So I’ve pretty much kept my mouth shut on the whole BP thing, but I recently heard something that seriously bothered me. Perhaps the media just worded things incorrectly and perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions, but this is roughly what I heard.
BP, is currently doing the pressure testing and during this time they will finally get the answer to some of the questions they’ve had since the explosion. Whether or not the base of this thing was significantly damaged and whether or not they can use it again. WHAT?!? They seriously want to start going back to using this thing? They seriously think they know enough about what is going on down there and what happened to do so safely?
Yes this is very complicated and difficult drilling miles under the sea, but you don’t perform surgery on a single person if you don’t really know what you’re doing and immediately after screwing up this bad why should they jump back in and start working again. I’m not talking about other wells, but specifically this one.(though I seriously think all drilling in the ocean should be seriously discussed at this point) If it took this long to put a cap on the top because of all this pressure and the difficult environment if they have it capped why not leave it alone. You can’t tell me they know for 100% surety it would be safe to tap into again.
I seriously hope the general public and the media start to significantly question this as well. I can’t wait to hear another ROV accidently knocked into something, or they finally figured out what happened the first time and it has happened again and this time there is no pipe to cap, but a massive whole in the ground.
I personally don’t think we should renew their license to dril in the Gulf. Theyve done enough damage.
I don’t necessarily agree with the idea of halting all ocean drilling. Yes we need to move towards more sustanable energy and I can’t wait to get there. Problem is we are not there yet. Since we are not there yet, if we stop drilling off our own shores we are going to have to buy that mich more Arab oil. As long as we are buying Arab oil more of our money is leaving our country.As long as money is leaving the country the poorer we are going to become. The poorer we become the worse out economy is going to get - and eventually we will be no better off then Mexico.
We can and should continue to drill but we need to do it more safely with more over-sight and checks and balances in place. The regulators that were in charge of over-seeing the oil companies were almost all ex-oil compnay employees who were stil friends with their old cronies.
This created an environment where over-sight was lax, saftey was given a back seat to profit, and friendships were more important then environmental impact.
Jon, from what I hear they are so eager to resume operations on this well because it is actually one of the largest wells found in the US. The only well thats close is the one in Alaska they are all drooling over but cant touch… yet.
Truth is this will never be over, the amount of damage that is done is catistrofic. It looks like the tube has been capped at least for now but the neglegence still lies with them and sounds like it could been prevented. The damage is a all over consern and BP needs to take responsibilty for this disaster.
And Bellamy I think the point about the size of it is a mute one. When a nuclear reactor melts down if the mindset of the company that runs it is, how damaged is our reactor and how quickly can we get back to using it then the media and public would be all over them.
Out of sight and out of mind has got to stop. Fact is my father told me 4 years ago, “Hippies have been saying this crap about the environment for ever. I still look out in my yard and see the same birds and the same bugs. What is the big deal?” Too many people in power still have similar mindsets.
I’m sick of being green just being a popular and trendy thing. This screw up by BP is serious, but it seems as if it is just going to become a distant memory and the way things operate and people think isn’t going to change at all.
Jon, wasn’t saying that I agree, just why they are so anxious to get it back in operation. I personally think that all offshore drilling should be prohibited untill they can prove that they can respond to stuff like this (ie get it capped) in days, not months. I also dont think ANY drilling should be allowed when the people who oversee saftey equipment requirements are corrupt and dont enforce restrictions. There is way to much corrouption in the oil oversight coporations, among other goverment branches.
Have to agree Bellamy. The government keeps saying it’s too technical and over their head, so we let them govern themselves. The government should be over seeing them regardless and obviously the way things have been need to be changed.
All boils down to $ sadly. The people with experience and education will work for the highest bidder and the government won’t even consider spending the money to hire them. We need to tax the oil company’s and use that money to hire the experts and put people in charge of them that will reward them for making restrictions vs the private company’s which will reward them for letting them do whatever they want.
I mentioned this to someone and they said that the cost would be transferred to the little person. Well fact is oil companies make massive profit and could afford to have a great deal more expenses. The tiny little bit BP has had to pay for this clean up is probably equal to a penny out of the regular persons pay check, not even a road bump.
Even if the oil companies refuse to absorb the additional cost of the raised taxes and transfer it to the “little people” where is the issue with this? Fossil fuels are still WAY too cheap. And until the price changes people will continue to use them.
I say force BP to pay massively for this clean up. It will make all oil companies reexamine the safety procedures they use and how they do business. It likely won’t even make them second guess about drilling in general, which they should, but it would be a step in the right direction.
The media is happy, the pretty picture on their monitors changed and oil isn’t coming out. Even with the President coming out and saying don’t celebrate yet the oil companies and the massive majority of the general public is ready to move on with business as usual.
Sea life in the gulf was screwed before this even happened and even after this we’re going to ignore it. Errrrr!
Lots of good information discussed here. I am against hugely regulating every industry, but it seems that in some cases it may be needed. At very least, in industries that put entire communities and ecosystems at risk. This is one instance where I believe we may be under-regulated. (believe it or not)
Well I for one certainly don’t ever advocate MORE government oversight. I will join that party when the government proves to be it has the ability to get it’s head out of it’s ass and manage itself properly first.
How the F%^* does a government operating a multi-billion dollar budget deficit bail out a bank and say “now we get to make financial decisions on how you operate”???
This has been a catastrophic failure across the board and has done god only knows how much damage to how many different eco-systems, but hopefully some good will come out of it in the end.
20 some odd years ago oil tankers were traveling the world’s seas with just a think sheet of metal between their cargo (a million gallons of crude oil) and the ocean. After the Exxon Valdez fiasco all oil tankers were required to upgrade to a double hull design so that if they hit debris in the water and tear a chunk out of their skin they have another layer of defense against spilling the oil in to the ocean.
Maybe - just maybe - they can find something to correct in this mess and make the industry a little safer and more environmentally friendly.
And as far as the little gut paying for it… Exxon can kiss my ass too - we were going broke 4 years ago paying $5 a gallon for gas and those ignorant bastards brag about a $5 billion dollar quarterly profit!!! I’ve never spent a dime at Exxon ever since. Douches.
well, from what i’ve gathered, BP did take short cuts, ignored warning signs of the well reacting badly and didnt maintain the equipment. the blow out preventor was not in full operable condition. one of the emergency shut of valves had a pressure leak on its presurized operator tank. it didnt have the oomph to cut the pipe and cap the well. they kne this and still continued to remove mud from the well hole as they extracted the drill pipe. the mud is about 1.5 times as dense or heavy as salt water. when the drill pipe casing is full of it while drilling it acts as a lubricant, coolant and carries the grindings back up to the suface to be removed. then the mud is pumped back down the drill pipe again.
the mud, being heavier than SW acts like a big fat guy sitting on your chest while you are trying to hit him.
No can do, cant get up to swing. so it holds back the presure of the oil formation when they finally strike it. the pressure down there is 10,000- 12,000 PSi, they thinks. the pressure at the sea floor a mile deep is only 2200 PSI. so, without the weight of the 4 mile column of heavy mud in the drill pipe and casing, it would blow like a shaken coke bottle on a hot day.
the current cap and valve assembly, that seems to be holding it shut is the first good sign. the constant high pressure it it holding on the well says, maybe the casing is still intact. and they can seal it with concrete from the relief wells. wehn the relief wells cut into the leaking well casing they will be subject to the same pressure. but this time they wont remove the mud. they will let its heavy arse sit on the well and then pump more down its throat, into the discovery well pipe and let the pressure blow it up the leaking pipe. as it rises its weight will build up more pressure on the well and eventually reach equilibrium. and the leak will stop. they can then open the new cap valves and start pumping concrete down the relief well and into and up the leaking well untill it comes out at the sea floor. then close it , and let it set. and it is sealed.
I dont thing they can use that well for production. its been weakened too much. but the second relief well could become a producer from that oil formation if they choose. it will be valved and sealed properly and could produce oil the next 20 years.
yup we still need oil . since we havent moved to a new transportation fuel source yet. that may take 20 years. but the existing oil wells in the world are drying up at the rate of 6% a year. so we have to find 6% of the 86 MBPD the world uses every year in new wells. just to break even. any less and the oil shortage hits hard. ifthe field is 50 billion barrels like they think, well thats only a 7 year supply,at our daily rate of consumption of 19 million barrels per day in the good ole USA.
so keep your bicycle tires full. Peak oil is here, now.