As is usual with an US crisis, the media theatres are twofold – the hands on rescue efforts, and the political free-for-all that breaks out in it’s wake. When the media can manage to multitask, focusing on something other than the arrest of the NYC bomber, we’ve been bombarded with the political fingerpointing. Yet the “since day one” efforts of the administration have proven lackluster – with the stories emerging of booms that didn’t exist in sufficient quantities, and test burns that were not done. In contrast, the “do’ers” are busy “doing” in the effort to combat the encroaching oil spill.
What this administration did do is what this community organizer administration does best – employ thuggish threats thru the media, and plan the future paths of the lawsuits. Our Coast Guard? According to Talking Point’s Memo’s Muckraker, they’re being used as an accounting firm… tallying up BP’s bill.
The Coast Guard, which is leading the joint local-state-federal unified command responding to the spill, is keeping track of costs and will eventually bill BP, an Obama Administration official tells TPMmuckraker. It’s not clear when that will happen. (We’ve asked the unified command for details and will let you know if we hear back.)
The prime villain for media purposes had already been targeted… BP as the icon of the evil big oil corporations. But as I pointed out in my April 30th post, the drillship rig was owned and operated by Transocean LTD, and only six BP staffers were aboard when the tragedy happened. Transocean had 79 employees operating the rig, along with 41 unaffiliated contractors. BP leased both the rig and the Transocean crew.
The research challenged were slow to come around to these details, but eventually figured out that BP wasn’t doing the drilling, nor the cementing on the rig. However Transocean, a major oil rig operator with an above average industry safety record, isn’t as easy to scapegoat as the much maligned oil giants.
As more was learned, one more name got added to the fray, to the delight of sundry lib/prog bloggers…. Halliburton.
Crooks and Liars gleefully labels this as “Halliburton’s Katrina”. And then decides, in their infinite wisdom, that Halliburton’s cement job is conclusively the reason for the failure. With Crooks and Liars around, who needs an industry expert investigation, right? C&L then reminds us that Halliburton was the cementing subcontractor on Australia’s West Atlas rig last fall (a rig not leased, owned or operated by either BP or Transocean) when a blowout happened. The well, like the Horizon’s, flowed an estimated 3000 bbls a day for over two months.
According to a not-so-neutral media, the WA Today, a subsidiary of the Sidney Morning Herald, it took four attempts to cap it and relief wells were dug. However, contrary to the media’s headline, the “cause of the spill” was not revealed because there was an impending hearing. The WA Today took it upon themselves to pronounce judgment based on one driller’s personal opinion. Had the research challenged Crooks & Liars bothered to follow thru, they would have learned that the cause of the blowout had nothing to do with Halliburton’s cementing, but was traced back to a pressure corrosion cap that was removed to clean corroded casing threads in the well, but was not reinstalled.
Oops…. there goes another convenient political scapegoat to accuse of deliberate negligence in that case.
The POTUS, thus far, has confined his… and his mouthpieces’…. demonization to BP. But the Senate energy committee is well aware of both Transocean’s and Halliburton’s presence in the event. They’re busy doing what they do best… scheduling hearings for a public reaming. They’ve summoned execs from all three companies, plus independent experts, to a hearing next week. After they’re thru ripping them a new one, the House plans to follows suit with their stage show the next day.
That panel, which will look at the possible problems leading to explosions on the rig as well as the adequacy of containment and cleanup measures, would probably be the first of several, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, the subcommittee chairman, said in a statement.
A separate federal investigation into the explosion is under way by the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service.
That would be, of course, the same MMS who was out doing the necessary safety inspections, “regular as clockwork”, according to “James” – a Horizon survivor interviewed on the Mark Levin Show April 30th.
As our resident oil dude visitor, oil guy from Alberta commented on my “a dose of reality” thread, the elected ones will get a crash course education… including from Mike Miller. Miller is the chief executive officer and senior well-control supervisor at Safety Boss, headquartered in Alberta. Safety Boss is renowned for their emergency response to the blowouts, and to fires in Kuwait. But they’ve been around since 1979 as some of the “go to” guys.
Miller’s “burning” questions? Why wasn’t the burning done at the onset, and why the heck did they fill that drillship with water, effectively sinking it?
“At least while the rig was burning, all of the effluent from the well was coming to the surface and burning at the surface,” Miller notes. Indeed, burning oil — even on the sea surface — is an accepted spill-mitigation technique. So he’s puzzled why water boats were deployed to dowse the burning platform.
“What they did was fill the rig up with water. At which point it sunk,” Miller says — a full 5,000 feet to the seabed. And that, he maintains, violated “the first rule in offshore fire-fighting, which is not to sink the ship.” The reason: As soon as the rig submerged, it took down the riser pipe, which in this case was a 5,000-foot-long tethered straw through which the oil was gushing up from a reservoir 13,000 feet below the seafloor.
Mental note to government… if you’re not sure what you’re doing, please don’t “help”. Did anyone even think about what that water would do to the rig, and the ensuing damage?
TMPs Muckracker clarified another important “day one” task of the administration; cornering BP on their liability language…
BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, has said that the company takes full responsibility for cleaning up the oil. But, in a possible bid to limit liability, he has consistently placed blame for the accident on the rig owner, Transocean.
In a claims document posted on its website, BP says it will pay for “all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs” as well as “legitimate and objectively verifiable claims for other loss and damage caused by the spill.” The document says such damage “may include claims for assessment, mitigation and clean up of spilled oil, real and property damage caused by the oil, personal injury caused by the spill, commercial losses including loss of earnings/profit and other losses as contemplated by applicable laws and regulations..”
According to the AP, the Obama Administration and several state AGs have asked BP to clarify its offer to pay damages. This was reported to be a planned topic of conversation in a Monday meeting between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and BP executives.
Yeah… that’s first on my mind too…. *not*!
Then, of course, there’s Salon’s Joseph Romm, who laments that Obama is missing a golden opportunity to push his alternative energy agenda even further.
sigh….
Well, count me not so bowled over with our government’s “response”. The Coast Guard, sinking the rig with an ill-thought response, Congressional hearings, claims of broken regulations and cries for more… topped off with tons of the media chit chat and a plethora of misinformation. OMG, please spare me the media chit chat. Dang, who’s tending the well? Shouldn’t combining all possible forces and resources be taking priorities over planning litigation? Or are my priorities out of order?
Let’s get a far more interesting focus. An update on just what the powers that actually *are* doing something to stem the tide of oil… and not from politicians and desk jocks.
For the more informed perspectives, I turned to the The Oil Drum from yesterday. The first of three steel/concrete containment caps is being shipped today. Again the media reports it’s BP building them – perhaps to prepare the public for yet another reason for blame in the event it doesn’t work. But in fact it’s Wild Well Control who’s doing the building – a company who’s been around for 35 years responding to well control and pressure emergencies. In that time, they’ve responded to over 2700 events – both land and offshore.
Below, a picture of the first of three cap… via the Oil Drum link
How it’s supposed to work?
Image from Superior Energy – (via Johnson Rice) How it works
• The system is made up of a 125-ton, 14’ x 24’ x 40’ structure that will be set on top of the largest leak source. This leak is located at the end of the riser, about 600 feet from the wellhead.
• Equipment at the top of the system is connected to a 5,000 foot riser that will convey the hydrocarbons to the surface ship, the Deepwater Enterprise.
• Once in place, oil will flow up into the containment system’s dome to the surface ship.
• Once on the surface ship, the hydrocarbons will be processed and oil will be separated from water and gas. The oil will then be temporarily stored before being offloaded and shipped to a designated oil terminal onshore.
• The Deepwater Enterprise is capable of processing 15,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 139,000 barrels.
• A support barge will also be deployed with a capacity to store 137,000 barrels of oil.
• This system could collect as much as 85% of oil rising from the seafloor.
According to The Oil Drum’s report, there are three separate points where the damaged risers are leaking, with the main leak some 600′ below the well head, and below the sea bed. What are the chances this works? BBC provides an article based on data from John Curry, of BP. This has been used successfully before… after Hurricane Katrina to channel spilt oil from the platforms to the surface. But that was in much shallower water.
This is breaking new ground, lowering these 98-tonne containers down 5000′. And while that, in itself, becomes a technical challenge, and the location of the leaks are known, there are other obstacles… including the softness of the seabed. Also, as Mike Miller of Safety Boss (mentioned above) notes, these devices, even in shallow water, tend to under perform to their expectations.
…. aka ACS
Part of the dog n’ pony show planned by Congress has to do with this “acoustic shutoff” switch. It’s absence on the Transocean (not BP) rig has been cited by many a misinformed media pundit, evoking the impression with ominous certainty that, had the US implemented regulations demanding those, all would have been just hunky dory. Another dose of reality. The US Mineral Management Services didn’t require it simply because it was too expensive or troublesome to change regulations. They didn’t believe it added that much level of protection.
Again, this from the same WSJ article, whining about that ACS not being in place:
U.S. regulators don’t mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn’t have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated.
The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort
~~~The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn’t needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.
That pesky reality of skepticism by a US oversight body aside, would it have worked? Again, from the original Oil Drum post..
There has been some significant attention paid as to whether the rig should have been fitted with an acoustic remote control system for the BOPs – though in one discussion I heard there was some confusion as to what this would have changed on the rig, since there were BOPs in place. The acoustic system has the following benefit:
The ACS system is a redundant receiver/transmitter for communication with the rig through acoustics. It is interfaced to the BOP control pod so that different sets of emergency functions can be executed to shut down the well and avoid a pollution. If the regular umbilical is broken and normal communication with the BOP is not possible, the ACS is the last and only means to shut down the well. If a function is executed from the ACS, signal goes to a solenoid that activates a big valve on the BOP; the valve is then energized by air pressure bottles on the BOP.
In this case that doesn’t seem to be likely to have helped, since there was, apparently, a signal on the rig floor that the BOP had activated, though obviously it had not worked the way it was intended. The reason(s) for the BOP failing to work as anticipated is still a matter of conjecture.
As Hydraulic Pneumatics, a BOP manufacturer, notes on their website, high pressure gases when drilling is an ever present danger that strikes both safety and economic fear into the heart of all drillers. However the offshore/subsea pressures are even more extreme, especially when compounded by a cold environment such as the North Sea, Russian or Canadian rigs. It is a reality that they face daily in any operation. Is it possible to avoid? Not likely. Is it also possible that, at some times and under some circumstances, Mother Nature is going to be dealt the winning hand? Absolutely.
All in all, our best hopes for optimum outcome is not our government’s focus on legalities, but on incredibly brave and innovative men and women, attempting to plow new paths in deep water offshore drilling emergency response.
While they are moving heaven and earth to figure out a quick way to cap the Horizon well, someone should figure out a way to put a lid on Obama, his administration and his Congress. What needs to be addressed first is stemming the flow of the crude, not planning the court docket line up.
Vietnam era Navy wife, indy/conservative, and an official California escapee now residing as a red speck in the sea of Oregon blue.
When BP gets the Obama bill for services rendered, will they be able to pay the bill the same way GM paid off their loan “IN FULL?”
‘Cap on Obama’.
I know where you are going with that request, but I say let the dude talk. After 2012, when he is out of office, he will still be a voice. I want people to get their fill of him now, and put him out to pasture. You have to know the next Republican in office will have to contend with the media running to the Teleprompter for comments. Makes me sick to think about a lifetime of listening to him, but I am afraid it is so. He needs to marginalize himself – and he is fully capable of doing just that.
Mata, good roundup of information here. Letting the rig burn in place seems like a no-brainer and even would be considered an industry-wide accepted practice for just the reasons stated. But I wonder if it was the CG that ordered and coordinated the fire fighting or was it the support ships already in the area that started and then more ships were called in?
This seems to be something to nail down rather quickly, why this decision was made to hose the rig down, by whom, and why consideration of just what happened wasn’t factored in. Could the intense fire not have melted something and affected the integrity of the rig? Seems like a few “don’t knows” on just how that all went that I think needs fleshing out.
That seems the most problematic, because if the rig were burning, we’d have smoke, but a lot let oil in the gulf. Somewhere along the line, someone made a decision on how to combat that rig fire. Just how susceptible are these rigs to being sunk by water boats? I’d appreciate a fleshing out of this part. The rest is all lamentable too. But accidents happen and it is part of life, though you’d never know it by watching TV or reading the papers. ( who does that anyway? !! ) ❗
Could the intense fire not have melted something and affected the integrity of the rig?
hahaha ha ha, eh. We all know from that all-knowing Rosie the Engineer… that fire can’t melt steel!!!!!!! Weren’t you paying attention when Dubya brought down the WTC towers. /sarc
I think it’s time to open up the ANWR to us “drill baby drill” folks.
Remember that at the time, they were still trying to find/rescue the people who are now missing and presumed dead. Perhaps the decision to put out the fire was related to those rescue efforts.
Being as how the oil leak got worse over time, I’m fine with giving Obama credit for being there on Day One. It means that his involvement didn’t help anything and it does show a consistancy with all of his other programs to “fix” something – his “help” only makes it worse.
@ southernroots…
Ha ha! Indeed! On it from day one! Just look at how effective they are! 🙂
@doug….
I thought of that too. They probably were trying to give those 11 the best chance of getting off the burning rig and/or put out the fire to go onboard and search for them. That’s why I was asking about just how much of a no-brainer it was to let it burn. Lots of considerations.
Looks like a accident. Maybe foreseeable, but mitigated risks. I blame the environmentalist movement and anti-drill crowd. We’re forced to drill deep wells and push the limits because more accessible oil is deemed off-limits.
Basically this is the typical spectacle of politicians, paper-pushers, pundits and assorted opportunistic backseat drivers jostling to pass judgment on people who have to get the actual work done (you know, welding, putting out fires, pumping oil that heats people’s homes). I don’t really care *who* owned the rig so long as they weren’t negligent, and so far I haven’t seen any indication that they were. I’m also not inclined to judge the guys who decided to douse the fires too harshly – as someone else pointed out, they may have been trying to save the people they thought might still be trapped on the rig. Also, it’s not like a raging oil fire couldn’t *also* have sunk the platform if left unattended; even steel has its limits.
The containment caps might actually benefit from the depth, once (if?) they can get it in place. Assuming that they take in some small amount of seawater at depth for pressure equalization, the lower density of the oil should create a chimney effect in the riser, so that no pump is required to bring the mixed fluids up. Anyway I’d gladly trade all the footage of ignorant talking heads I’ve seen so far for a little more information about the engineering and fabrication of this monster; but I’m guessing that the people putting it together were too busy getting the work done to stop and jabber for the camera.
Politically, though, this disaster does end up on someone’s account. The handling reflects badly on Obama, but that it occurred at all has to be chalked up either to corporate negligence or to unavoidable risks in a dangerous business (which is the perspective I would take). But in the latter case, our estimate of the environmental costs of offshore drilling have to be revised upwards when an accident like this takes place.
I THINK that we most probably have HEROS with thoses 11 men;they might have stayed to long to try to save one or more of them, 🙄
Now the Peanut Gallery climbs on…world renowned Experts on…spending OPM but not much else…
Pelosi: Oil disaster adds urgency to energy bill
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FG724O1&show_article=1
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional Democrats say that the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico adds urgency to the troubled energy reform bill working its way through the Senate. But concerns among other lawmakers leave the bill no clear path forward.
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, said he will have a hard time ever voting for offshore drilling again. Republicans, meanwhile, say energy legislation should wait until the repercussions of the disaster are fully known.
Senate and House Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi said the spill highlights the need for tougher policing of oil companies.
Images of the explosion and the growing, uncontrolled spill made the bill’s road to approval much more difficult.
The threat it poses to wildlife and the economy has forced many wavering lawmakers to reconsider whether they support more offshore drilling.
*****************************************************
OK, lets revoke every Coal Mining Permit and stop that Industry dead in it’s tracks while We are busy “policing” things that are Industries that built America.
How about that Mr. Rockefeller? Lets see the impact on West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Utah among a few States. Who needs oil or coal now that Our Self proclaimed Experts in Congress and The Senate have determined that the harm exceeds the good? Let them over regulate and tax something else on their hit list with oil and coal off the table. We can buy electricity from Foreign sources anyway….HAH!
After all, look at how brilliantly they have turned the Economy around, Secured the Borders, solved the MEDICARE issue, made Social Security solvent and kept the Nation safe from Terrorism!
@Tom in CA, INRE “da won” and keeping him talking, I get your drift. But after a year and a half, I need a break from this 24/7 POTUS and his forked tongue.
@yippie21, don’t get me wrong. I am a *huge* fan of the Coast Guard. Frankly wish I were young enough to join. But you have to understand the CG responsibilities. They, along with the MMS, also do rig inspections. They most certainly did respond to the original fire … with four choppers, one rescue plane and five cutters, to be exact. Their cutters are equipped with firefighting equipment.
A first responders with authoritive jurisdiction over the rigs, they would be supervising the available help from private traffic in the area who – yes – also responded. Afterall, *someone* had to be coordinating that firefighting effort, yes? Someone who would have the knowledge of what to do with oil fires, and drillships in general. If they are there in that force, it’s not likely they allow some private contractor ship passing by to assume the leadership role.
I believe my point here is that I think much of this is a tragic comedy of errors in a moment in time. Depending on what the investigation finds on the initials explosion, that could be Mother Nature or a gross accident. The firefighting efforts, if found to have sunk that rig, as Mike Miller/Safety Boss suggests, is another gross error. Certainly there would be considerably less problems with the leak were the rig burnt, but intact and not sitting on the seabed with twisted risers.
The admin can do all the political fingerpointing they want for their agenda, however I see culpability … not necessarily deliberate… in many sources here. That includes our government agencies and response, along with the mechanical, technical and perhaps human error mishaps. It is not factually correct to have BP shoulder everything.
@bbartlog, I don’t find much on the specs of the containment box, save what’s available here. As you say, Wild Well doesn’t even mention it on their site. They’ve been quite busy, working 24/7 on the construction. And they did have to test it before sending it out into the Gulf for placement.
INRE the risks of offshore deepwater drilling and you “revising upward” your “estimate” of environmental damage. I might say that even tho you, personally, didn’t consider the risks at what you deem the proper level, I assure you the companies that provide this service, and those that work the rigs, most certainly do. They are quite aware of the pressures and anomolies of drilling into the earth’s crust and the repercussions when things go wrong.
But a word about oil and spills in general. There are no two alike, and the type and weight of the oil factors into clean up and environmental impact. This is crude, and judging by the spill photos, it’s not a heavy crude. Meaning it stays predominately on the surface. This crude will break up with sunlight and wave action and, in some ways, is preferable to having the crude on the seabed floor.
According to a 2000 study of oil spill cleanups in general by oil types, categorizes clean up expense by locations… off shore, near shore and in port. The greatest expense is for near port or shoreline cleanups because that is manual in nature.
If you’re a tech head you’ll get much INRE clean up expense by reading this… even tho it’s dated. Good foundation.
@Mata..
Good to go. I’m not bashing on the CG either. They do their job and largely go unheralded for their vast responsibilities or the courageous work they consistently do. No prob.
I do think there was an exhaustive rescue effort that eclipsed all else. Then for whatever reason the rig sank. It’s sad that 11 people were killed in this accident and a lot of the focus is on the oil. From what I’ve read, the 11 likely died instantly as they were in an area of the rig that exploded first. ( posting sin.. I can’t remember where I read that and no link! so take that at face value as almost equal to “my opinion from sitting on my a$$ ).
That said, BP was improperly singled out early, but that’s how it goes. What piques my interested is, being how well connected it is becoming clear that BP was to Barry ( throughout his political career !! ) and how well connected BP is in DC with the democrats, what pray tell, was the reaction in DC when the elites were informed that their cash cow, BP, was in fact, the leasee of the rig that blew up… hmmmm.
Well it looks like the M.O. is, harsh talk, pronouncements , singling-out and probably behind the scene reassurances that they’ll be taken care of. I mean, look at how Barry has gone after Goldman Saks. Same thing… close ties… lots of money… and disproportional response for media yaps to eat up and broadcast… to feed the little angry folks…
Surprise .. surprise .. surprise ..
… SUCKERS
Excellent Post !!
Thank you
MEscape… nice of you to come visit us, and say hello. Hope you return often.
When they cap the Horizon well, can they also put a lid on Obama? We wish…
Why shouldn’t there be reasonable correspondence between the limits of BP’s financial liability and the extent of their profits from their operations in the Gulf? We’re looking at widespread environmental and economic damages that could run into billions. Those damages are the direct consequences of a cooperative activity in which BP is a primary player.
Why should those who profit the most from a dangerous enterprise not bear the brunt of the costs when risks inherent in that enterprise turn into serious public damages? Why should the public be expected to cover bets that go bad? That seems to me like exactly the sort of thing the Obama administration has been strongly criticized for. I don’t grasp the logic behind the apparent inconsistency.
I’m not sure what your point is, Greg. At no time in either of my posts have I stated that BP should not bear some responsibility. That’s why they have insurance for these events, guy. And what has this to do with “their profits”? Again, that’s why there’s E&O catastrophic insurance. What their insurance doesn’t cover, they pay out of pocket. So? Transocean also has a policy, as well as Halliburton. Part of doing business. Frankly, the one’s that will take a huge financial hit will be those insurance companies, if you really want to know.
At what point did you think I suggested the taxpayer take this on?
If you are defending the Obama WH focus on premature litigation as being engaged “since day one”, then you are way off track. Point is, had all the experts jumped feet first in from “day one”, the damage may not have been as extensive. Had they done the immediate burn, considerably less oil would be in the Gulf. And one has to wonder how much worse the containment of the gushing well was made by the rig sinking, instead of being allowed to burn. If the CG commanders weren’t sure of the best course, why didn’t they pick up the phone can call experts like Safety Boss? In fact, why didn’t the Obama WH call Safety Boss in immediately??? We did for Kuwait. Why not here?
These are questions who’s answers may be revealed at the hearings, and in the investigations.
However there is no good that comes of a thuggish goverment, running around being the enemy and adversary of the offship companies instead of being a willing partner to the immediate crisis… containing the oil. Instead of Obama’s bean counters staying busy tabulating the costs, and his attorneys stayed business sussing out who was going to pay. Meanwhile, our POTUS & company run around, bashing a single scapegoat prematurely… and all of this in the media spotlight…. Counterproductive. They should be working hand in hand with the efforts.
They’ve done nothing of value “since day one” except create a media villain. Worthless… totally worthless.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/2010/05/04/markets/thebuzz/chart_ws_stock_bpplc.top.png
BP loses $32 billion in value on spill
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/04/markets/thebuzz/
What did Obama lose?
For failing to have competent actions by “His” admin.
Swat Teams sent? jeez louizz 🙄
I assure you the companies that provide this service, and those that work the rigs, most certainly do. They are quite aware of the pressures and anomolies of drilling into the earth’s crust and the repercussions when things go wrong.
But since their own estimate aren’t perfect (even though they’re surely better than mine) they will still be subject to revision when new information, like the occurrence of an actual disaster, comes in. Unfortunately the appropriate level of re-estimation is probably very small compared to the kind of Three Mile Island overreaction we are likely to see on the political front, but that doesn’t mean there should be no reassessment.
If you are suggesting that Transocean will, after investigation findings, see if there’s a way to improve the deepwater rig design, of course they will. This is already a fifth generation drillship, for heavens sake. Why wouldn’t they? They are more concerned with the safety of their crew, protecting their rigs, and avoiding costly clean up than you are.
Now, why don’t you ask whether the government will “reassess” their response and actions? They didn’t learn from the Christmas bomber, and catching that NYC scumbag was due to vigilent citizens and sheer luck. They’ve had a plan in place since 1994 for booms and burnings. Why wasn’t that implemented? Why weren’t the appropriate emergency responder experts contacted immediately?
Private corporations “learn” from errors for basic survival. Government, apparently, learns nothing. They know full well they can be inept and idiots, but will always have power and will always survive.
When Obama was a “cpmmunity orgainzer” he worked for the Catholic Church. Do you hate the Catholic for hiring him ?
Pointless, as usual, john ryan. I don’t “hate” Transocean, BP *or* Halliburton.
You, on the other hand, are questionable in that aspect.
@John ryan:
Good help is hard to find.
No, I don’t fault the Catholic Church for that.
as for what motivates Transoceanic it is one thing profits to its shareholders.The International Association of Drilling Contractors, a trade group which includes Transocean, the firm that operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, objected in 2000 to a proposed requirement to use blind-shear rams, a type of blowout preventer which seals out-of-control oil wells by pinching off the pipe. Due to a failure of that device on the Deepwater Horizon, the rig’s crew was unable to prevent the massive gush of oil that still spews from the bottom of the ocean.
Claiming that the rate of accidents and incidents “is approaching zero,” the group tried blunting the agency’s argument that many previous incidents could have been ameliorated if the equipment had been used.
Big OIl will always fight anything that the believe will reduce their profits
Even Sarah Palin has come out against the company that employed First Dude for 18 years until they won the lottery. Here is her latest TweetGulf: learn from Alaska’s lesson w/foreign oil co’s: don’t naively trust- VERIFY. Livelihood affected by spill?Don’t sign away remedy rights
I see you’ve confirmed my point above that the “hater” is, in fact, *you*, john ryan.
Any corporation’s duty is to it’s shareholders. And yet you attempt to portray the company as negligent, and pretend that a poor safety record would not affect that end goal. Transocean has beaucoup to lose… not only in the public relations department, but the more valuable assets such as employees, their rigs, and their future ability to secure lease contracts.
If they do trade offs for proposed regulations, they are generally because they have that safety aspect already covered in their technical opinion. Regulators know less about their business than they do.
So I see you, like Crooks and Liars, deem yourself an expert in BOPs now. I guess we should call off the investigation because john ryan has spoken, and decided the cause of the blowout and how it could have been prevented. You’re an arrogant SOB, dude.
So far as compensation is concerned, I’m reminded (via Wikipedia) that the Mexican government never payed us a dime after their Ixtoc I oil rig collapsed and fouled the gulf back in the 1970s. Kind of a similar disaster to the one we face today – deep water, a blowout, and a rig fire to complicate things…
Darned good reason not to have government nationalized rigs, and taxpayers on the hook for accidents, eh bbart?
@John ryan:
Hey Jr…..
You gonna attribute that copy/paste job to the rightful owner or just post it as if it were your own?
Exit question: Why did the Obama Administration give BP an explicit exemption to environmental studies?
Hang, Aye… I’m wondering when john ryan will eventually figure out that BP doesn’t own any offshore rigs… just land based. BOPs and blowouts are a risk for both, but more so for deep undersea well. The babbling that john ryan parrots, about BP and regulations, is not relevant to offshore rigs they lease, but to the land based rigs they own.
The decision to install a third backup system for a BOP was the rightful decision of the owner, Transocean. US regs, as I mentioned above, found that the third failsafe was not necessary, and often caused intermittent shutdowns. Nor is there any evidence… save in john ryans political mind… that a third level of fail safe would have made an iota of difference. Especially since the BOP did send a signal. That is for the experts… not john ryan and his pals… to determine.
Last I checked, government at all levels takes in more “profit” on a barrel of oil than oil companies.
“Last I checked, government at all levels takes in more “profit” on a barrel of oil than oil companies.”
Government “profit” is taken in on behalf of the public. The public is the owner of the resource that the oil industry is extracting, processing, and selling back to them.
Judging from the Big 5’s annual multi-billion dollar profits over the past few years, they don’t seem to be suffering too badly from the arrangement.
Greg, you are misreading oil industry profits. Oil companies that refine in the US lose cash at the pump since they don’t supply enough oil to the refineries to meet the nation’s demand. So they, too, must shop on the open market for the crude.
Where oil makes their cash is E&P (exploration and production). The US hasn’t been allowing much of that, however the rest of the world is. So the companies are making their cash off E&P… provided they discover a field they can develop – it’s a risk…. because they are contracted by just about anyone other than the US. Therefore most of it is made outside the US and is only taxable as it relates to their division and it’s domicile.
However it is a favorite little trick for the lib/progs to quote their cash from all divisions, especially E&P, to keep up the big bad oil company image. It wouldn’t work so well if they only quoted US refinery profits and pumps.
GREG:hi,so the AMERICANS own the resource;when do they get pay?or is the government taking all the money and spend it as the people sweat for their bread;how about repaying the “IOWEYOU THEY OWE to the retiring people who paid in all their life,with the profit from the resource belonging to the people. 🙄
More on all those governmental responsibilities after the spill…
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/05/efficiency-prior-to-bp-disaster-at.html
Sorry Halliburton Haters, they’re off the hook.
26 inch bit(hole opener), surface casing, bops on, extensive pressure testing- anything that fails is replaced, repaired, and inspected. Pressure tester on the hook.
17.5″ bit, casing, cement, retest
12.25″bit,casing, cement, retest
8.5″,6″,4″, same as above. Every casing run is pressure tested.
The drilling was done, and the drill ship was going to move. Everything below the bop was kosher. Has to be by drilling history and by law. Thousands of deep holes prove this.
The cement has to hold for 24 hours at 10k psi.
Excellent post Mata. Sending in the lawyers as first responders, is that Alynsky or ACLU procedure? Groucho Marx could have had a field day with this Keystone Cops script! I wonder if Obama ever considered that there might be pros who actually have experiecnce with these disasters?
BP apparently didn’t lose any time before parachuting commando lawyers into the Gulf area. Apparently their briefcases were packed with settlement agreements…
Anyone wanna bet that the NeoComs now running our government will use this to pass CapNtax? Death and destruction is like a Christmas present for them.
SKOOKUM2:hi, is that you? hi,i am confuse now, 🙄 bye
So @Oil guy from Alberta, any observations on Safety Boss’s Mike Miller’s comments INRE filling the rig with water? Wonder if it would have been better to let the rig burn, and immediately burn off the leaking crude and diesel.
Oil guy from Alberta, Thank You Sir!
Yeah send in the SWAT Teams, Big Sis Napolitano, the Media with full gear, Teleprompters, get Baghdad Bob Gibbs on adrenalin talking crap, put Eric Holder and his Merry Band on alert to serve subpoenas, make a jackass of yourself pointing fingers and …Whoops!
The Pros step up and furnish details on Deep Sea Oil Drilling and Aw Shucks!
The Devil is always in the Details every time.
Thank You and Mata for your tech insight and homework that Team Obama at a trillion times the budget did not do before US Credibility took another boot to the chops due to the stupidity of involving Political Statements into a tragedy of this magnitude. High Drama Obama!
Proud to be an American but thoroughly embarrassed that my CiC makes such unwarranted and ill-advised statements that I have to explain with when dealing with Our NATO Allies. I’m from that “other part of America” where a man thinks before engaging his mouth.
Thanks for your expertise!
Greg, BP and other potential Defendants have professionals on the payroll.
Obama has …well…civil rights activists, political hacks, a Janet Reno understudy and Terrorist Defender for DOJ head and Media whores in the chorus to try the case in the Media.
Lets allow some Due Process and presentation of Evidence to sort it out and get the Politics and Media hype from talking head fools put aside until after Adjudication in a Court of Law. Does Innocent Until Proven Guilty ring any bells here?
hi PATVANN;did you check a new one who want to serve the country,he is going for it and has a impressive pedigree,his name DAVE WHITE;bye 🙄
Thanks Mata, for the platform(pun intended). You’re a sweetie. On an uncontrolled blowout, if upwind and no H2S, save what you can. You have to clear out all that you can, to get to the well head. Then you fire a flare to light her up. Yes, purposely light it up because people tend to limp around a blowout. Miller says no platform and you can’t blame the Coast Guard.
I’ve been on a major blowout in the Lodgepole, Alberta scene where the methane was blowing towards Edmonton. Yes, there was major H2S in that one.
I believe if Darth Cheney was the VP, he would have met Miller there on day 2.
5000 barrels per day. That’s a natural treasure and a blessing to you folks. That’s huge.
Better still, go after your 5 state oil shales. Estimates are out. You guys got 2 trillon barrels+ right under your feet. Use a shovel to start. That’s 11million jobs at 50k$ per worker, at full capacity for 200 years. Hold it! Most are federal enclaves. Damn it! That’s green territory.
@Aye Chihuahua: You beat me to it….that site that you linked to actually cut and pasted the whole article from the Huffington Post here, and then John Ryan plagiarized it as his own.
Just when you thought the guy couldn’t get any lower.
Can they cap obama too??
What kind of stupid ass question is that? You were probably one of the dumb fockers shouting, “Drill baby Drill” like a moron at the GNC Convention. This is the unfortunate and inevitable reality of the drilling. It will happen. hopefully infrequently.
Look where your ignorant disregard for the environment has landed us!
Look where obama has landed us… things are looking a hellova lot better now than they were back when GW closed out his nightmare of a disaster of a second term. 😳
I see you want to pass on minimal information to advance a negative light, Greg. Quite sleazy of you. Let’s get the full story, shall we?
First of all, let me say that I am not for any citizen waiving their right to legal recourse. But I’m unaware of any substantiated instance that that is what BP did.
That said, let’s compare…. because obviously you’re upset that I’m labeling Obama and his attorneys, chomping at the bit to file their lawsuits against BP, Transocean and whoever else they can nail, scumbags. And yes, I am… they are scumbags.
So you think this is no different than BP and their settlements? Interesting.
Obama and his minions are holding out their hand, and demonizing companies and their futures by threats. On the other hand, BP is walking up to AL fishermen who they know will be out of work during the clean up period, and offering a job as a part of the clean up crew in exchange for a settlement amount and waiver on suing.
The Alabama AG requested they quit distributing the hire/settlement offers… as they did. However you need to come clean with your accusation, Greg. They weren’t offering a low payout only. They were doing a “hire with a waiver” opportunity.
The fishermen have two choices… they can sit it out and not be part of the clean up crew as employees and sue for as much as their lawyers can obtain, or they can take a pre’fixed settlement PLUS become an active employee in the settlement.
Is that akin to Obama… sitting on his campaign AF-One 1st class throne… with his hand out for doing nothing but being indignant on “behalf” of the nation? I don’t think so. Am I an advocate of their approach? I’m not sure. Rather depends upon the fisherman and his usual catch, don’t you think? If I weren’t making a ton of money off my catch, and were off while the clean up is done, I’m not so sure that alternative employment plus a settlement isn’t a viable offer to consider.
Either way, Obama’s holding his hand out demanding money, and BP’s offering both a job in the down time, plus a settlement. Who’s the more admirable of the two in my book? No question… BP.
But it’s a moot point since it’s been politicized in a negative light. So they’ve backed off. Let the fisherman sit there and wait for a lawsuit settlement. That’s their choice. Somehow, I think they’d rather be involved in cleaning up their own backyard…
…. something Obama has no intention of doing.
@Casey, nice first appearance here. We just love it when you lib/prog bozos show up, babble a bunch of heated emotional BS, then dash out. We don’t need to do a thing to reveal your idiocy since you’ve already done our work for us… meaning you portrayed yourself as an ass.
But let’s get one thing straight, missy. The repercussions of the Gulf… where I grew up and my family live… have not landed your East Bay butt in any particular major inconvenience. So don’t play the injured victim here.
And speaking of “ignorant disregard”, it’s obvious you followed no links or you would have learned from my previous Horizon post that oil rig spills constitute about 4% of all the oil spills in the world. The majority are from oil tankers. So those of your mental ability would seek to shut down offshore drilling, only to find yourselves with even more oil tankers on the ocean to pollute with oil spills to make up for the 25% of domestic crude we get from the Gulf. duh wuh…. Yup. “ignorant disregard”. That would be you.
You’re just another lowlife, seizing on talking points and another denizen’s misfortune, to bandy about your blind devotion to a POTUS who is seriously damaging this country by his inexperience, his dangerous fiscal policies and political ideology.
@Oil guy from Alberta, you’re welcome for your “platform”. We love having a “smarter than the average bear” here on this stuff. For the rest of us, it’s a steep learning curve and uphill battle. And I have to say, neither the media nor the govt are much help in that.
Got the drift on the hydrogen sulfide in a blow out. But clarify the blow comment a bit further for us, please:
Don’t assume too much from us please. I know this is a “drillship” in your world because they were doing the original drill, and prepping the well for a more permanent rig. However when you say “no platform” and “drillship”, these don’t fit the picture for us. So perhaps you’d like to play professor and give us a few lessons in oil jargon?
Below… a picture of the Deepwater Horizon
Below, a picture of a typical “platform” stationary (affixed or not) oil rig
Sans a few levels on the structure, and the task of drilling vs well production, what’s the difference when it comes to “platforms”? This doesn’t look like a “ship” to us, tho it is mobile. And, as you said, in the Gulf… hurricane alley… affixed is not always a great idea.
“I see you want to pass on minimal information to advance a negative light, Greg.”
It was just a reflexive shot from the hip, triggered by the comment that immediately preceded it. Both sides are going to try to exploit the situation to their political advantage.
Okie doke, Greg. But suggest that next time you want to fire off a round over the bow, you put some ammo in the chamber.
@Oil guy from Alberta: The problem with shale oil is it takes a different process and costs a lot more. It takes several wells to get the oil out. Steam has to be pumped in to separate the oil from the shale, then other wells pump the oil out. Then you have to separate the oil from the water.
I gotta hand it to ya Mata. Where the hell are you getting all this stuff? Smarter than the average bear. Right!
Look at that engineering and naval wonder. That’s the biggest catamaran you’ll ever see. Think of an iceberg. 90% underwater. Ballast, propulsion and anchors. Absolutely, no stress on the riser. Awesome. US Navy and Royal Navy stuff, sorta. This floats and moves. I was on an actual ship with a hole in the middle on Canadian Marine for Dome Petroleum, before the energy bust in 1980. That was mickey mouse before this.
From what I can ascertain, they filled that catamaran with water. The Coast Guard came in and did a hell of a job. Nobody got killed, but you got nothing to stand on to troubleshoot.
Look at that beefy derrick. The room it has to place all that down piping and that 5000′ riser. Pulling power that can easily part pipe at the tool joints.
The bottom platform is fixed to the bottom, in much more shallow water.
Ok Mata, when you’re done drilling and you’ve got a productive hole, put on the xmas tree and move on. A service rig will come in, to stimulate the well, if need be, and put on anything feesible for production. After that, the pipeline crews come in.
Very good smorg and I’ll answer your questions. Offshore drilling is 6 to 10 times more expensive than anything done on land.
You can use steam or detergent.
How about 1 barrel of energy to produce 2 barrels of oil? That’s how we do it.
How about recovery holes dug at a half million apiece?
Directional holes at at 2 million apiece. Peanuts. Compared to the gulf.
So many reasons why? Security, weather, bang for the buck, and most importantly economically sensitive to the environment. We can’t die in our wastes. This can be done right.