Louisiana oil spill from Horizon Deepwater explosion expected to dwarf Exxon Valdez disaster As an avid fisherman and somebody who lives 20 minutes from the coast, this just kills me. This is going to leave a pretty good black eye on Texas beaches and fisheries for the foreseeable future... and right after we suffer through the lousiest winter I can remember. Ugh. This just sucks all around for everybody, from the families of the workers right on down the line. The article is probably right too, this will be a solid kick in the nards to the "Drill, Baby, Drill!" movement.
I wouldn't put it past many voters to start clamoring again for offshore drilling once this story dies down and oil prices continue to rise. Sadly, we might be seeing more of these catastrophes as producers venture further and further into deeper waters like this platform did to tap into reserves in the sea bed.
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Is it just me or does anyone else feel that the media has not been giving enough attention this story? Why isn't BP or the US government getting blasted for this? Setting fire to the leaking oil causing tons of toxic smoke? Are you kidding me? It sounds like a huge ecological disaster yet, most people probably don't realize how big a deal it is.
I been wondering the same thing I keep thinking . .is this as bad as it seems it is I keep wanting answer that it maybe worse Rocket River
Probably a couple of reasons. First, the actual cause of the accident isn't completely known, but is probably the fault of Transocean, who I think has so far flown under the radar somehow. Second, its possible the accident was unpreventable and isn't really anyones fault. Third, BP has already thrown everything it has at it so far to try to stop it.
BP has a **** ton of money. Nothing substantial will happen to any of the big honchos who make the massive and obscene bucks - it will be pushed off onto a lower-level employee. ...and meanwhile, all the people who make their living on the coastal areas of the gulf, or who catch seafood in the gulf, are ****ed. But don't worry - all the important people will still be able to buy new houses, increase oil prices, drive expensive foreign cars, and take a few weeks of vacation every year! All is well, carry on. God bless America!
Interesting. I see no point in mentioning "my politics" though. I have no allegiance to Obama or Democrats.
But the stupid icelandic volcano got tons of coverage, and there wasn't even a human cause element at all. This could rival the economic and ecological impact, and it's easier to pronounce. Maybe the media will pounce on it once it hits shore. FAIL BABY FAIL! But seriously, good engineering and wise expenditure could make these events incredibly rare. I feel the same way about nuclear accidents. Use better engineering, more redundancy, more worse-case-scenario testing, and keep doing it.
It appears that this disaster was caused by a “blowout”. These can happen on land or on the water. Generally, they happen when drilling a well (for oil or natural gas). Drilling for oil is a dangerous business. Numerous times as you drill deeper, you will come across unexpected geological zones that are “over pressurized”. When drilling the well often the driller will experience a “kick” where wellbore fluids start to come out of the well. That is an indication that gas, salt water or oil has entered the well bore and the pressure from this geological zone exceeds the pressure caused by the column of drilling mud that is in the annulus. Generally, the driller at that time will increase the weight of the drilling mud and circulate the kick through the “choke and kill” system. (I realize that this is a simplification of the process.) Unfortunately, sometimes a kick will be of sufficient pressure that it will be uncontrollable. At that time, all of the drilling mud and the drill pipe come rapidly out of the hole. To emphasize the force, the kilometers of drill pipe will look like spaghetti. When the gas reaches the surface, it usually comes in contact with a spark that will ignite it and an inferno develops. The spark in this case was probably caused by pipes slamming together. It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or ‘BOP’s” as they’re called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig. In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even fail-safe Deadman systems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface. Right now they have been unsuccsefull in closing the wells off with robots (ROV's). In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – with a target radius of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation’s pressure, thus causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last. It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole
But... what? If you're not slavishly all over Cheney, Dick, then you are necessarily a "koolaid drinking" "zombie" "liberal." Right? Otherwise it takes more than 3 seconds to think about any issue or my head explodes when I question Beck between commercial breaks.
It's truly amazing how many of these offshore oil rigs there are. When I graduated high school, my mom and I took a cruise out of New Orleans. You could look in every direction and see an oil rig. I'm surprised there aren't more incidents.
I know this is really immature of me but I burst out laughing when I read that line. Thanks for summarizing the whole situation. I don't see how the oil slick can NOT hit the Louisiana coastline. I wonder what the long term effects are going to be. I guess we should all load up on wild American shrimp before market prices skyrocket.
I'm also surprised that Transocean is getting a free pass in the media for their share of the blame in this Great simplified explanation to those who aren't really familiar with any drilling background. Talking to some of the people involved, they're estimating a couple of months like you said for the relief wells, IF there are no significant problems.
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