BP Oil Spill Updates

Agree, much of the information that is easily available is either incomplete, or just plain wrong. IMO, BP has been pretty good at providing current info, tho you have to work a bit to get it. The deepwater horizon site has also been reasonably good at providing info. The new 'gubmint' site, which is supposed to be so much more transparent, has so far been a great disappointment to me.

Maybe they will get it together with time, and actually provide useful information.

Almost, but not quite, totally off topic....

Why is it that when the 'media' provides a sound bite coverage of a story, they can't or won't provide links to enable those who want to know more about it to see what the story really is?

For example, any article about new legislation includes only an interpretation, but never (or rarely) a link to the actual legislation.

That jf1acal is an ever present issue given the desire to paraphrase. Unfirtunately, information gets twisted out of shape, much like the information being whispered to an adjacent person in a ring. Unless quoted, non-experts are apt to distort the meaning significantly, hence a public greatly misinformed.

Subsea operational update:

In preparation for commencement of the well integrity test, the middle ram has been closed and a leak has been detected in the choke line of the 3 ram stack. It has been isolated and will be repaired prior to starting the test.
Recovery from the Helix Producer and the Q4000 have been temporarily suspended to allow for the well integrity test preparations.
For the first 12 hours on July 14 (midnight to noon), approximately 5,635 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 3,930 barrels of oil and 23.2 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

Source

DATE: July 14, 2010 22:08:16 CST
Transcript - PressBrief with National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen July 14

As I briefed my president yesterday in Houston, we had intended to proceed yesterday with the well integrity test related to the new capping stack that was put on the – the well site after we were able to remove the – the piece of riser pipe that had been there for many, many days. We had a meeting yesterday and it went from about 11:00 in the morning to almost 3:00 in Houston. We wanted to make sure that we were getting this right, they’re attending to all the details. This is a very significant event and a significant test in the evolution of this response and our ability to increase our containment, our redundancy and our capacity and I’ll talk about that in a little bit.

We consulted extensively with outside experts from academia. Our science team, led by Secretary of Energy Chu, consulted also with other members of industry regarding of potential issues we should definitely deal with. I will zero right in on what the discussion was mainly about and I’ll be happy to answer some questions about it.

We have never been sanguine or sure that we have known the condition of the wellbore and the casing pipe since the event occurred. As we've gotten closer to having the potential to close in and do pressure readings on the capping stack, we have had numerous discussions about what the current status is of the wellbore and the casing and the implications if they had been damaged or if there was any communication outside the wellbore that might bring oil or hydro carbons into what we call the geological formation potentially to the – to the sub-sea floor.

Some – some questions were raised yesterday about the implications of leakage and how that interfaced with the test as we start to shut down the valves and increase pressure in the capping stack and I'll go over that process in a minute.

Full Transcript

Things are getting better

Well Integrity Test Commences on MC252 well
Release date: 15 July 2010

Following installation of the capping stack and in line with the procedure approved by the National Incident Commander and Unified Area Command, the well integrity test on the MC252 well commenced today.

The well integrity test will last at least 6 hours and could last up to 48 hours. During the test, the three ram capping stack is closed, effectively shutting in the well and all sub-sea containment systems (namely, the Q4000 and Helix Producer systems) have been temporarily stopped. Although it cannot be assured, it is expected that no oil will be released to the ocean during the test. Even if no oil is released during the test, this will not be an indication that oil and gas flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped.

Information gathered during the test will be reviewed with the relevant government agencies, including the federal science team, to determine next steps.

The sealing cap system never before has been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.

During the well integrity test, operations on the first relief well have been temporarily stopped while the well was at 17,840 ft as a precaution. Operations on the second relief well have been temporarily suspended at 15,874 feet to ensure that there is no interference with the first relief well. The relief wells remain the sole means to permanently seal and isolate the well.

Source

Vice Lord wrote: Things are getting better

Yeah, right...


http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doo ... ling-event

Doomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a 'world-killing' event


Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical proportions.

251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth. [1] Experts agree that what is known as the Permian extinction event was the greatest mass extinction event in the history of the world.

.....

Now, worried scientists are increasingly concerned the same series of catastrophic events that led to worldwide death back then may be happening again-and no known technology can stop it.

The bottom line: BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling operation may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years.

The oil giant drilled down miles into a geologically unstable region and may have set the stage for the eventual premature release of a methane mega-bubble.<snip>

Humankind is about to be wiped out by a giant fart. Guess that proves that the gulf coast is the sphincter of the world.

Ahhhh, but that can't happen until 2012, right?

BP finally stops oil spewing from Gulf gusher

The oil stopped flowing at 3:25 p.m. EDT when the last of three valves in the 75-ton cap was slowly throttled shut. That set off a 48-hour watch period in which — much like the hours immediately after a surgery — the patient was in stable, guarded condition and being watched closely for complications.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_ ... _oil_spill