Black Gold

[Seminole]

The Cap is on!!

The next concern is the integrity of the well casing below the seafloor.  Apparently there are already vents in the seafloor spewing oil (can't find the link right now) escaping from the casing.  Capping the well just increases the pressure on those.  The danger we still face is going from a well that can be capped to a hole in the ground that just vents.

"The failure of the so-called top kill procedure - which entailed pumping mud into the well at high velocity - suggested "there actually could be something wrong with the well casing, and there could be open communication in the strata or the rock formations below the sea floor," -Admiral Thad Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard

[ridgeway]

The Cap is on!!

The next concern is the integrity of the well casing below the seafloor.  Apparently there are already vents in the seafloor spewing oil (can't find the link right now) escaping from the casing.  Capping the well just increases the pressure on those.  The danger we still face is going from a well that can be capped to a hole in the ground that just vents.

"The failure of the so-called top kill procedure - which entailed pumping mud into the well at high velocity - suggested "there actually could be something wrong with the well casing, and there could be open communication in the strata or the rock formations below the sea floor," -Admiral Thad Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard

Does this need to be a permanent solution, or will the relief wells make it redundant?

[Egbert]

This is temporary, the relief wells will render it obsolete.

[mididoctors]

This is temporary, the relief wells will render it obsolete.

thankfully...

on an aside the doomsters may not have been that far off

   

Dear Mr. Dudley,

    My letter to you on July 16, 2010 extended the Well Integrity Test period contingent upon the completion of seismic surveys, robust monitoring for indications of leakage, and acoustic testing by the NOAA vessel PISCES in the immediate vicinity of the well head. Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount importance during the test period. As a continued condition of the test, you are required to provide as a top priority access and coordination for the monitoring systems, which include seismic and sonar surface ships and subsea ROV and acoustic systems. When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed.

admiral allen to BP...

[ridgeway]

How come they can't rig up some kind of tube that can bring oil from the cap to the surface, where it could be discharged into ship?  I would have thought that would relieve some pressure (and provide us with sweet, sweet crude).

[Egbert]

It's my understanding there are 4 lines running to ships on the surface.

[Dirtweasle]

As U.S. suspends deep-water oil drilling, other nations move ahead

NY-ALESUND, NORWAY -- Few, if any, nations have paid as much attention to the safety of offshore drilling as Norway, which is surrounded by oil-rich seas.

In 40 years of offshore energy exploration, it has suffered just four spills -- none of the magnitude of the one in the Gulf of Mexico and none reaching the country's pristine tundra shores. Its government has made efforts to avoid the kinds of conflicts that have bedeviled the U.S. regulatory process by splitting off safety and environmental oversight duties from the Ministry of Petroleum Energy. A separate Climate and Pollution Agency weighs in on every decision about whether to open new areas to offshore drilling, and its inspectors examine rigs once they're operating.

Norway is doing more to study lessons from the gulf than many other nations. But it is also pushing ahead with offshore drilling plans, including the kind of deep-water drilling that the Obama administration has suspended in the United States. ...

[...]

... Some of these countries stand to gain from the uncertainties in the United States prompted by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This month, Diamond Offshore Drilling announced that it is sending one of its deep-water drilling rigs from the gulf to Egypt. The rig, which can work in water up to 10,000 feet deep, has a new contract running at least through next June. Last week, Diamond said another Gulf of Mexico rig called the Ocean Confidence would depart for Congo.

On Tuesday, Marathon Oil Chief Executive Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. said that his company might divert a rig being built in Singapore and due to be delivered to the Gulf of Mexico in December. ...

[...]

... Brazil, already home to much of the world's deep-water drilling fleet, is signing up more rigs. It is drilling wells nearly five miles underwater -- five times deeper than BP's Macondo well -- and nearly 200 miles offshore, at the edge of its national waters. The political debate over the area known as the "pre-salt" province has focused on how to divide the royalties from such lucrative wells, not whether to curtail exploration and development.

Libya also said last month that it would continue its offshore drilling program and gave BP a green light to go ahead with new exploration wells.

Countries are making long-term plans, as well. Last week, Canada invited new bids on nine-year leases off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

Look for resources and ye shall find them.

[Lars]

Oh, that remind me, forgot to post this,

(July 14) -- While the U.S. continues to grapple with the fallout of the BP oil spill, one nation is pressing forward with plans to become the world's leader in crude reserves. Venezuela has been making an enormous energy power play lately, registering massive oil deposits in the country's Orinoco Belt and increasing ventures with foreign nations including Vietnam, Belarus and Angola.

If all goes according to plan, Venezuela will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's most oil-rich country. As controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in a statement this weekend (via Reuters): "We hope to end 2010 with the incorporation of (another) 105 billion barrels of proven reserves. With this achievement, Venezuela would become the country with the biggest certified crude reserves (316 billion barrels) on the planet."

btw, did you see the pic of the poor Chinese guy drowning in their oil spill?

[Dirtweasle]

Yes, saw it at the coffee stand this morning.

[dfgardner]

Ya gotta love mother nature:  from ABC News.Com

For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it.

Sheppard Smith from FOX must be beside himself.

[Egbert]

Ya gotta love mother nature:  from ABC News.Com

For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it.

Sheppard Smith from FOX must be beside himself.

Well, the Gulf, it's so big.

[mididoctors]

How come they can't rig up some kind of tube that can bring oil from the cap to the surface, where it could be discharged into ship?  I would have thought that would relieve some pressure (and provide us with sweet, sweet crude).

well they can and they are

[Lars]

Ya gotta love mother nature:  from ABC News.Com

For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it.

Sheppard Smith from FOX must be beside himself.

Same thing happened in 1979

http://www.cedre.fr/en/spill/atlantic/atlantic.php

They never did figure out where the oil went.

[Dirtweasle]

My guess is it sinks after a while and then it sort of disolves or is covered by other stuff. 

[Egbert]

My guess is it sinks after a while and then it sort of disolves or is covered by other stuff. 

Microbes eat it. There is always naturally leaking oil in the gulf. There is a lively ecosystem for consuming the stuff.