This Oil spill in the Gulf sounds like it could be an economic catstrophe

• tk421

  

  ^^^^^ That's one spill I would gladly clean up.
• QuakerOats

  Administration Seeks To Reinstate Offshore Drilling Moratorium.
  The New York Times (7/8, A16, Broder) reports that in a court filing late Tuesday, "the Obama administration has asked a federal court in Louisiana to reinstate the ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the moratorium was a rational response to the unparalleled emergency of the BP oil spill," and "was necessary to allow time to adopt stricter safety and environmental regulation of deepwater wells." A Federal judge in June had ruled that the Administration "had failed to justify the need for 'a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium' on deepwater oil and gas drilling." But in its reply, the government said the moratorium "was required because continued operations without new safety measures threatened irreparable harm to the marine and coastal environment across the gulf," and the "BP oil spill had taxed the resources available to respond to and clean up the mess and that government and industry could not cope with a second blowout."
• believer

  

  ^^^It amazes me that the Feds initially restricted drilling to deep water operations, then failed miserably at the well inspection stage, and now think we need more regulations to deep water drilling to "prevent" another catastrophe.
  
  It's funny how the Feds always think more regulation is the key to solving issues as opposed to putting teeth in already existing regulations.
• Bigdogg

  Anybody know anything about Abiotic oil? I have seen several articles that this is what we hit in the Golf of Mexico. If it is true it could be a big problem shutting this thing off.
• sonofsam

  

  I'm telling you guys... The U.S. government does not want this spill to be contained... If they did, they would do the following "Basic" things...
  
  Drop a tube in the pipe that has an inflatable cuff... Inflate the cuff, weld a cut-out piece of metal around the tube so the cuff does not push out of the pipe... Slide a piece of pipe over the tube that has a ball valve inside down to the site. Weld in place and turn the freakin' valve! done deal, gulf spill over! Instead they want to make trillions of dollars of this.
• believer

  

  sonofsam;421059 wrote:I'm telling you guys... The U.S. government does not want this spill to be contained... If they did, they would do the following "Basic" things...
  
  Drop a tube in the pipe that has an inflatable cuff... Inflate the cuff, weld a cut-out piece of metal around the tube so the cuff does not push out of the pipe... Slide a piece of pipe over the tube that has a ball valve inside down to the site. Weld in place and turn the freakin' valve! done deal, gulf spill over! Instead they want to make trillions of dollars of this.

  Yeah but for what end? What purpose?
• Writerbuckeye

  

  I think that kind of precision welding and placement would almost require a human being to be right there. Obviously, the depth of the water prevents that from happening.
  
  I don't believe they have the technological acumen to do such precise work at those levels -- and I'm also not convinced such a contraption would hold against the pressure of the oil and with the pressure of the sea depth.
• j_crazy

  

  Writerbuckeye;421210 wrote:I think that kind of precision welding and placement would almost require a human being to be right there. Obviously, the depth of the water prevents that from happening.
  
  I don't believe they have the technological acumen to do such precise work at those levels -- and I'm also not convinced such a contraption would hold against the pressure of the oil and with the pressure of the sea depth.

  
  these robots can weld pretty precisely. now a weld that will contain this type of pressure, would never be done in the field. not saying it shouldn't be tried, but typically they do this type of sensitive welding on the beach.
• j_crazy

  

  abiotic oil is an old (since debunked) theory on how oil was formed. abiotic literally means "without life" so all it means is that oil is in-organic (which judging from it's carbon content we can all agree is false).
  
  the theory to which i believe you're referencing is an outdated, 19th century philosophy that oil is formed from magma, in the earth's core, so there is a limitless supply of oil per well, since they all are pulling from the same reservoir. this is as far from the truth as you could possibly be. not only are there millions of reservoirs in the world that contain oil and gas, but most of them are compartmentalized, meaning there is some sort of divider within the rock to the point that two wells in the same reservoir won't affect each other's drawdown at all.
• Bigdogg

  j_crazy;421230 wrote:abiotic oil is an old (since debunked) theory on how oil was formed. abiotic literally means "without life" so all it means is that oil is in-organic (which judging from it's carbon content we can all agree is false).
  
  the theory to which i believe you're referencing is an outdated, 19th century philosophy that oil is formed from magma, in the earth's core, so there is a limitless supply of oil per well, since they all are pulling from the same reservoir. this is as far from the truth as you could possibly be. not only are there millions of reservoirs in the world that contain oil and gas, but most of them are compartmentalized, meaning there is some sort of divider within the rock to the point that two wells in the same reservoir won't affect each other's drawdown at all.

  
  I see more junk put out by the conspiracy nuts. I did read where this is a very high pressure well and there are concerns that there is a rock fracture. If so, dose that mean it would be difficult to stop the leaking since it would be leaking over a wide area?
• j_crazy

  

  Bigdogg;421325 wrote:I see more junk put out by the conspiracy nuts. I did read where this is a very high pressure well and there are concerns that there is a rock fracture. If so, dose that mean it would be difficult to stop the leaking since it would be leaking over a wide area?

  
  the main concern with this well was the fact that they (BP) had very little cement integrity and likely this well was not only flowing up the casing and drill pipe, but also flowing up the annulus (the space between rock and casing (or 2 strings of casing)). If the well was flowing up the annulus, there is no way to stop it, since closing a valve or setting a plug isn't going to stop it. and even if you did stop the flow to surface, then you could cause an underground blowout (where high pressure reservoir fluids flow from a high pressure reservoir into a low pressure reservoir). the only way to stop that type of thing is to do the bottom kill (relief well). this is because the well is killed and then you pump cement into the void spaces where the oil and gas were flowing and it sets up and prevents flow from recurring.
  
  this well had not been fractured by BP so if it was fractured naturally, it could definitely spell bad news (but the bottom kill should still work). all it really means is there is a superconductive route for the oil and gas to reach the wellbore. think of it as a sponge in a bucket of water that you are draining . it takes a lot longer for the water in the sponge to be drained out of the bucket than it does for the rest of the water, because there is nothing holding the water in. that's how the fractures work.
• I Wear Pants

  sonofsam;421059 wrote:I'm telling you guys... The U.S. government does not want this spill to be contained... If they did, they would do the following "Basic" things...
  
  Drop a tube in the pipe that has an inflatable cuff... Inflate the cuff, weld a cut-out piece of metal around the tube so the cuff does not push out of the pipe... Slide a piece of pipe over the tube that has a ball valve inside down to the site. Weld in place and turn the freakin' valve! done deal, gulf spill over! Instead they want to make trillions of dollars of this.

  Hahaha, what?
• QuakerOats

  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-14/bp-would-be-barred-from-new-u-s-offshore-leases-under-house-legislation.html
  
  Here we go ....................... If this is the answer, then how about a law that bans Chris Dodd and Barney Frank from congress for their abhorrent record in creating the mortgage crisis???
  
  Change we can believe in ...........
• j_crazy

  

  BP: No Oil Flowing Into the Gulf
  
  LINK
  
  Also I bought BP stock the other day (the day that I posted about my neighbor going out to the well to pump the kill) and have made some handsome returns on it.
• IggyPride00

  

  This is good and bad news for BP. Good news is the oil has stopped leaking, bad news is that it will give an extremely accurate count of exactly how many BPD were leaking this entire time, and at a fine of potentially $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel leaked over the past roughly 90 days could be devastating.
• Paladin

  If they pay it. The inside joke in these situations is that after the fines are levied , the companies simply refuse to pay and try it up in the courts for years if not decades. Good old honest businessmen.
• QuakerOats

  Paladin;424585 wrote:If they pay it. The inside joke in these situations is that after the fines are levied , the companies simply refuse to pay and try it up in the courts for years if not decades. Good old honest businessmen.

  
  Why does the government deserve to be paid fines.
• believer

  

  QuakerOats;424587 wrote:Why does the government deserve to be paid fines.

  Especially when the Feds were part of the problem. Sounds like a wash to me.
• j_crazy

  

  that fine could be between $3-25 billion. I'd venture to say that BP and USDOI will agree to something like $15 billion. Anything in the $20-$25 billion range, coupled with the $20billion to clean up and pay the fisherman would surely kill the company and like or not, BP is a cash cow for the US Govt.
• believer

  

  j_crazy;424598 wrote:that fine could be between $3-25 billion. I'd venture to say that BP and USDOI will agree to something like $15 billion. Anything in the $20-$25 billion range, coupled with the $20billion to clean up and pay the fisherman would surely kill the company and like or not, BP is a cash cow for the US Govt.

  Precisely and guess who will end up footing the bill? That's right...you and I will.
• QuakerOats

  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hkmir-yGBuclKUXtje0SJQ1d9IKQ
  
  Uh oh, a "good crisis" might be slipping away from obama/emmanuel ............
• QuakerOats

  The "economic catastrophe" won't be the spill; it is obama's moratorium!!
  
  Analysis: New Drilling Moratorium Could Cost 140,000 Jobs.
  Fox News' Special Report (7/22, Baier) reported, "There is another concern in the Gulf: Fallout from the Administration's six-month moratorium on new drilling." Sen. David Vitter: "Unfortunately, this moratorium has replaced all that as the big crisis. ... If this moratorium persists six months or more, it will cost us a whole lot more jobs than the oil itself." Fox added that "some estimates he says run as high as 140,000 jobs, which is why it stirs so much anger along the Gulf. Those in the region say the huge offshore rigs are being towed to other parts of the world and taking jobs with them." Nevertheless, the White House "insists the moratorium must remain in place."
  
  Manufacturers Hopeful Drilling Moratorium Is Lifted. The National Association of Manufacturers (7/22) issued a press release from President and CEO John Engler called "Manufacturers Call on Administration to Lift Drilling Moratorium." Engler stated, "This new effort led by ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConoccoPhillips, and Shell to build and deploy a rapid response system is a positive action and demonstrates the steps being taken to prevent a future accident. This is yet another action that illustrates the need to lift the drilling moratorium." He continued by noting the moratorium is costing America "thousands of jobs, and manufacturers who make and supply equipment, services, engines, boats and materials such as steel and concrete will soon feel massive economic consequences. We believe it is critically important to understand the causes of the Gulf of Mexico accident. However, canceling existing leases puts our country at a further disadvantage every day."
• Writerbuckeye

  

  The most anti-business administration in recent history just keeps making things worse.
• j_crazy

  

  rumor is the moratorium will be lifted early, but that new regs are going to be strict as fuck and likely force some operators out of the gulf.
  
  still not sure that is a good thing, but i'm open to it. it was discussed today in our meeting, but the VP's said they won't make a call on what our GOM future is until they see the new regs.
• Writerbuckeye

  

  I wonder how many tens of thousands of dollars Michelle Obama and her daughter are spending in Spain right now -- that would look mighty good to the folks in any of the Gulf Coast resorts. This group doesn't give a damn how things look or whether they might be able to do a little bit of good here at home. Oh no, got to cavort in one of the priciest resorts in Spain for four days. Yeah, they're paying for it out of their own pockets, but it's costing us a nice chunk of change to get them there and back, and protect them in the process.
  
  You would think a sitting First Lady would be smarter than this -- but I've long determined this group is a bunch of amateurs, especially when it comes to perception and doing the right thing.