and its lawyers sue everyone else to try and recoup losses.