Massive Gulf Coast Oil Spill

[rajncajn]

Looks like the leak was stopped.

 

Link

Not yet, they're still encountering some pressure and must get it down to zero before they can pump in the concrete. Once the concrete is in it will take between 1-3 hours to set.

[Delicious_bass]

Fingers crossed :hopeful:

[rajncajn]

Ugh.

 

APNewsBreak: New, giant sea oil plume seen in Gulf

 

By MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN (AP) – 3 hours ago

 

NEW ORLEANS — Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama.

 

The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume recorded since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20.

 

The thick plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet, and is more than 6 miles wide, said David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at the school.

 

Hollander said the team detected the thickest amount of hydrocarbons, likely from the oil spewing from the blown out well, at about 1,300 feet in the same spot on two separate days this week.

 

The discovery was important, he said, because it confirmed that the substance found in the water was not naturally occurring and that the plume was at its highest concentration in deeper waters. The researchers will use further testing to determine whether the hydrocarbons they found are the result of dispersants or the emulsification of oil as it traveled away from the well.

 

The first such plume detected by scientists stretched from the well southwest toward the open sea, but this new undersea oil cloud is headed miles inland into shallower waters where many fish and other species reproduce.

 

The researchers say they are worried these undersea plumes may are the result of the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil a mile undersea at the site of the leak.

 

Hollander said the oil they detected has dissolved into the water, and is no longer visible, leading to fears from researchers that the toxicity from the oil and dispersants could pose a big danger to fish larvae and filter feeders such as sperm whales.

 

"There are two elements to it," Hollander said. "The plume reaching waters on the continental shelf could have a toxic effect on fish larvae, and we also may see a long term response as it cascades up the food web."

[Square]

So this is really third hand, but this post from a chemical engineer seems to make it sound like the plume could end up ok (well, at least not as disastrous as it sounds).

 

The fact that it is not floating is actually a good thing. The plume as it has been described would probably be the first step in bioremediation. As the surfactant breaks up the oil, it disperses it into the water column and this will allow the natural process to be jump started into actually breaking down the oil. Yeah, it's large. Yeah, it's not pretty. But it's actually one of the steps we want to see happening.

 

This is of course, my non-expert opinion, but this is generally what happens in the lab when I apply surfactants to the drilling mud samples I get.

 

You want to break down those toxic streams of oil and disperse them into the water column to lessen their concentration. You are lowering their ppm concentration.

 

The Gulf has 643 quadrillion gallons of water so the more plumes and mixing and dispersing we see, the better.

 

Corexit bio-degrades in 28days and does not bio accumulate nor are any of it's components carcinogenic or mutagenic. Let me highlight the bio-degradation by saying 28days means that there is no risk of long term effects on the environment. Corexit is 7 times safer than household dish soap

[rajncajn]

Setback delays 'top kill' effort to seal leak

Gulf oil leak becomes biggest spill in U.S. history

 

msnbc.com news services

updated 3 minutes ago

 

COVINGTON, La. - BP's attempt to choke off the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico appeared to hit a snag Thursday after crews discovered a complication from its "top kill" procedure, the New York Times reported.

 

BP halted its effort to plug the well when "engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid they were injecting into the well had escaped along with the leaking crude oil," The New York Times reported. A technician told the newspaper that pumping had to be halted while crew reviewed plans. “We’re still quite optimistic,” he told the New York Times, but cautioned: “It is not assured and its not a done deal yet. All of this will require some time.”

 

'True scale of the monster'

The stakes were higher than ever as public frustration over the spill grew and a team of government scientists said the oil has been flowing at a rate 2½ to five times higher than what BP and the Coast Guard initially estimated.

 

Two teams of scientists calculated the well has been spewing between 504,000 and more than a million gallons a day. Even using the most conservative estimate, that means nearly 18 million gallons have spilled so far. In the worst-case scenario, 39 million gallons have leaked.

 

That larger figure would be nearly four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which a tanker ran aground in Alaska in 1989, spilling nearly 11 million gallons.

 

"Now we know the true scale of the monster we are fighting in the Gulf," said Jeremy Symons, vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. "BP has unleashed an unstoppable force of appalling proportions."

Edited May 27, 2010 by rajncajn

[budlitebrad]

http://twitter.com/BPGlobalPR

 

Great stuff.

[tazinib1]

Like I said earlier, the Egyptians would have had that damn things plugged up by now.

[bpwallace49]

Like I said earlier, the Egyptians would have had that damn things plugged up by now.

 

I didnt know the Egyptians laid concrete in 5,000 feet of water? Those guys were AWESOME . . .

[budlitebrad]

Latest Attempt by BP to Plug Oil Leak in Gulf of Mexico Fails

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and LESLIE KAUFMAN

Published: May 29, 2010

 

HOUSTON — BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

BP made a third attempt at what is termed the “junk shot” Friday night, a procedure that involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well. The maneuver is complementary to the heavily scrutinized effort known as a “top kill,”which began four days ago and involves pumping heavy mud into the well to counteract the push of the escaping oil. If the well is sealed, the company plans to then fill it with cement.

 

The technician working on the project said Saturday pumping has again been halted and a review of the data so far is under way.

 

“Right now, I would not be optimistic,” the technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the effort. But he added, that if another attempt at the junk shot were to succeed, “that would turn things around.”

 

BP said Saturday it would not comment on the technician’s assertions. Officials have said they will continue the process into Sunday before they declare it a success or failure.

 

So here's hoping that Operation "Throw Random Sh#t in the Well" works out.

[bpwallace49]

BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak

 

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols, Associated Press Writer – 32 mins ago

ROBERT, La. – BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but is readying yet another approach after repeated failures to stop the crude that's fouling marshland and beaches.

 

BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.

 

In the six weeks since the spill began, the company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher, as estimates of how much oil is leaking grow more dire. The spill is the worst in U.S. history — exceeding even the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster — and dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

 

"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet."

 

The company failed in the days after the spill to use robot submarines to close valves on the massive blowout preventer atop the damaged well, then two weeks later ice-like crystals clogged a 100-ton box the company tried placing over the leak. Earlier this week, engineers removed a mile-long siphon tube after it sucked up a disappointing 900,000 gallons of oil from the gusher.

 

Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death.

 

President Barack Obama visited the coast Friday to see the damage as he tried to emphasize that his administration was in control of the crisis. He told people in Grand Isle, where the beach has been closed by gobs of oil, that they wouldn't be abandoned.

 

After BP announced the top kill failure, Obama said from Chicago that the continued flow of oil into the Gulf is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking."

 

Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next attempt to stop the leak that began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in April, killing 11 people.

 

The company plans to use robot submarines to cut off the damaged riser from which the oil is leaking, and then try to cap it with a containment valve. The effort is expected to take between four and seven days.

 

"We're confident the job will work but obviously we can't guarantee success," Suttles said of the new plan, declining to handicap the likelihood it will work.

 

He said that cutting off the damaged riser isn't expected to cause the flow rate of leaking oil to increase significantly.

 

The permanent solution to the leak, a relief well currently being drilled, won't be ready until August, BP says.

 

Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser likely was restricting the flow of oil somewhat, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve is risky.

 

"If they can't get that valve on, things will get much worse," said Philip W. Johnson, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama.

 

Johnson said he thinks BP can succeed with the valve, but added: "It's a scary proposition."

 

Word that the top-kill had failed hit hard in fishing communities along Louisiana's coast.

 

"Everybody's starting to realize this summer's lost. And our whole lifestyle might be lost," said Michael Ballay, the 59-year-old manager of the Cypress Cove Marina in Venice, La., near where oil first made landfall in large quanities almost two weeks ago.

 

Johnny Nunez, owner of Fishing Magician Charters in Shell Beach, La., said the spill is hurting his business during what's normally the best time of year — and there's no end in sight.

 

"If fishing's bad for five years, I'll be 60 years old. I'll be done for," he said after watching BP's televised announcement.

 

Maybe the "fire a torpedo and hope it works" is the next option.

[SuperBalla]

Now I see what kind of crap company we are dealing with...I heard this from people prior to it leaking on the news.

[tazinib1]

I didnt know the Egyptians laid concrete in 5,000 feet of water? Those guys were AWESOME . . .

 

Whats a couple thousand goat intestine sewn together eh? Seriously though....yeah they WERE awesome...I certainlyI wouldn't put it past em. The stuff they built we still cannot duplicate with modern machinery. So yeah....I'd say it's plausible. But anyway..back to bashing the Brits.

 

ETA: There is a conspiracy floating around that BP is actually delaying the plug until they can figure out how to barrel all the oil that has spilled. Seems like a stretch to me...but a potential BOMB SHELL if even remotely true.

Edited May 30, 2010 by tazinib1

['canes2004]

Now I see what kind of crap company we are dealing with...I heard this from people prior to it leaking on the news.

 

Not only a crap company, but a crap Federal Government who is "clearly in charge" of the operation.

 

What a f*cking joke.

[Kid Cid]

Why was the title changed? It was far better as Gulg.

[SuperBalla]

BP officials 911 call...

 

"Just wanted to give you ahh, heads up" This nonchalant reaction is why my son and his generation will not know the paradise we once took for granted. So many people's lives changed...forever.

 

Edited May 30, 2010 by SuperBalla

[Jackass]

Not only a crap company, but a crap Federal Government who is "clearly in charge" of the operation.

 

What a f*cking joke.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you weren't asking for more government involvement before this incident.

[millerx]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you weren't asking for more government involvement before this incident.

Some people just don't get the difference in a desire for limited government versus no government at all.

[Jackass]

Some people just don't get the difference in a desire for limited government versus no government at all.

 

Wow, some people would actually be in favor of no government regulation and then having the government come in and fix all the problems when something goes wrong. Gee, i can't imagine who would be in favor of that.

[loaf]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0053002195.html

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

Whats a couple thousand goat intestine sewn together eh? Seriously though....yeah they WERE awesome...I certainlyI wouldn't put it past em. The stuff they built we still cannot duplicate with modern machinery. So yeah....I'd say it's plausible. But anyway..back to bashing the Brits.

 

ETA: There is a conspiracy floating around that BP is actually delaying the plug until they can figure out how to barrel all the oil that has spilled. Seems like a stretch to me...but a potential BOMB SHELL if even remotely true.

 

My guess is that they are stalling. If they seal it all up before they can get the relief wells drilled they have zero chance of ever being allowed to tap into that oil reserve again. maybe or maybe not. But it sure sounds plausable to me.

[moneymakers]

Pelosi blames Bush administration for BP oil spill

 

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/...l#ixzz0pReG9lHc

 

 

problem solved.

[Jackass]

Government estimates say that between 18 million and 40 million gallons have been dumped into the Gulf.

 

That's a lot of f$%^ing oil.

['canes2004]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you weren't asking for more government involvement before this incident.

 

I probably took for granted that regulations in place to take care of our natural resources were being enforced properly. But as usual after a major disaster, you realize that those regulations fell far short of what should be. Now I feel frustrated that not enough is being done to help stop this catastrophe from continuing.

 

Are you satisfied with the governments response to this disaster?

['canes2004]

Pelosi blames Bush administration for BP oil spill

 

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/...l#ixzz0pReG9lHc

 

 

problem solved.

 

Sad. There is plenty of time to point fingers at each other and bring politics into the mix but not now. Now we should worry about how to stop the flow and clean up the mess. We can call each other names later.

[bushwacked]

Are you satisfied with the governments response to this disaster?

 

If anything, the govt. failed to have proper regulations in place forcing oil companies to have a mitigation plan and appropriate technologies developed and ready to utilize for a disaster such as this. Other than that, there is only so much the govt. can do in reaction to a manmade caused disaster by a private enterprise.