Tri State Oil Spill

[whitesatinmopar]

Just caught part of one news report on this and it something to the extent that the inital blast was caused by underwater methane gas, evidently sparked by something on the platform. Also seems that this well must have been a lot stronger (pressure) comming in than usual...............unless part of that extreme pressure that "bypassed" the safty and shutdown procedures was a mix of crude and methane.?

[Topcat]

OMG, did anyone hear the testimony on Williams the worker from the oil well platform  that's leaking on 60 Minutes tonight?

BP was pressuring the crew to speed it up. were told it took 6 weeks to hit oil. Timeframe BP wanted was 2 weeks.  The Annualer gasket came up from the well and they were told by a BP manager..."Don't worry about it" The annualar seal does the pressure tests if methane gas is coming up. This story is getting muddier than Watergate.

[Topcat]

http://www.youtube.com/user/BPplc?v=KKcrDaiGE2s&feature=pyv&ad=5953529293&kw=bp%20oil%20spill

[mopar12372]

my family sends our prayers out to the loss that the familys had on the day the platform went down . god bless

[lemming303]

Yeah, it's turning into more and more of a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if that Company man goes to jail for multiple counts. I'm surprised this happened to BP, they are one of the most stringent in the business, alongside Shell and Chevron..

[willhaven]

BP had hundreds of safety violations in the last three years  (760 willful violations). Exxon had 1. One. Uno. Singular.

Citgo? 2.

If what the BP/Transocean people are saying is true, they weren't following procedure, they were rushing and they were knowingly working with damaged equipment. If that's true, expect heads to roll and expect a lot more regulation. It's about time too.

[lemming303]

I can't speak for all of BP, but I do know from all the people I have worked with BP has a very stringent safety policy for doing Well completions. Now that is a very small part of the process, but they are some of the hardest companies to work for.

I would imagine that the majority of violations came from either refineries, or the drilling process, which must be done by a certain to avoid losing a lease. I am by no means saying that vindicates; don't get me wrong. I'm just saying from my experience they have a very strong safety policy.

[lemming303]

Alright, so I did a little looking, and it does appear that these charges were given at Refineries. Also understand that it wasn't 760 individual times that these were done, it was something like 400 at one time. That is ridiculous though. It said that

"According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio  and Texas  have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA".

That is absolutely insane. I had no idea that BP was like this. Like I said, for the completions side, they are very stringent.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I'm gonna throw my  in here

First off the 11 that died.... I dont here to much about that... WTF? My sympathy to the families.

Second the enviromental concerns... CLEAN THE SOB UP!!!! My gawd I cant watch the news for 5 mins w/o someone who has there own plan.  As a recycler some of these plans are actually pretty good ... JUST DO IT!!

Third Odrama wanting to know whos booty to kick... n!%%@ please... he said she said we said (and repeat) and play the blame game.

Fourth, do we need the oil from offshore drilling ... damn right we do... in jobs, now I hear it tops 46,000. And no I do not liver in a third world county $8 a gallon gas...... heeeellllllll no

[71chally416]

I'm gonna throw my  in here

First off the 11 that died.... I dont here to much about that... WTF? My sympathy to the families.

Second the enviromental concerns... CLEAN THE SOB UP!!!! My gawd I cant watch the news for 5 mins w/o someone who has there own plan.  As a recycler some of these plans are actually pretty good ... JUST DO IT!!

Third Odrama wanting to know whos booty to kick... n!%%@ please... he said she said we said (and repeat) and play the blame game.

Fourth, do we need the oil from offshore drilling ... damn right we do... in jobs, now I hear it tops 46,000. And no I do not liver in a third world county $8 a gallon gas...... heeeellllllll no

Great post 

[lemming303]

I saw on CNN yesterday where there is a guy down in Florida that is selling para-sailing trips so you can go out and look for oil on the water. They made a huge about "a white sheen that must have been oil". When they got close they noticed it was barely even enough see up close. It was so dilluted that when they scooped it they only got tiny specks. The reported then said "Well, it's not hardly anything. But any day now they will be getting all the oil over here!" I thought it was pretty funny....kinda like "The death toll is currently 0, but that could change at any minute!" lol.

And the guys who lost their shrimping income, think about all the hands that worked on the offshore rigs that have been out of work too. I don't know how many that is, but the shrimpers aren't the only guys losing work.

[whitesatinmopar]

It is a devastating tragic event, but sadly it has as usual become mostly political drama. Pointing fingers at whose fault it might be, political and environmental grand standing. Personally if they had started atempting to clean it up from once the inital fire was put out instead of just trying to contain the "slick" until it was stopped it surely wouldn't be as bad and widespread as it is now. Sorry,................Obama wants to know who is at fault so he knows where to start "kicking asses", I beleive his time and energy would have been better spent first as Bigs said giving support and comfort to the families who lost family members, and then doing what might be possible to help all those affected by the loss of employment because of the now massive oil slick.    I heard that the Fed. EPA prevented the state of La. from building sand barriers around the wet lands and marshes to absorb the oil when it did arrive.     At least the state was wanting to be proactive in a possible help/solution to protect those islands, but the government said no, you do what we say and when we tell you. That is basically the situation in that one aspect of this mess. In the mean time.........................   

[RusTy/SE]

I caught CNN for a few seconds while playing TV News Channel Roulette the other day; long enough to hear Kyra Phillips comment on her recent assignment regarding Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, quoting the Admiral as saying "I'm very careful who I rent space to in my head.". 

Here's the video. Jim, I think he heard you...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/02/a-day-with-coast-guard-adm-thad-allen-and-the-oil-spill/
 

[willhaven]

It is a devastating tragic event, but sadly it has as usual become mostly political drama. Pointing fingers at whose fault it might be, political and environmental grand standing. Personally if they had started atempting to clean it up from once the inital fire was put out instead of just trying to contain the "slick" until it was stopped it surely wouldn't be as bad and widespread as it is now. Sorry,................Obama wants to know who is at fault so he knows where to start "kicking asses", I beleive his time and energy would have been better spent first as Bigs said giving support and comfort to the families who lost family members, and then doing what might be possible to help all those affected by the loss of employment because of the now massive oil slick.    I heard that the Fed. EPA prevented the state of La. from building sand barriers around the wet lands and marshes to absorb the oil when it did arrive.     At least the state was wanting to be proactive in a possible help/solution to protect those islands, but the government said no, you do what we say and when we tell you. That is basically the situation in that one aspect of this mess. In the mean time.........................   

The problem with the sand berm plan is that it would take 6-9 months to complete at a cost of nearly $4m per mile. And hurricane season is approaching. Storms and normal wave action will make quick work of a sand berm.

Too slow, too expensive, too fragile. At least our crappy boom plan is quick, less expensive and still very fragile.

My guess is that we're absolutely screwed until those relief wells are drilled. The newer cap may capture more of the flow, but not all of it. So, August is best case scenario for controlling the flow.

Thanks BP! I hope rushing the drilling process was worth it.

[willhaven]

I also forgot to add. In the years 1998-2008, the number of offshore drilling rigs increased tenfold. The number of inspectors only grew by 13%.