Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Initially Reported

[AndyH]

From the start BP seemed bound and determined to pull oil out of that well. If they really wanted to kill it I'm thinking their decisions would have been a bit different.

 

[mwalsh]

From the start BP seemed bound and determined to pull oil out of that well. If they really wanted to kill it I'm thinking their decisions would have been a bit different.

I agree with you...that's the way they seem to have been playing it all along.

 

[evnow]

The only way to get the oil out is to "produce" it. If you bring the oil uncontrolled to the ship - it will definitely blow out and risk 100 lives. Remember, BOP is to prevent the blow out from igniting fire and killing people on the platform. Not for preventing spills.

 

[AndyH]

The only way to get the oil out is to "produce" it. If you bring the oil uncontrolled to the ship - it will definitely blow out and risk 100 lives. Remember, BOP is to prevent the blow out from igniting fire and killing people on the platform. Not for preventing spills.

Yet...I thought the BOP should have used the four or so hydraulic rams to pinch the pipes closed and possibly shear them off?

 

[mitch672]

The only way to get the oil out is to "produce" it. If you bring the oil uncontrolled to the ship - it will definitely blow out and risk 100 lives. Remember, BOP is to prevent the blow out from igniting fire and killing people on the platform. Not for preventing spills.

Yet...I thought the BOP should have used the four or so hydraulic rams to pinch the pipes closed and possibly shear them off?

It was supposed to, but apparantly it was never tested in 5,000 feet of water. A lot of things don't work as we expect them to in a mile of water. Last night the ROV operators spent over 6 hours trying to get an impact socket/wrench on bolts on the broken riser pipe, just to see if it could be done. The answer was, it can't be done...

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

CNBC reporting Diamond offshore platform in shallow water is leaking

 

[evnow]

Now that everyone is closely watching GOM, we are going to find more leaks.

Looks like MMS / oil industry covered up smaller leaks in the past - even using unauthorized dispersents or just running boats in circles.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Why do they have to burn the oil? Too contaminated to be useful? Can't they just have a couple tankers ferry it to a land port? Even though the collected oil is the spoils of a disaster it seems like a waste.

The "Evergreen" burner... nice touch.

 

[evnow]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Why do they have to burn the oil? Too contaminated to be useful? Can't they just have a couple tankers ferry it to a land port? Even though the collected oil is the spoils of a disaster it seems like a waste.

The "Evergreen" burner... nice touch.

The current ship they have doesn't have the capacity to handle more than 15K barrels per day. They need to either process the oil or burn it - if you just try to store it the ship is likely to catch fire because of separating gas.

 

[garygid]

Or, pump it to one of two larger ships and haul it to be processed usefully?

Burning just puts the carbon (as dioxide) into the atmosphere.

 

[evnow]

Or, pump it to one of two larger ships and haul it to be processed usefully?

I beleive it is a safety issue - they need to separate oil & NG or risk a fire.

They are getting a new ship from Europe for this - but that will take sometime.

 

[evnow]

Use the new thread.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=573

Locking this thread.