Gulf Coast Oil Spill

[knowone]

Independant of all the political chitchat about "how busy everybody is and taking measures", "who is responsible" and how it will affect the lives of the people living there (which I also truely consider to be victims of other peoples greed). I think the image in the link below shows one party that seems to get the least press:

View attachment 76170

It was taken 50 km of the coast of Louisiana. Personally, it anoys me that its always about fixing in stead of preventing. Cleaning up and placing a dome sounds nice, but it isn't.

Four million gallons US spilt. Three hundred and fifty million dollars US spent.
Just a brick in the ocean. Or a drop in the wall.

 

[widget]

Last I heard the containment dome was iceing up and not very usefull, so it was sort of put to one side (literally) while they comtemplated what to do now.?

Apart from a lot of finger pointing amongst the three main companies as to why this disaster occured, international news has been a bit thin on any further efforts to stem the flow of oil.

Dos anybody know of any new developments that may have come to light recently.? Or is the dome the best we have right now.?

 

[captain]

There are three proposals now being considered. A much smaller dome which is already on the sea floor but hasn't yet been positioned on the leak. The idea is the smaller dome won't have as much seawater in it to form hydrates and plug it up.
The second is to slip a pipe into the existing one and up to the surface. As it would require cutting into the pipe they are using either ultrasonic or X ray to determine where the restriction points are in the well before doing that to ensure they don't make the leak worse.
The last is what they are calling a junk shot which is injecting ground up rubber tires and other debris into the pipe to clog it up similar to clogging a toilet.

 

[widget]

There are three proposals now being considered. A much smaller dome which is already on the sea floor but hasn't yet been positioned on the leak. The idea is the smaller dome won't have as much seawater in it to form hydrates and plug it up.
The second is to slip a pipe into the existing one and up to the surface. As it would require cutting into the pipe they are using either ultrasonic or X ray to determine where the restriction points are in the well before doing that to ensure they don't make the leak worse.
The last is what they are calling a junk shot which is injecting ground up rubber tires and other debris into the pipe to clog it up similar to clogging a toilet.

Yes, I know about the "Junk Shot" option but I have heard the depth is also an issue with this idea as everything will need to be done by robotics. Plus of course there is the risk that the plug dos not work but actually opens the leak further.?

I wasnt aware of the smaller dome and the thinner pipe idea. Thanks for the info.

Thinking aloud, hydrates are always going to be present at this low temp so I have to wonder if the smaller dome is really feasible - hydrates are much lighter than seawater, so its not impossible a build up of hydrates in a smaller dome could easily cause it to become bouyant and move out of position.??

Very challenging indeed.!

 

[caseybird]

So Gulf Divers? What have you observed? Are you still spearing near the rigs? Has diving been aected? What have you seen?

 

[Mike Boswell]

Here is an interesting article in todays NPR, saying some scientists estimate that the spill is leaking not 5,000 barrels per day, but at least ten times that amount. They say this is equivalent to one "Exxon Valdex" size spill every four days!

Gulf Spill Could Be Much Worse Than Believed : NPR

 

[discnjh]

Thinking aloud, hydrates are always going to be present at this low temp so I have to wonder if the smaller dome is really feasible - hydrates are much lighter than seawater, so its not impossible a build up of hydrates in a smaller dome could easily cause it to become bouyant and move out of position.??

Very challenging indeed.!

I believe they had the new dome hooked up to a pipe through which they would be pumping methanol to prevent the accumulation of hydrates.

 

[deeper thoughts]

The Associated Press: Where's the oil? Model suggests much may be gone

 

[matts1w]

The Associated Press: Where's the oil? Model suggests much may be gone

This guy seems to have found some oil... This video makes me sick.

YouTube - BP Slick THE SOURCE 05.07.10.mov

 

[deeper thoughts]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html

No comment needed, this article speaks for itself