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Oil rig disaster: Anybody down there?
JackBwr
Member Posts: 1,756 ✭✭✭
I'm surprised nobody has been discussing this oil rig disaster in the gulf. It seems like a pretty major story. What started out as a seemingly minor disaster suddenly has turned into a record breaking one. They say at minimum, there is 200k gallons of oil a day pouring into the gulf. Other experts estimate it could be as high as 800k gallons a day.
They're saying this could shut down shrimp harvesting and all fishing for the entire year! Once oil hits the beaches, nobody's going to want to go down there. This will cost the gulf coast region thousands of jobs, and billions of lost revenue from the loss of tourism. I'm surprised the markets aren't tanking worse on this news.
They're saying it could realistically take 3 months to shut off the flow of oil! There used to be a few guys in the industry on the board. Anybody have any insight into this? Your opinions are probably more valuable than what the media is being fed by BP and the government.
What are the options, (in lehmans terms) to get this under control? 90 days, plus? The entire gulf will be a black pool of oil by then.
I'm not a staunch environmentalist but when you see a disaster like this, it's just about sickening to think how much land and life will be destroyed. There'll be long term affects long after this is no longer a story. It's amazing that there was never a plan in place to deal with a catastrophe like this. Maybe they shouldn't drill anymore wells until they learn to properly deal with and contain a disaster like this?
They're saying this could shut down shrimp harvesting and all fishing for the entire year! Once oil hits the beaches, nobody's going to want to go down there. This will cost the gulf coast region thousands of jobs, and billions of lost revenue from the loss of tourism. I'm surprised the markets aren't tanking worse on this news.
They're saying it could realistically take 3 months to shut off the flow of oil! There used to be a few guys in the industry on the board. Anybody have any insight into this? Your opinions are probably more valuable than what the media is being fed by BP and the government.
What are the options, (in lehmans terms) to get this under control? 90 days, plus? The entire gulf will be a black pool of oil by then.
I'm not a staunch environmentalist but when you see a disaster like this, it's just about sickening to think how much land and life will be destroyed. There'll be long term affects long after this is no longer a story. It's amazing that there was never a plan in place to deal with a catastrophe like this. Maybe they shouldn't drill anymore wells until they learn to properly deal with and contain a disaster like this?
Comments
There were and are plans to prevent this from happening on these type rigs, but there is speculation that either they were not turned on/active or that the incident happened so fast that those around the failsafes could not respond before they were either killed or forced away from that area.
As to clean up, the ocean currents and wave action is proving to be a major hinderance to any plans of attack
Some reports say 50K per day and the highest I heard today was maybe 100K per day...definitely had not heard the min of 200K number.
I've been catching Fox news on XM radio on and off for a few days. The last couple of days, they have been reporting that it is spilling at minimum 210k gallons a day and that that is the conservative estimate. They said today that an independent agency that has studied satellite photographs for decades, believes it could be much worse and possibly putting out as much as 850k gallons a day, at the rate it is expanding. How they would come up with that, I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me that the 'official' reports would be trying to supress the number as low as possible to make it less upsetting to the public who wouldn't be able to know any different anyway.
As to what happened, too much info now. Buddy said the driller complained about pressure increases. They ignored it. Not much info after that. Supposed to be about 4000-5000 barrels a DAY now. Really sucks because this doesn't happen often at all. When it does, there is always an uproar and rampant speculation. Conspiracy theorists and Environmentalists lead the pack followed by the woefully inept media.[V]
I saw an article today, though I can't find it again, someone thought as much as 25k bpd could be leaking.[:(!]
Yeah. I'm here. About 15 miles from the gulf. We are hoping it doesn't come west. Reached Venice today. Got a few buddies out there helping out. Brother in Law is out trawling since they opened the season a little early.
As to what happened, too much info now. Buddy said the driller complained about pressure increases. They ignored it. Not much info after that. Supposed to be about 4000-5000 barrels a DAY now. Really sucks because this doesn't happen often at all. When it does, there is always an uproar and rampant speculation. Conspiracy theorists and Environmentalists lead the pack followed by the woefully inept media.[V]
I heard today it could be up to 90 days before they can either stop it, or slow it down. Should that be true it'll probably make it all the way to Texas. Its a mess, I could smell it from Port Sulphur yesterday afternoon.
If they drilled into the wellbore without sufficent depth and mud weight, it could easily turn into a second catastrophic event.
Please remember that oil drilling is still by and large a very environmentally viable industry. I feel for those in the fishing and tourism industry in the area. Hopefully a resolution will present itself soon.
An "Appolo 13" scenario is probably a good way to describe the situation. There is simply no precedence nor protocol for how to "fix" the situation, and there are mitigating factors that are impeding the implementation of the best containment solutions that exist at this point.
Please remember that oil drilling is still by and large a very environmentally viable industry. I feel for those in the fishing and tourism industry in the area. Hopefully a resolution will present itself soon.
+1 Andrea, good wording
Here's a link to the Houston Chronicles articles, some interesting reading in some of the comments
http://www.chron.com/oilspill/
people are watching, right now if you had the means to remove and store boats you would be set for cash, they cant get them out of the water fast enough , no trailers for the ones that live in the water and no place to put them if you get it out.
people on the beach will be in for a shock, marsh and fisheries get first response beaches are low on the list .news said sand can be cleaned quicker but the other Eco system would take years.
they are looking for help in all fields from worker bee;s to order barkers , up to $18 hr.
Texas co said it could be 3 months to 18 months.
word is there going to try to block the pass to the gulf, i don't think it will work as waves are tough there sometimes.
news here is 5000 gal a day and by June it will exceed the spill in Alaska of 15 million barrels,
law suits are all ready filed go figure.
all kinds of rumors from terrorist attack to just not paying attention.
heard they had set cement and the formation had fract (let go) and the blowout was out side the casing, 3 months to drill a relief hole.
JUST AN FYI I'm sure someone will try to make this out as an oil shortage to raise the price, THIS WILL BE BS,
I'm surprised nobody has been discussing this oil rig disaster in the gulf.
There's been plenty of discussion.....usually centered around it being an environmentalist plot to de-rail the forthcoming opening up of new drilling grounds. [:)]
When we "drill here, drill now!" this is sometimes doing to happen....
other countries oil disasters go unreported or downplayed by the
liberal/ al gore/ commy/ pinko/ fagmedia.
Because nobody in this country cares about Abu Dhabi's fishing and tourism industies.
Oil and gas royalties are a nice bonus for cash strapped states, but pale in comparison to the potential lose of tourism and fishing grounds.
The oil companies make only about a 4% profit per barrel, compared to the state/federal government which make up to 15%. The rest is absorbed in production/transport.
Lots of people go fishing and to the beach, but everyone uses gas.
The oil companies make only about a 4% profit per barrel, compared to the state/federal government which make up to 15%. The rest is absorbed in production/transport.
This isn't about oil company vs. gov't profits. I'm not interested in demonizing the "evil" oil companies.
Of course the states make money off of oil and gas royalties....but they also make money off of tourism and fishing.
States rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas royalties, but gulf coast tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry.
IF drilling was allowed closer to the shore, even a disaster like this could be controlled much more easily. At a few hundred feet of depth, divers would have the oil flow stopped already.
Just another of the "unintended consequences" of our flawed government policies.
One interesting thing that I have not heard talked about much is that the possibility of accidents like this increase as the depth of the drilling increases. Why are the oil companies drilling in 5000 feet of water? -- because they get pushed farther and farther offshore by the government/environmentalists/NIMBY crowd.
IF drilling was allowed closer to the shore, even a disaster like this could be controlled much more easily. At a few hundred feet of depth, divers would have the oil flow stopped already.
Just another of the "unintended consequences" of our flawed government policies.
It might also have to do with all the easy spots have been hit up. We have been drilling for 100 years. Exploration has to happen to keep production up with demand. Oil comes with risk just like everything else. This one will be interesting to watch, but it will be a nightmare for those on the coast IMO.
When Obama made his speech opening up some areas to drilling, he specified that nothing could be done within 125 miles of the shoreline. That forces the companies to use much more expensive, complicated (and potentially dangerous) drilling techniques.
Actually, there are lots of areas close to the shore that have never been explored because of government restrictions.
When Obama made his speech opening up some areas to drilling, he specified that nothing could be done within 125 miles of the shoreline. That forces the companies to use much more expensive, complicated (and potentially dangerous) drilling techniques.
Bingo.
Thank goodness we have the government and all it's "alphabet soup" subsidiaries (EPA, DEP, ad nauseum) to determine for the oil companies, who have been doing their thing relatively safely and with minimal environmental impact for over 100 years, to tell them how to do things "safely/with minimal environmental impact."
On a positive note our dear leader will be taking an air tour of the area, although I don't know why, he should just walk across the water and not burn that evil petroleum.
LOOKS LIKE
Pensacola beach will be closed for 60 days starting monday
guess there afraid someone will try to set fire to the oil .
THIS WILL HURT THE COAST