U.S. confirms underwater oil plume from Deepwater Horizon well (Nothing new per say, the government is merely confirming what researchers reported a few days ago)
from bp's website Subsea operational update: • For the first 12 hours on June 9th (midnight to noon), approximately 7,920 barrels of oil were collected and 15.7 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared. • On June 8th, a total of approximately 15,000 barrels of oil were collected and 29.4 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared. so they are on pace to collect an extra 1000 barrels per day, putting it near 16000 barrels. i really hope once they get this 2nd tanker going that the recovered amount doesn't keep maxing out. this is getting a bit worrisome.
"Smithers, I'm beginning to think that Homer Simpson is not the brilliant tactician I thought he was." BP Shares Hit 13-Year Low; Sees No Reason Why http://www.cnbc.com/id/37609497 "Shares of oil giant BP continued to fall heavily Thursday, hitting their lowest level since 1997, even as the company said it saw no justification for such a move."
to be fair their mkt cap has been cut by 90 billion dollars and they generated 25 billion in pretax income last year. i understand that people are panicking and this is going to be expensive for bp, but there isn't too much justification for selling bp at these prices unless people think debarrment is a strong possibility....which i don't think it is.
so the latest number is 28000 barrels a day and bp said they will have trouble collecting more than 18000 barrels a day. They also said they are bringing in a tanker to flare off the oil. Hopefully they can flare a lot of that excess oil.
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I still find it amazing that a company from an island nation can wreak havoc on the lives of millions of people and an ecosystem that is one of the largest in the world simply by using sea water instead of mud to save a few bucks.
I found something interesting: Why did the oil spill happen? It's God's judgment against Houston for all of its wrongdoing like abortion and Joel Osteen. (Link)
looks like mid-july is the ETa for the "hard cap". sounds like if they can get this working right then they could apply something like this to any sort of offshore well blowout. it's sad that it takes this kind of disaster to get people to innovate and apply new technology. http://www.reuters.com/article/idAFN1112816620100611?rpc=44 * BP's containment capacity to hit 50,000 bpd by mid-July * New "hard cap" system set to be more storm-resistant (Adds details) HOUSTON June 11 (Reuters) - British energy giant BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) will seek to nearly double its oil-collecting capacity by mid-July, the U.S. official overseeing the Gulf of Mexico spill cleanup effort said on Friday. Under U.S. government direction, BP is upgrading its current collection system with a "hard cap" that can siphon up to 50,000 barrels (2.10 million gallons/7.94 million liters) per day, to be operational by mid-July, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told reporters at a briefing in Washington. That's nearly double the 28,000 barrels per day collection capacity that BP will have once a new oil-flaring rig is activated next week, Allen said. "That takes you from now to approximately mid-July to build that second system out," Allen said. In the meantime, BP is bringing in a new processing vessel that will raise total collection capacity to about 38,000 barrels per day "toward the end of June," Allen said. Details of the new "hard cap" collection system come a day after U.S. scientists doubled their high-end estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the blown-out BP well to 40,000 barrels per day. BP's new collection system involves bigger, sturdier vessels that can stand up to rougher sea conditions in the Gulf of Mexico that are anticipated as the U.S. hurricane season progresses, Allen said. BP will build a new riser mooring system connecting the well to flexible hoses on the ocean surface that can be quickly disconnected in the event of stormy seas, Allen said. Under the current system, a containment cap placed atop the gushing well pipe a mile (1.6 km) below the ocean surface is funneling some of the escaping oil and gas from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to the surface to be collected in ships. An undetermined amount of oil continues to escape from the cap into the ocean.
yeah and it sucks because all these pretty cool inventions exist that could have significantly minimized the spill and even preserved the oil that was spilled rather than just dumping these terrible dispersants on the oil. to me it's pretty amazing that a jury rigged cap can capture almost 50k barrels of oil a day from a blown out well 5000 feet below. i am just still amazed at how quickly innovations has come out of the woodwork, yet there was absolutely no foresight to have these inventions ready to be used in the case of a blow out.
Exactly how I feel. The effort...after the blow out...has been impressive. But it's mind boggling to think none of this was tested and ready to go prior to April.
Necessity is the mother of invention. If you don't foresee the problem, you'll never spend time working on the solution.
