Oil Well in the Gulf of Mexico? [Archive] - MercuryMarauder.net Forums

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FordNut

05-02-2010, 05:25 PM

Discussion? I tossed and turned last night, couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about it.

This is probably going to be a huge disaster. It already is, but it's likely to get worse. A lot worse.

Some topics...
Oil is lighter than water, so the oil is going to keep coming up until the well is plugged off. I assume the oil deposits are under pressure and one may assume the oil would eventually stop flowing when the pressure is equalized with the water pressure, but... If the pressure is equalized water will go down into the oil well and displace more oil to come up through the well. That's something that is commonly done in the oil industry, to pump water into oil wells so they can get more oil out. So it seems the "dome and pump" idea needs to be done ASAP, and at the same time another well needs to be drilled to relieve pressure and plug off the well. The secondary well is what they did when a similar problem occurred in Australian seas, seems like the only sure-fire way to stop it.

The oil is going to spread a long way. Water currents and weather patterns will possibly spread it from Texas' gulf coast all the way to Tampa bay. Currents may take it around the Keys and even spread oil deposits onto the Eastern shores of Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Lots of coral reef will be damaged and huge fishing areas in the gulf will be useless for years, possibly decades. The dispersant chemicals they are using won't dissolve the oil and make it go away, they just make it mix with water. In the long run that may turn out to be worse than leaving it alone so it can be cleaned up or collected. Who knows what the long term effects of those chemicals may be to crabs, shrimp, and fish in those waters. Toxic? Genetic damage? Gotta be worse than the BPA that is being banned from food containers.

BP is going to take a huge financial hit, along with the rest of the oil exploration companies. Lawyers are already swooping in like vultures to start picking the carcass. Yes, BP should have to pay for damages just as Exxon when they spilled the oil in Alaska. Think about it though, where is that money ultimately going to come from? Trickle-down economics tells me the price at the pump will go up. If BP raises their price, does anybody think the other oil companies won't do the same? Off-shore drilling for all companies will become much more expensive due to new safety requirements, so the price of oil will go up. Additional safety measures are necessary, but once again we the end user will ultimately be paying for it. Permits for off-shore drilling will probably become even more difficult to get, strengthening our dependence on middle-eastern oil.

Economic recovery will probably be delayed since a bunch of fishermen are going to be out of work just as their season starts. Seafood prices will be going up along with gasoline prices. Energy prices overall will be going up, as this happened just in time to give momentum to the cap-and-trade energy bill.

Or best case scanario: they get the dome in place in a week and it works perfectly as planned; the oil that has been already spilled is cleaned up in a month or so; the oil only makes limited contact with shore; the fishing, shrimping, and crabbing seasons are delayed but still productive; the relief well is drilled and the well sealed off in a couple of months.

Oh yeah, when is hurricane season?

Black_Noise

05-02-2010, 06:44 PM

take a drink..... thats about all you can do

guspech750

05-02-2010, 06:45 PM

take a drink..... thats about all you can do
Yep. Wait and see:alone:

sailsmen

05-02-2010, 06:51 PM

Worst case is all efforts fail and relief well takes 90 days. They are adding dispersants at the source with robots. This makes the oil clump and fall to the bottom where it is eaten.

They are also fabricating a dome to place over the leak and funnel it to a hose to be placed aboard a tanker.

The good news is the oil is Louisiana Sweet Crude, some of the lightest oil in the world.

The best thing is for the USCG to Federalize the Clean Up, as they did with the ACBL/DRD in the Port of New Orleans. This will allow BP to focus on stopping the discharge. Federalizing puts the USCG in charge allowing a central command and decisions can be made by one gov't entiety.

I am afraid it is too hot a potato and a no win so the Gov't will wait until it possibly cannot get any worse before stepping in.

Hurricane season starts June 1st. Brian, the Gulf Stream will in all likely hood keep it off the East coast. We will survive this. I don't think it will be as devastating as we are thinking. Keep in mind the major source of oil on the surface in the Gulf is natural seepage from the ocean floor off the coast of Mexico.

Seafood Feast - Thursday fried catfish and shrimp stuffed mirliton at a friend's party, shrimp Remoulade at Mother's . Friday boiled crawfish at Progressive Barge in Westwego and fried shrimp at Zea's. Saturday fried catfish at Beck's Lake in Pensacola. Sunday charboiled oysters, fried catfish, crawfish balls, fried oysters, fried shrimp and stuffed crab at Acme.

Hope to do the same at this time next year.
[img]http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/ACMEHorizoncrop.jpg (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17825)[IMG]

FordNut

05-02-2010, 07:16 PM

take a drink..... thats about all you can do

Yep. Wait and see:alone:

Yep, nothing we can do about it, I guess the oath applies:
God grant me the strength to change the things I can,
The serenity to accept the things I can't,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Worst case is all efforts fail and relief well takes 90 days. They are adding dispersants at the source with robots. This makes the oil clump and fall to the bottom where it is eaten.

They are also fabricating a dome to place over the leak and funnel it to a hose to be placed aboard a tanker.

The good news is the oil is Louisiana Sweet Crude, some of the lightest oil in the world.

The best thing is for the USCG to Federalize the Clean Up, as they did with the ACBL/DRD in the Port of New Orleans. This will allow BP to focus on stopping the discharge. Federalizing puts the USCG in charge allowing a central command and decisions can be made by one gov't entiety.

I am afraid it is too hot a potato and a no win so the Gov't will wait until it possibly cannot get any worse before stepping in.

Hurricane season starts June 1st. Brian, the Gulf Stream will in all likely hood keep it off the East coast. We will survive this. I don't think it will be as devastating as we are thinking. Keep in mind the major source of oil on the surface in the Gulf is natural seepage from the ocean floor off the coast of Mexico.

Seafood Feast - Thursday fried catfish and shrimp stuffed mirliton at a friend's party, shrimp Remoulade at Mother's . Friday boiled crawfish at Progressive Barge in Westwego and fried shrimp at Zea's. Saturday fried catfish at Beck's Lake in Pensacola. Sunday charboiled oysters, fried catfish, crawfish balls, fried oysters, fried shrimp and stuffed crab at Acme.

]

You know a lot more about it than I do, and you're down there, so if you're not worried I guess I'll sleep better tonight!

Mike M

05-02-2010, 07:32 PM

I'm not worried...at all.

Mr. Man

05-02-2010, 07:33 PM

Worst case is all efforts fail and relief well takes 90 days. They are adding dispersants at the source with robots. This makes the oil clump and fall to the bottom where it is eaten.

They are also fabricating a dome to place over the leak and funnel it to a hose to be placed aboard a tanker.

The good news is the oil is Louisiana Sweet Crude, some of the lightest oil in the world.

The best thing is for the USCG to Federalize the Clean Up, as they did with the ACBL/DRD in the Port of New Orleans. This will allow BP to focus on stopping the discharge. Federalizing puts the USCG in charge allowing a central command and decisions can be made by one gov't entiety.

I am afraid it is too hot a potato and a no win so the Gov't will wait until it possibly cannot get any worse before stepping in.

Hurricane season starts June 1st. Brian, the Gulf Stream will in all likely hood keep it off the East coast. We will survive this. I don't think it will be as devastating as we are thinking. Keep in mind the major source of oil on the surface in the Gulf is natural seepage from the ocean floor off the coast of Mexico.

Seafood Feast - Thursday fried catfish and shrimp stuffed mirliton at a friend's party, shrimp Remoulade at Mother's . Friday boiled crawfish at Progressive Barge in Westwego and fried shrimp at Zea's. Saturday fried catfish at Beck's Lake in Pensacola. Sunday charboiled oysters, fried catfish, crawfish balls, fried oysters, fried shrimp and stuffed crab at Acme.

Hope to do the same at this time next year.
[IMG]http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/ACMEHorizoncrop.jpg (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17825)[IMG]I'll have a plate of fried everything and a diet rootbeer. That's a funny pic.
What caused the explosion in the first place?

sailsmen

05-02-2010, 08:26 PM

I don't know. Some think it was hitting a pocket of gas that shot up and ignited before the Blow Out Preventer could shut it in. The head of BP said the BOP failed. Others have said the drilling rig got into production.

A few have said someone made it happen. I don't believe it. If the Oil Patch has been infiltrated we are in deep trouble,that means the only way out is to lose all of our freedoms.

We will have to wait and see.

What is obvious is that the drilling technology out paced the shut in technology. The well head was a mile down on the ocean floor.

Red91LX

05-02-2010, 08:50 PM

Gas prices have already started to climb sharply my area over the last 2 weeks...

mrjones

05-03-2010, 04:53 AM

Yep, I'm afraid my scrimpses are going to be higher and harder to find here shortyly. Just went to one of our favorite local feeds yesterday for a seafood platter. Fried everything: catfish, shrimp, oyster, boudain balls, crab stuffed jalapeno, etc.

May get more expensive soon.

Gas prices are going up certainly. We've seen since 2005 that ANY somewhat related event will cause fuel prices to spike, and surely this is related. Wouldn't it have been great if for that week or so when gas went to $2.85 during Katrina, we would've been able to not buy fuel. They saw that we will pay it, so here we are.

Bluerauder

05-03-2010, 06:12 AM

What I find to be very disturbing is that no one seems to know the actual size of this leak. Initially there were reports of 1000 barrels per day. Over the weekend, reports were saying 5,000 barrels per day. This morning I heard that it was closer to 25,000 barrels per day.

Sure hope that they make the "dome" big enough to capture whatever the flow is .... and that the dome cap works well enough to stem the problem until the relief well can be drilled.

Obamaman said that BP will pay for this. Translation: You will pay for this starting with your next visit to your friendly service station. BOHICA.

Marauderjack

05-03-2010, 06:26 AM

Check this theory out.....from WRAL in Raleigh, NC!!!:eek:

http://www.wral.com/golo/blogpost/7523004/

Vortex

05-03-2010, 06:45 AM

This is what happens when you stretch technology to its limits. Hopefully they get it stopped soon. Im sure this disaster will lead to new technologies to limit/prevent this sort of thing in the future.

GetMeMyStogie

05-03-2010, 07:06 AM

25000 barrels per day doesn't sound like much of a dent in global oil production volumes. From recent history, it takes a pretty big dent, at least 10 times that (250,000 bpd) to affect global oil prices. I don't see how one oil company's massive clean up bill would cause other oil company's to raise the price of their oil If anything, it's an opportunity for other oil producers to LOWER the price of their crude, putting the squeeze on BP, and potentially take the oil giant down a notch.
Competition, supply and demand drive oil prices, not fiscal mismanagement* of one oil company.

* - from a financial point of view, spending money on cleaning up oil spills is probably already in BPs usual budget - spending way more on oil spill cleanup than was budgeted for, say, one year, can be looked at a failure of management to adequately plan for such events.

My $0.02

LIGHTNIN1

05-03-2010, 07:25 AM

From common sense and listening to non partisan oil people, this oil spill should not affect the price of gas, just not large enough in the scheme of things.Might should have an effect on sea food. This is just one oil rig versus thousands out there.Also BP is one oil company versus many others. They said if gas prices go up it will not be because of oil shortages. Of course if Obama closes down all the wells that is different. Remember Russia is drilling oil in the Gulf and a few more dictatorial countries. If one bread company shuts down the other companies should not have to raise their prices because they should be selling more bread.

Haggis

05-03-2010, 07:52 AM

Check this theory out.....from WRAL in Raleigh, NC!!!:eek:

http://www.wral.com/golo/blogpost/7523004/

"...80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of the US State of Louisiana where it launched an SSC Sang-o Class Mini Submarine (Yugo class) estimated to have an operational range of 321 kilometers (200 miles)."

Now I'm scared they have a 'Yugo' class submarine. What is it made of wood and have sceen doors or something?

bawazir

05-03-2010, 08:05 AM

No more sushi for me :bigcry:

fastblackmerc

05-03-2010, 08:34 AM

No more sushi for me :bigcry:

Most likely the fish in the sushi isn't caught in the Gulf of Mexico.

GAMike

05-03-2010, 08:43 AM

Sure BP will pay, but I gotta believe they have business insurance to defray the risks associated with this part of their business.

The gulf fisherman on the other hand probably don't. Neither does the wildlife that will perish.....

The thing that P.O.'s me about this is the President waiting 8 full days to make a comment about this...... This is why experience counts for something.........

Did he ignore the situation in that time?

Was he getting bad information about the situation? If yes, from who?

Did he get a case of analysis paralysis for 8 days?

Based on what I read, I think BP was in contact with the feds, and basically convinced them that the situation was under control......... Move along........ nothing to see here........ "The derrick wasn't even producing oil yet" (Saw that comment the day the oil platform sunk)

Obama more interested in his Asheville, NC vacation, paid it no mind vs. sending an independent or govt. expert to appraise the situation.....

So in the end, something broke......... BP's damage control tried to contain the fallout by selling a phony or at the very least innaccurate story to the feds, and the were so lazy/ gullible that they believed BP...... Up until Thursday when it was obvious to anyone following the story that things were not improving.

Sorry but we elect officials to be out in front of these situations taking swift action.......... Not coming to conclusions about what to do, the same time we formulate a plan we would implement.... They have the resourses and much more information. The fed could have been alot more aggressive in acting. If they were interested in acting.

A president with real world experience, I think would come to the same conclusion Obama did Thursday....... It just would have happened alot sooner.

For those who look at Katrina as a comparrison......... FEMA was doomed to failure because disaster plans on the local and state level failed first..... They never mobilized. This needed to happen and would have saved lives.... Who knows how many. This would have allowed FEMA to concentrate on the portion of the disaster plan they are responsible for.

The fed is not the end all in those situations, they have a huge role, but its not to fill gaps in things that should have been done by Ray Nagin the gov. of LA ect. ect.

The oil platforms on the other hand do not fall under the state/local umbrella......... While geographically they reside of the coast, of these states, oversight is pretty much a Federal responsibility out there..... So the situations are not really compareable to each other.

As far as terrorists attacking the platform/sabotage???? While I don't think it happened here, it does not mean that we should not be concerned with the potential for this to happen. Obama's timing on his offshore drilling stance could certainly lead a folks to believe some kind of plot was hatched to coinside with his announcement tho.... Reality/truth can be so bold and shocking as not to be believed.......

Again this is all just my opinion from what I read.... Carry on:beer::argue:

SC Cheesehead

05-03-2010, 10:51 AM

Sunday charboiled oysters, fried catfish, crawfish balls, fried oysters, fried shrimp and stuffed crab at Acme.

Hope to do the same at this time next year.
[IMG]http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/ACMEHorizoncrop.jpg (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17825)[IMG]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I LOVE the Acme....:food:

ctrlraven

05-03-2010, 11:13 AM

I'm sure everyone remembers the Valdez spill which before this was the worst. They had everything cleaned up within a two year period and currently showing no ill effects from it (the wild/marine life). If they don't get this under control and it gets past Florida and heads up the east coast, I see bad things for years to come if that happens.

The local BP stations around me have gone up maybe a total of 10 cents on all grades since this happen. I don't think the trickle down effect has happened yet though.

LIGHTNIN1

05-03-2010, 04:40 PM

A chance for the SHAMWOW guy to work his magic. Someone suggest that to the FEDS and I bet they take it serious.

ImpalaSlayer

05-03-2010, 04:42 PM

A chance for the SHAMWOW guy to work his magic. Someone suggest that to the FEDS and I bet they take it serious.

once they suck up the oil they can beat hookers with them

boatmangc

05-03-2010, 04:52 PM

Weather man says we could have oil on our shore (the Keys) by the weekend if weather patterns continue.

LIGHTNIN1

05-04-2010, 05:40 AM

once they suck up the oil they can beat hookers with them

:laugh:
LMAO. One for funniest home videos.

CBT

05-04-2010, 06:30 AM

"...80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of the US State of Louisiana where it launched an SSC Sang-o Class Mini Submarine (Yugo class) estimated to have an operational range of 321 kilometers (200 miles)."

Now I'm scared they have a 'Yugo' class submarine. What is it made of wood and have sceen doors or something?

It passed Silversurfer on the highway, muhahahahahaaaAAA!!! :lol:

Haggis

05-04-2010, 07:09 AM

It passed Silversurfer on the highway, muhahahahahaaaAAA!!! :lol:

I remember that picture, he had a hard time trying to catch up.

SILVERSURFER03

05-04-2010, 08:24 AM

It passed Silversurfer on the highway, muhahahahahaaaAAA!!! :lol:

I remember that picture, he had a hard time trying to catch up.

DANG DUDE THATS HARSH ...why you two picking on me AND IT was easy to catch just hard to pass i admit BUT it did MAKE A GREAT PICTURE

LIGHTNIN1

05-06-2010, 08:40 AM

They are lowering the containment box today to see if that will work. They have not done it at this depth. Shamwows did not work. And the beat goes on.

Haggis

05-06-2010, 08:52 AM

DANG DUDE THATS HARSH ...why you two picking on me AND IT was easy to catch just hard to pass i admit BUT it did MAKE A GREAT PICTURE

Because we love ya.

FordNut

05-06-2010, 12:15 PM

They are lowering the containment box today to see if that will work. They have not done it at this depth. Shamwows did not work. And the beat goes on.

Hope for the best. Anybody notice the price at the pump has gone up about a dime? And the price per bbl of crude dropped by about $3?

Paul T. Casey

05-06-2010, 12:31 PM

Hope for the best. Anybody notice the price at the pump has gone up about a dime? And the price per bbl of crude dropped by about $3?

Not to mention my oil stocks down nearly 10% so far this week. Sad part is one drills only stateside on dry land, the other buys "depleted" wells and get the tough oil out. Neither should be hurt, but actually "helped" by this fiasco.

LIGHTNIN1

05-08-2010, 10:35 AM

Hopefully the containment box is going to work.I think it is in place which is a miracle in itself. They are talking they may get it operational tomorrow. If it works American ingenuity at work again to solve the worlds problems.

magindat

05-08-2010, 12:34 PM

You know a lot more about it than I do, and you're down there, so if you're not worried I guess I'll sleep better tonight!

Is it not a luxury to have Billy's knowledge of the industry in our midst?!

Thanx Billy!

MarauderTJA

05-08-2010, 02:04 PM

Billy, if this affects Zagos, I am going to have a real problem................

sailsmen

05-08-2010, 02:28 PM

So far the wildlife resuce group has only gotten 3 I repeat 3 contaminated wildlife. We have been very lucky so far. At some point our luck will run out. Having said that if it can swim or fly it will stay away. The eggs and larvae cannot and we don't know the effect on them although most are in the estuaries.

Some have suggested bringing in super tankers to suck it up, great idea but it would require a directive by the Pres. Also a directive by the Pres could waive the reserve hold back requirement for boom Mfg., allowing more to be deployed.

I wish they would put in place an all out burn effort, which can be facilitated by a Pres directive.

There will be set backs, however I think the odds are in our favor.

Unlike in the past industry, Feds, State and Local are cooperating/coordinating.

scruff

05-08-2010, 09:22 PM

sailsmen

05-08-2010, 09:55 PM

all i can think about is the poor sea life creatures that have to swim in this toxic crap and they dont even get a choice,,all off shore drilling should be baned sure they can put a man on the moon but they cant plug a well 2 miles down in the ocean floor,,this is a national crime that will never be the same,i cant wait to swim at clearwater beach again

11 people are dead. Millions will die if you ban all offshore drilling. There is no crime and no one has been arrested.

I say we start with shutting down all oil wells in Canada and off it's coast, afterall it was in Canada where Ocean Ranger went down and how many died?

The major source of oil washing up on beaches in the USA along the Gulf Coast are from NATURAL SEEPAGE from the ocean floor.

Frankly you are ignorant. In the section of ANWAR the size of the airport in DC that was set aside for oil exploration were opened up we would no longer need to import any oil from the Middle East. Think of the complete shift in the paradigm this would creat.

Educate your self http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=45625&highlight=earth.

Perhaps we should shut down all cars since 28,000 people are killed in them every year in the USA. How about the millions of cows that are slaughtered in the USA every year to make a ham burger or millions of fish that are killed for chicken feed should we not also save the cows and chickens?

What exactly will never be the same?

-Matt-

05-08-2010, 11:33 PM

scruff

05-09-2010, 04:03 PM

11 people are dead. Millions will die if you ban all offshore drilling. There is no crime and no one has been arrested.

I say we start with shutting down all oil wells in Canada and off it's coast, afterall it was in Canada where Ocean Ranger went down and how many died?

The major source of oil washing up on beaches in the USA along the Gulf Coast are from NATURAL SEEPAGE from the ocean floor.

Frankly you are ignorant. In the section of ANWAR the size of the airport in DC that was set aside for oil exploration were opened up we would no longer need to import any oil from the Middle East. Think of the complete shift in the paradigm this would creat.

Educate your self http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=45625&highlight=earth.

Perhaps we should shut down all cars since 28,000 people are killed in them every year in the USA. How about the millions of cows that are slaughtered in the USA every year to make a ham burger or millions of fish that are killed for chicken feed should we not also save the cows and chickens?

What exactly will never be the same? How do you figure millions will die if we stop off shore drilling? Crazy drill more wells onshore were they can be contained in the event of an explosion. Lets see how long it takes to plug this leak in the gulf? if its even possible ? what if?

Pat

05-09-2010, 07:19 PM

The size of a barrel of oil is 22" X 34", or 42 gallons (more or less). if the leak is 5000 barrels a day (mininum) then that's 210,000 gallons of oil leaking per day. It's been 19 days since the explosion aboard the rig so that's 3,990,000 gallons leaked so far.
Round up to 4,000,000 gallons of oil or 4 million gallon gas cans that measure 6" X 9" X 5".

That's 54 square inches. Multiply that by 4mil and that 216 million square inches.
Divide that by 12" and that's 18 million sq feet. 1 acre equals 43,560 sq feet so that's 413 acres. The superbowl is 13 acres so that nearly 32 super bowl areas 5" high.

That means another super bowl size area of pollution every 3.5 days.

This is bogus since it doesn't account for any of the variables, but it was fun.

FordNut

05-09-2010, 08:37 PM

CooLManZilla

05-09-2010, 09:09 PM

A chance for the SHAMWOW guy to work his magic. Someone suggest that to the FEDS and I bet they take it serious.

Did anyone else watch the betty white SNL?
They used almost the exact same joke on weekend update

MarauderMark

05-24-2010, 07:46 AM

What is this? Finking (Finking? <~~ lol that was neat) arse holes why is everyone sitting back and pointing fingers insted of putting an end to it.i quess it the governments way to reduce wildlife and increase taxes and make us pay $6 dollers a gallon next year. we can be the police around the world except home.

FordNut

05-24-2010, 08:58 AM

I believe they're doing all they can. The wells they're drilling to intersect the original hole so they can plug it from there is apparently the only sure way to stop it. I suppose there is a need for additional interlocks and safety measures for future drilling projects.

StevenJ

05-24-2010, 04:40 PM

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/experts_on_gulf_oil_spill_just .html

Experts on Gulf oil spill: Just wait and much -- up to 35 percent -- will evaporate

It is too bad the containment dome failed a week or two ago but BP had managed to tap into the pipe line with a new pipeline and has already started pumping it into oil container ships. They should cap it off in a month or so. It is funny watching the pony and circus show going on between congress, our comrade in chief, and BP.