[Daniel_Plainview]

Current feed showing four gushers.

[jbrovont]

Not sure if this is posted elsewhere, but here's a link to some posts by an engineer who claims to have some information about the size of the resivoir as well as why the BP brass was onboard the rig.

Scroll down a bit to find the section this comes from:

How does this 100 million bbl estimate figure compare to other estimates we've been seeing?

http://trueslant.com/davidknowles/2010/05/25/live-top-kill-bps-latest-failed-attempt-to-plug-oil-well/

3:31 pm on 05/26/10
Mr. Knowles,

Glad to say, good MMS visit.

I just got some interesting info from MMS, we were talking about the BP situation and like we figured, there was a good reason for all the BP executives on the rig. 1. BP had found the pay zone, ran the casing, & cemented the well. They were incredibly close to turning it over for production. 2. BP was just about to announce to the word that they just made the biggest find in U.S. history

Hold onto your socks for this one!

A 100 million bbl field that would produce 18,000 bbls of crude a day. Unheard of in The Gulf and incredibly scary if they don’t get it plugged prior to the relief well being drilled.

The deep water acoustic system everyone has been talking about – It is an old tech system that is rarely ever used anymore due to constant failures. There is only one deep water rig using it right now in the U.S. and it isn’t even operational.

And Mr. David from LA, according to MMS, the Deep Water Horizon was in U.S. waters and did fall under all the same jurisdictions each and every other rig in the Gulf does. In fact, he said there isn’t a single rig in the Gulf that doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction except those in shallow Texas waters, they fall under (Believe it or not) The Texas Railroad Commission.

[ritter]

Video feeds all seem to be down--either protecting trade secrets or new problems. What a fucking catastrophe.

[Crazy_Dad]

Current feed showing four gushers.

Oh no...This will make it harder with all the heavy mud and cement laying around the hole.
I feel so sorry for the people and animals affected. It's only a matter of time till they start drilling here of my coast in Australia...

[Plantagenet]

If the BP engineers had used the actual flow rate of ca. 100,000 bbl/day instead of the crazy low but official BP/Obama administration flow rate estimate of 5000 bbl/day, they might have a had a chance.

As it is, their calculations will all underestimate the pressures at the well head by at least an order of magnitude.

[Graeme]

EPA Should Ban BP

For years, the company has been in the EPA's debarment attorneys' crosshairs, but the goverment has so far declined to act. The latest disaster might finally change that.

"Days ago, in an unannounced move, the EPA suspended negotiations with the petroleum giant over whether it would be barred from federal contracts because of the environmental crimes it committed before the spill in the Gulf of Mexico," Lustgarten reports.

Those crimes, which Lustgarten has written about extensively, include:

--a massive explosion in Texas in 2005 that killed 15 workers and injured 170, in which the company pleaded guilty to felony charges and was fined more than $50 million.

--a leak in Prudhoe Bay that caused 4,800 barrels of oil to leak in Alaska due to what Congress found was company negligence, deliberately ignoring warnings to check the pipeline, and cost-cutting that led to safety violations.

--a case settled with the Justice Department for manipulating propane prices.

commondreams

[basil_hayden]

Volume's a WAG anyway, since it changes with depth and pressure.

As this stuff rises through the water column, it's going to change volume.

Mass is the way to measure, like the Chinese do with oil.

Who cares about gallons or barrels, it's kilograms that are important here.

[bcole]

The Gulf Catastrophe could have been avoided if the US were growing algae. Algae is renewable, does not affect the food channel and consumes CO2. No explosions, no fires, no deaths and no environmental problems. What's wrong with that???

Algae has been researched in US universities for over 35 years. It's time to move it out of the lab and go into commercial-scale production. Algaepreneurs are starting to build commercial-scale plants throughout the US using all off-the-shelf existing technologies. More algae production plants are coming online. Algae is one solution to get the US off of foreign oil and create new jobs right here in the US. The algae industry is being built today by Americans who all want to get off foreign oil.

[Serial_Worrier]

It's time to seize the oil companies!

[EnergyUnlimited]

The Gulf Catastrophe could have been avoided if the US were growing algae. Algae is renewable, does not affect the food channel and consumes CO2. No explosions, no fires, no deaths and no environmental problems. What's wrong with that???

Algae has been researched in US universities for over 35 years. It's time to move it out of the lab and go into commercial-scale production. Algaepreneurs are starting to build commercial-scale plants throughout the US using all off-the-shelf existing technologies. More algae production plants are coming online. Algae is one solution to get the US off of foreign oil and create new jobs right here in the US. The algae industry is being built today by Americans who all want to get off foreign oil.

There is too low concentration CO2 in air to make such a ventures any more than curiosity.
Anyway that is off topic.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Volume's a WAG anyway, since it changes with depth and pressure.

As this stuff rises through the water column, it's going to change volume.

Mass is the way to measure, like the Chinese do with oil.

Who cares about gallons or barrels, it's kilograms that are important here.

As long as oil is concerned you are completely wrong.
Liquids are compressible only to minimal extend.
That is why brakes in your car are working.
Oil under 2000at pressure will contract only by 1-2% or less.

However associated methane can be compressed much more.
However methane is not a big problem in local GOM pollution terms.
Oil is.

[Aging gypsy]

What about the unregulated use of Corexit, the EPA`s backing and even buying/storing of more of it too?:

http://cleancaribbean.org/docs/COREXIT_ ... UsCuEg.PDF

No amount of arguing over the semantics of oil extraction protocols will change the over and unregulated use of a chemical dispersant that really wasn`t the best one for the job, neither was it the safest or cheapest!
Corruption throughout the industry, as I tend to find with ALL the largest of industries the planet has to put up with abusing her for profits.
Oh hello by the way I`m here to stirr you all up.

[Aging gypsy]

Some very interesting statements in this report:

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=59946

Now let`s see:

Suttles and other officials said that the “top kill” attempt to stop the flow did so — but only as long as they were pumping. When the pumping stopped, the oil resumed its escape. And Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said that BP would resume using undersea dispersants for the new attempt to trap the oil.

And this:

Suttles said the lower marine riser package cap “should be able to capture most of the oil” that has fed what is now the largest oil spill in U.S. history, but he cautioned that the new cap will not provide a “tight mechanical seal

This:

Engineers should be ready in about four to seven days to make the fresh attempt, he said. Landry said officials were “disappointed in today’s announcement,” but noted that the immediate efforts to stop the flow were never intended to be permanent.

“The real solution, the end state, is a relief well,” she said. BP currently is working on two relief wells, but they are not expected to be ready until August, Suttles said.

And lastly:

Suttles and Landry praised the clean-up efforts, however, in light of the failure of the “top kill” attempt to stop the flow.

“It’s a tribute to everybody that we only have 107 miles of shoreline oiled and only 32 acres of marsh,” Landry said.

So, what do we have, MORE dispersant being used in direct violation of it`s regulations of use, having to perhaps wait until August for relief wells and then being soft soaped with BS regading fake sentiments and thanks to those empowered with doing something about the clean up campaign.

[wisconsin_cur]

I stop regularly @ a BP gas station. It is a franchise owned by a couple that have now reclaimed two rotting structures and turned them into local businesses that 1) employ local people and 2) sell local products in addition to the gas station fare.

If people do not stop there they will go out of business and BP will not notice. The fine people of that community who had nothing to do with deepwater horizon will.

Again, the crusaders put the inhabitants of the city to the sword for no better purpose than giving voice to their moral superiority.

[IslandCrow]

I understand the anger against BP...but wouldn't it be much better to boycott all oil use.

In our frustration at the blowout/worst enviromental disaster etc, we can lash out at BP / Obama etc...but really the problem is our own continuing use of oil and our desire for cheap oil.

[Homesteader]

I understand the anger against BP...but wouldn't it be much better to boycott all oil use.

In our frustration at the blowout/worst enviromental disaster etc, we can lash out at BP / Obama etc...but really the problem is our own continuing use of oil and our desire for cheap oil.

Sure, but why not start with BP. They had 736 violations last year while the next nearest oil company had 8.

[Mesuge]

I stop regularly @ a BP gas station. It is a franchise owned by a couple that have now reclaimed two rotting structures and turned them into local businesses that 1) employ local people and 2) sell local products in addition to the gas station fare. If people do not stop there they will go out of business and BP will not notice. The fine people of that community who had nothing to do with deepwater horizon will. Again, the crusaders put the inhabitants of the city to the sword for no better purpose than giving voice to their moral superiority.

This is one hilarious post there, so why don't you just set up "Oil spill endangaring our small capitalist paradise - pls. adopt your local mom & pop BP gas station" website incl. a donation paypal account button?

[timmac]

I do find this strange, its almost like hitting the lottery, but than again he did only sell off 3rd..

Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.
Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... spill.html

[IslandCrow]

There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.

Selling shares to pay of the mortgage is something many people here would advocate as a reasonable preparation for PO.

As this happened about one month before the disaster it is a rather lame attempt to 'tar and feather' the chief of BP.

[the48thronin]

Do you mean like the one the lens buried at the bottom of thier article about "war profiteers of the disaster age"

Lol typical lynching

http://thelensnola.org/2010/05/24/five-years-after-katrina-the-return-of-disaster-capitalism/