BP Oil Spill Updates

I find this disturbing....

Some Have Trouble Believing BP Stopped Leak
Gulf Residents Distrust Oil Giant; Some Accuse BP Of Making Up News

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24 ... etail.html

Wayne Harrison wrote: I find this disturbing....

Some Have Trouble Believing BP Stopped Leak
Gulf Residents Distrust Oil Giant; Some Accuse BP Of Making Up News

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24 ... etail.html

It is disturbing. What a mind set. As if an oil company benefits from having a run-away well. Containment and no spill is far less costly than what they have been going through.

BP encouraged that capped-off oil well still holds

quote]There was no evidence of a leak in the pipe under the sea floor, Wells said, one of the main concerns. Wells spoke 17 hours after valves were shut to trap oil inside the cap, a test that could last up to 48 hours.
He said pressure continued to rise inside the tight-fighting cap, a good sign that oil was not getting out somewhere else. The pressure was more than 6,700 pounds per square inch, above the minimum they were hoping to see, but not yet in the high range of 8,000 to 9,000 psi they were hoping for.[/quote]

Good but not great news yet. It will be interesting to see if pressures reach 7-8 thousand lbs. If not why????

Rockdoc Franz wrote:

Wayne Harrison wrote: I find this disturbing....

Some Have Trouble Believing BP Stopped Leak
Gulf Residents Distrust Oil Giant; Some Accuse BP Of Making Up News

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24 ... etail.html

It is disturbing. What a mind set.

No it isn't...When someone lies to you 500 times do you believe the 501st thing they tell you?

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 10:32 am

Vice Lord wrote: I was just about to update this: The containment process is underway. It's never been tried before, but crews hope to lower a 1000-ton concrete-and-steel box a mile under the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday to cut off most of the millions of gallons of oil spewing from a blown-out well.

If it works, and I think it will to some degree the system could collect as much as 85 percent of the oil that's been spouting from the ocean floor. Hopefully, it will work better than they expect. I feel that it won't solve the problem altogether, it's what we in the business call a stop gap measure until the relief wells are fully operational- Those will take the pressure off the blown out well at the site, and I'm estimating that the wells can do that in or around september 5th depending on the type of sub strata they encounter..If they hit solid rock the relief wells may not be fully operational until October. Cross your fingers friends


I suggest they try to cap it- That process could concievably be achieved by mid July in my opinion.

Told you so

Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander:

"We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore and options for temporary shut in of the well during a hurricane. It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."

Source

jf1acai wrote:

Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander:

"We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore and options for temporary shut in of the well during a hurricane. It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."

Source

Given the well history, I'm a little jaded. If the shut in holds, why open valves to collect more oil? This is obviously an economic decision and my fear is that a valve will stick open just when collection ships get run off by a hurricane. BP knows it has discovered a great field. Why not wait to put it on line with new production wells that do not have the potential for failure like this one?

A contrasting argument - the resources have already been made available to collect and process the oil, why waste all that?

What is the true risk vs. benefit analysis?

I do not know.

jf1acai wrote: A contrasting argument - the resources have already been made available to collect and process the oil, why waste all that?

What is the true risk vs. benefit analysis?

I do not know.

It is the unknown true risk and fear of the unknown. It clearly is a smart business decision, especially in light of the beating BP has taken.

I think this may help to explain why operational decisions are not necessarily driven by 'greed'.

Whatever decision, or decisions, led to this disaster, I do not believe they were driven by greed alone. They were made after a careful risk vs benefit analysis.

In this case, in hindsight, it is obvious that the risk was greater than expected.

At this point, I'm not sure at what point in the process that occured.

"Pobody is Nerfect" - and we have a LOT of learning left to do!