I think we should head to Washington with our pitchforks and demand affordable solar cell pannels for every building in the country.

 

I'm wondering whats up with the blowout preventer stack.  There is so much redundancy there, that this should never have happened.  The first thing they should have done was close the annular BOP, then close the pipe rams and at last resort try to shear the drill pipe.  The only thing that I can think of is that the kick was through the drill pipe.  In this case the only thing they could do was shear the pipe to close off the well.  But if the shear rams tried to close on a tool joint, then there is no way they could cut through it.  Of course, once the rig caught fire, they lost the hydraulic power for the BOP stack.

 

Red Adair passed in 2004.  Joe Bowden's Wild Well Control, Inc is on the scene.  But there is not much you can do with an uncontrolled well 5000 feet below the ocean's surface except slant drill into it and cement it up.  This will take several months.

 

BP leased the rig from Transocean.  Transocean was responsible for the operation of the rig, drilling the well and the maintenance of all the equipment on the rig including the BOP stack.  Of course, there is no telling how much pressure they were getting from BP to complete the well as soon as possible.  BP is not known for its good corporate citizenship, just look at the explosion at its Texas City refinery a few years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Government's Plan for Oil Spill

..........................................................................

 

ViDEO

 

 

FEMA is authorized in Sections 403, 407 and 502 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide assistance to eligible applicants to remove debris from public and private property following a Presidential disaster declaration, when in the public interest.

 

 

Removal must be necessary to eliminate immediate threats to lives, public health and safety; eliminate immediate threats of significant damage to improved public or private property; or ensure the economic recovery of the affected community to the benefit of the community-at-large.  The debris must be the direct result of the disaster and located in the disaster area, and the applicant must have the legal responsibility to remove the debris.

 

 

 

FEMA will (1) reimburse applicants to remove eligible debris, or (2) through a mission assignment to another Federal agency (and upon request of the State) - provide direct Federal assistance when it has been demonstrated that the State and local government lack the capability to perform or contract for the requested work.

 

 

Assistance will be cost-shared (at no less than 75% Federal and 25% non-Federal).  In extreme circumstances, FEMA will provide up to 100% funding for a limited period of time.

 

 

 

 

 ...................

 

 

E.P.A. Establishes Web location on BP Oil Spill /

 

E.P.A. launches location to inform the public about health,

 

environmental impacts of spill

Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02liability.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.........................

 

 

 

Mary008

 

 

 

Thursday, May 6, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Thought you would like to check the time line and extent of a similar Blow Out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After several attempts for securing well that was blowing out for weeks, the fighting to

 

secure the rig and the well was over. Finally, the Seadrill West Altas Jackup ,contracted by

 

PTTEP Australasia, and Montara Wellhead Platform caught fire on 1st November 2009. It’s

 

was so sad news for oilfield.

 

 

 

g&imgrefurl=http://www.drillingformulas.com/tag/well-control/&usg=__x_Ku1OoA8v9DNtkTD8oKU4131as=&h=467&w=350&sz=244&hl=en&st

art=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=5QvVK4GEp2EXxM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwell%2Bblowout%2Bpreventer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GWYE%26tbs%3Disch:1

 

 

............................

 

 

 

 

 

amazing...    :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..............

 

 

Mary008

 

 

 

 

 

Approximate oil locations from April 28, 2010 to May 2, 2010 – NOAA.
This photo from a NASA satellite shows the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on April 25, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

The spill observed from the ISS.BP originally estimated up to 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gal) a day was leaking from the wellhead.[56] On April 28, NOAA said that the rate was probably five times that initially estimated by BP, i.e. 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gal).[57][58] Other sources using satellite imagery have put that number as high as 5,000 to 10,000 barrels (210,000 to 420,000 USgal) a day.[56] According to BP, estimating the flow is very difficult, as there is no metering of the flow underwater.[58] In their permit filed with the MMS, BP quotes a worst case daily discharge of 163,000 barrels (6,800,000 US gal).

 

 

 

The spread of the oil was increased by strong southernly winds caused by an impending cold front. By April 25, the oil spill covered 1,500 square kilometres (580 sq mi) and was only 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the Chandeleur Islands, ecologically sensitive barrier islands, damaged in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.[59] An April 30 estimate placed the total spread of the oil at 3,850 square miles (10,000 km2).[60] The spill quickly approached the Delta National Wildlife Refuge and Breton National Wildlife Refuge,[61][62] where dead animals, including a sea turtle, were found.[63]

 

 

 

Mike Miller of Safety Boss, a fire-fighting company that specializes in oil wells, suggested that the oil spill may become the biggest in history.[58]

wikipedia

 

 

.....................

 

 

Mary008

 

 

.

Oceanic whitetip sharks are among the many marine species vulnerable to the oil disaster.

Disaster Along the Gulf Coast

More information on the oil spill:

Part 2 in our Q&A series on the Gulf Oil Spill. Read Part 1.

 

 

WASHINGTON  Bad wiring and a leak in what's supposed to be a "blowout preventer." Sealing problems that may have allowed a methane eruption. Even a dead battery, of all things.

New disclosures Wednesday revealed a complicated cascade of deep-sea equipment failures and procedural problems in the oil rig explosion and massive spill that is still fouling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatening industries and wildlife near the coast and on shore.

The disclosures were described in internal corporate documents, marked confidential but provided to a House committee by BP PLC, the well's operator, and by the manufacturer of the safety device. Congressional investigators released them.

A senior BP executive, Lamar McKay, cautioned lawmakers,  It's inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known.   But the documents established the firmest evidence to date of the sequence of catastrophic events that led to the explosion and worsening spill, a series of failures more reminiscent of the loss of the space shuttle Challenger than the wreck of the Exxon Valdez.

Like the 1986 Challenger disaster, the investigation into the Gulf spill may well show that complex and seemingly failproof technical systems went wrong because of overlooked problems that interacted with each other in unexpected ways. In the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, a captain simply ran his ship onto a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling some 11 millions barrels of oil.

The April 20 BP rig explosion killed 11 people. Since then, nearly 4 million barrels of oil have spewed from the broken well pipe 5,000 feet under water 40 miles off the Louisiana coast, threatening sensitive ecological marshes and wetlands and the region's fishing industry.

Congressional investigators revealed Wednesday that a key safety system, known as the blowout preventer, used in BP's oil-drilling rig in the Gulf had a hydraulic leak and a failed battery that probably prevented it from working as designed.

They said that BP documents and others also indicated conflicting pipe pressure tests should have warned those on the rig that poor pipe integrity may have been allowing explosive methane gas to leak into the well.

"Significant pressure discrepancies were observed in at least two of these tests, which were conducted just hours before the explosion," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., at a House hearing on the rig fire and oil leak, citing documents his committee had received from BP.

Asked about the tests, Steven Newman, president of Transocean, which owned the drilling rig, and Lamar McKay, president of BP America told the committee the pressure readings were worrisome.

They indicated "that there was something happening in the well bore that shouldn't be happening," said Newman. McKay said the issue "is critical in the investigation" into the cause of the accident.

The well explosion unleashed a massive oil spill that after three weeks remains uncontained.

But Waxman said important elements of what went wrong were beginning to surface.

While "we have far more questions than answers," it appears clear that there were problems with the blowout preventers before the accident and confusion almost right up to the time of the explosion over the success of a process in which cement is injected into the well to temporarily close it in anticipation of future production.

In other developments Wednesday:

� The White House asked Congress to raise the limits on BP's liability to cover damage from the spill beyond the $75 million cap now in law. It also wants oil companies to pay more into a federal oil spill cleanup fund.

BP president Lamar McKay said the company will pay any legitimate claim of damages beyond cleanup costs despite the federal cap.

� On the Gulf Coast, a new containment box � a cylinder called a "top hat" � was placed on the sea floor near the well leak. Engineers hope to work out ways to avoid the problem that scuttled an earlier effort with a much bigger box before they move the cylinder over the end of the 5,000-foot-long pipe from the well.

� The Minerals Management Service told a government panel of investigators in Kenner, La., that inspections of deepwater drilling rigs has turned up only "a couple of minor issues."

The House hearing into the spill was the third this week at which executives of BP and two other companies were questioned by lawmakers.

The committee produced one document from BP that provided the most detailed information to date on what led up to and may have caused the explosion and spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig, floating in mile-deep waters 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana, and why equipment designed to stop a spill failed to do the job.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said there were at least "four significant problems with the blowout preventer" � or BOP � including evidence that it had a significant hydraulic leak and a dead battery that was supposed to activate a so-called "deadman" trigger.

A 2001 report by Transocean, which made the BOP equipment, indicated there can be as many as 260 failure possibilities in the equipment, which is supposed to be the final safeguard against a well blowout by clamping down and sealing a gushing oil well, said Stupak, chairman of the panel's investigation's subcommittee.

"How can a device that has 260 failure modes be considered fail-safe?" asked Stupak.

Stupak said when an underwater remote vehicle tried to activate the blowout protector's devices designed to ram through the pipe and seal it, a loss of hydraulic pressure was discovered in the device's emergency power component.

When dye was injected "it showed a large leak coming from a loose fitting," said Stupak, citing BP documents. He said officials at Cameron, the company that made the preventer, had told the committee the leak was not believed to have been caused by the blowout because other fittings in the system were tight.

Stupak also questioned why the BOP had been modified.

Newman, the Transocean executive told the committee that, indeed, the BOP had been modified in 2005 at the request of BP and with approval of the Minerals Management Service.

Stupak said the committee had been told that one of the BOP's ram drivers had been changed so it could be used for routine testing and was no longer designed to activate in an emergency. He said after the spill BP "spent a day trying to use this ... useless test ram" which no longer was configured for emergency use.

Executives of the companies involved have sought to shift blame on one another at Senate and House hearings this week on the spill.

BP has cited the failure of the blowout preventer owned by Transocean, which in turn has raised questions about the cementing process conducted by Halliburton, a BP subcontractor.

At Senate hearings Tuesday and again before the House panel, Timothy Probert, an executive of Halliburton, said that its work had been completed except for the installation of a final cement cap and that it was done according to the BP drilling plan.

 

I watched a news cast today about oil drilling platforms and this one was flying the (Marshall Islands) flag so they wouldnt have to go through Coast Guard Inspections

 

Corps Gone Bad, they want to drill off our coast but dont want anything to do with our Coast Guard

 

NICE

 

Next we throw some golf balls and used tires down there to plug the pipe

 

If this wasnt so serious you would just have to laugh

 

It should be blatently obvious to anyone paying attention that the whole (Trust US) we got this covered was all just another big Lie from the Paper Palace.

 

 

 

Workers need to be very careful... nowdays we know that workers need special training for oil cleanup... you can't just send a bunch of people down to the beach to mop it up.  They need special gear to limit exposure... a lesson learned from the Alaskan oil spill.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mary008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch as a practical application for discarded hair developed. Because hair naturally

 

absorbs oil and repels water, hair mats were invented to help combat oil spills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 a study conducted by NOAA determined that as of early 2007 more than 26 thousand U.S. gallons (22,000 imp gal; 98,000 L) of oil remain in the sandy soil of the contaminated shoreline, declining at a rate of less than 4% per year.[15]

 

 

 

Almost 20 years after the spill, a team of scientists at the University of North Carolina found that the effects are lasting far longer than expected.[19] The team estimates some shoreline Arctic habitats may take up to 30 years to recover.[5]

 

 

VECO was responsible for large parts of the spill's clean up, hiring 2,500 workers to clean

 

 

 

 

In September of 2007 VECO Corporation was sold to Colorado-based CH2M HILL corporation. Due to the cloud hanging over its head from the political investigation, it is estimated that VECO was forced to sell for far less than its market value. Though he had no legal obligation to do so, Allen negotiated that 5% of the proceeds from the sale of VECO be given to the employees for the years of service they had given the company.

 

 

 

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Mary008

 

Here is a look at Today, Saturday, & Sunday (Projections)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.......................

 

 

 

Mary008

 

 

 

Haliburton does a bad cement job and gas pressure is finding its way around or through the cement plug.

 

Transocean has a BOP stack with a massive hydraulic leak causing the shear rams to be inoperable.

 

The BP company man wants to complete the well anyway. 

 

They circulate out the heavy mud which controls the pressure and circulate in sea water. 

When the well starts to kick they close the pipe rams, but they had changed these out for some kind of unspecified tool.  This was a deadly waste of time. They finally try to shear the drill stem, but they cannot due to the hydraulic leak. 

 

The gas blows the sea water out of the well bore taking out the diverter on the surface.  The rig catches fire.  Eleven die. And we are left with an absolute disaster.

 

 

 

 

 

A blowout is caused when formation pore pressure is greater than the wellbore's hydrostatic pressure at depth, along with the failure of a combination of well control systems - primarily drilling mud hydrostatics and blow-out preventers (BOPs).

When such an incident occurs, formation fluids (oil, natural gas and/or water) begin to flow into the wellbore and up the annulus (the annular space between the outside of the drill string and the walls of the open hole or the inside of the last casing string set), and/or inside the drill pipe.

 

 

The gas and other hydrocarbons commonly ignite during a blow-out, creating an explosion followed by a vigorous fire that is difficult to extinguish.

Blowouts can cause significant damage to drilling rigs, injuries or fatalities to rig personnel, and significant damage to the environment if hydrocarbons are released.

Prior to the development of blow-out preventers and the advent of the rotary drilling process, which generally required the hole to be filled with drilling fluid, blowouts were common during drilling operations, and were referred to as gushers.

wikipedia