BP Oil Disaster

[mike_s]

Some oil has hit the Louisiana shore. I don't think Fl is affected, yet. I can't believe the US govt. is dragging their feet on this and nobody is saying a word about it.

no oil yet in the FL panhandle. Beaches were clean and so it the water. I was swimming in it just 2 days ago.

some tar balls have washed up on Dolphin Island that are confirmed from the spill.


The tar balls that washed up in Key West were determined NOT to be from the spill from follow on media reports. Other reports of oil washing up in Florida have been determined to be false or inaccurate.

 

[DeputyDan]

The day after the leak - BP said that if the cap solution did not work it would be 9 months to a year before the leak was stopped. The cap solutions didn't work and everyone seems to forget past two of the statement!

 

[DiverBeth]

If the government took over, it would have to hire a contractor with the expertise and the equipment to deal with the problem. BP is already hiring contractors and consulting with every oil industry expert they can find. The only people with this expertise is the oil industry. Is anyone suggesting we use taxpayer money to hire BP as a contractor to clean up the oil spill or do they suggest hiring another oil company. Cheney would already have Haliburton in there as prime contractor, hiring BP as a subcontractor.

It appears that Haliburton may be part of reason this happened.

 

[mike_s]

It appears that Haliburton may be part of reason this happened.

Haliburton provided the "blow out valve" that is on the base that is leaking. From the reports I saw, it was never tested. (which is partly their fault and partly BP's . The valve was built by Cameron International for Haliburton, who provided it to TransOcean for the BP rig.

sadly, this whole thing could have been prevented. The valves are supposed to be tested. Apparently they weren't.


see http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/11/gulf-oil-spill-ceos-refuse-blame-during-senate-hearing/8

 

[Wookie]

It's worse than that. I have friends in the biz, and rumors coming from the 2 survivors from the drill deck were that 1). BP management decided to pull the mud off the formation early, and 2) they were aware that the BOP didn't work, as parts of it were found in the mud screen in the days prior to the blowout. I'd call that callous disregard for safety.

 

[mike_s]

It's worse than that. I have friends in the biz, and rumors coming from the 2 survivors from the drill deck were that 1). BP management decided to pull the mud off the formation early, and 2) they were aware that the BOP didn't work, as parts of it were found in the mud screen in the days prior to the blowout. I'd call that callous disregard for safety.

Frank,

can you explain what "pull the mud off the formation early" means/is?

 

[Scott L]

It appears that Haliburton may be part of reason this happened.

We are aware of your political bent. Although BP's expertise is crucial why has the administration not marshaled the collective services of the other oil companies and foreign assets including Norway who lead the effort to contain and stop the massive Mexican Ixtox event (1979)?

In stead of offering leadership he is vacationing in Chicago and also forgoing the sitting president's customary Memorial Day duties at Arlington National Cemetery...

A recent AP story, not Fox news...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g6OpnUd8DnRMEjvsm32VZStWcDPQD9FTUBKO0

 

[DennisS]

We are aware of your political bent. Although BP's expertise is crucial why has the administration not marshaled the collective services of the other oil companies and foreign assets including Norway who lead the efforts to contain and stop the large Mexican event a decade ago?

In stead of offering leadership he is vacationing in Chicago forgoing the sitting president's customary Memorial Day duties at Arlington cemetery...

A recent AP story, not Fox news...

The Associated Press: Analysis: As slick spreads, so does frustration

What are these other companies going to do that BP isn't doing. I'm sure BP has contacted everyone in the world they know for help. If someone could help them, they hired them. They have the industry contacts. They probably have every boat that can assist, chartered. They've contacted universities that offer degrees in petroleum engineering. BP has billions in resources and the last thing they want is their oil coming ashore. The talent at BP knows a lot more about what's available than any govt bureacrat. BP would love to get the government involved so they could blame them for slowing things down. It's BP's baby.

The AP story sums it up:

"If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters outside BP's headquarters in Houston on Sunday.

Just what did Salazar mean by "push them out of the way"? Officials have struggled since in explaining.

"That's more of a metaphor," the Coast Guard's Allen said Monday. "'Push BP out of the way' would raise the question — replace them with what?"

Another govt official talking out his butt, the govt knows nothing about running an operation like this.

 

[Scott L]

What are these other companies going to do that BP isn't doing. I'm sure BP has contacted everyone in the world they know for help. If someone could help them, they hired them. They have the industry contacts. They probably have every boat that can assist, chartered. They've contacted universities that offer degrees in petroleum engineering. BP has billions in resources and the last thing they want is their oil coming ashore. The talent at BP knows a lot more about what's available than any govt bureaucrat. BP would love to get the government involved so they could blame them for slowing things down. It's BP's baby.

I agree. However, taking no leadership ownership of the national catastrophe and publicly mocking the every entity that is to solve the problem is a travesty IMO...

 

[Wookie]

Mike, the mud (Drilling mud) has many purposes. It lubricates the bit and drill string, carries drill cuttings to the drill deck for analysis and disposal, and has great weight (made greater (or lesser) by adding or subtracting Barite, made with Barium, among others) to hold the pressure of oil or gas in the formation, that is, in the sand and not in the conductor pipe. When a well is finished out, concrete is poured in to plug the bottom, and also to case the well. Once they reach the pre-set depth, they must run and cement the casing -- place casing-pipe sections into the hole to prevent it from collapsing in on itself. The casing pipe has spacers around the outside to keep it centered in the hole. The casing crew puts the casing pipe in the hole. The cement crew pumps cement down the casing pipe using a bottom plug, a cement slurry, a top plug and drill mud. The pressure from the drill mud causes the cement slurry to move through the casing and fill the space between the outside of the casing and the hole. Finally, the cement is allowed to harden and then tested for such properties as hardness, alignment and a proper seal. I'm told that BP management specified a lighter mud than the mudman would have liked. I have no idea why, maybe it is easier to clean the well if a lighter mud is used?