BP oil spill

john in la · Jul 15, 2010

Local news just said the oil has stopped gushing into the gulf. The temporary cap seems to be working.

<a href="http://www.wwltv.com/news/BP-works-to-fix-valve-leak-before-choking-oil-flow-98495059.html">BP: Oil stopped, not leaking into Gulf</a>

Now if we could only get the six-month moratorium on drilling squashed for good where they could go back to work things would be looking better.

RBnSC · Jul 15, 2010

Hey John,
Hope Yall are doing OK. Every time the spill is mentioned I think about You living down there. Did you ever get a shear pin or a clutch set up for your bush hog?
Ron

john in la · Jul 15, 2010

Hello Ron;
We are doing OK.
While my job is not oil/fishing related when you shut down both of those like this spill has done the whole area suffers. But we are coon A$$es; we will endure.

The bush hog is comming along. After spending time getting tanks filled I finnaly got the deck cut down to solid metal. Not much left but the gear box and main frame but it will be right.
Went and picked up a sheet of steel and angle iron for cross members today. Should start welding it back together tomarrow or Sat.
Decided to go with a clutch setup. I can order one from a ag store over by you or for $20 extra pick one up at the local TSC.

Been working on the bush hog and yard work during the day and redoing a extra bed room we have for my grand baby visits after dark. This has kept the boss (wife) happy but I am ready for Monday so vacation can be over and I can go back to work. I need the rest.

Hoss In ME · Jul 15, 2010

With all the oil in the Gulf[3000+ wells]why aint we using it and say the hell with the ragheads? Hoss

Mark - IN. · Jul 15, 2010

The reports up here are that the cap is permanent and that they're going to monitor it for a couple or few days to make sure that the pressure behind it doesn't cause cracking further down. Our fingers are crossed for y'all down there. Also, they were talking to someone on the radio, some reporter type that's supposed to be in the know, and he was saying something like 3,000 dead turtles or birds, or ???, but said that testing is showing no or little contamination in the fish...under water life. Again, the fingers are crossed for y'all down there from us up here.

I hear ya on the moratorium, but I'm gonna keep my mouth shut so I don't start nothing with anyone.

Much good luck to you, your family, and your neighbors.

Mark

MarkB_MI · Jul 15, 2010

Why would we use OUR oil now, when the Saudis are practically giving THEIR oil away? We might just need our oil someday. Until then, pump the entire Arabian Peninsula dry.

LeoinMI · Jul 15, 2010

Good luck to you guys down there. Hope this cap solves the problem along with the relief well. Kinda worried about exactly how long it will take for the oil already spilled to clear out. (Months,or Years?) Hope they can get a handle on the clean up now and get the fishermen back to work and limit the damage to the beaches and wildlife.

Two Banger · Jul 15, 2010

Thank goodness!!

Anonymous-0 · Jul 15, 2010

Ill be happy to take the otherside - have vacationed at Gulf Shores (the one in the news casts) for years, a national treasure. That oil has been down there for eons, I say keep it there till we suck the rest of the world dry and its really worth something.

jd b puller · Jul 15, 2010

Mark, couldn't agree with you more.

While you're at it, please encourage people NOT to boycott BP. That's all we need, for them to go belly up and leave us, the taxpayer responsible for cleaning up this mess.

john in la · Jul 15, 2010

Mark - IN
This cap is only temporary. Plugging the pipe deep under the sea floor via the relief well is the only final solution they have available.

Lots of problems with dead or oil soaked animals but that is to be expected. One problem they are having is the use of oil displacement. It has suspended the oil in the water table rather than letting it float on the surface. This allows it to go under the oil booms and go unnoticed till it hits a land mass and is deposited on the beach or in the marsh.

Testing has show little damage to fish. This is why they have opened most of the area to recreational fishing.
First picture is federal waters closed. Second is state waters closed to commercial fishing and while the third picture use to look like the second you can see most of the area is open to recreational fishing.
Area in red is closed as of 7/15

Cas · Jul 16, 2010

I read somewhere that if external_link's moratorium sticks for six months there will be no drilling platforms left in the gulf region. Another example of government trying to ruin another business.

Fred Martin · Jul 16, 2010

Did you catch the fact that the pressure would be around 9000lbs. per sq. inch? What kind of liner is in the well? Will it hold that much pressure? I would think it would have to have a wall thickness of a couple of inches to hold that...although I have no experience in calculating something of that nature. Anyone got any comments in regard to this?
With this much pressure, I would think it would find it's way to the surface without a well. How much pressure does a volcano have? It comes up on it's own. ohfred

Red1 · Jul 16, 2010

What do you call capping one deepwater well?

A great start...

Loren MN · Jul 16, 2010

I suppose the pressure in the pipe needs to be looked at relative to the pressure surrounding it. If the water pressure is 5000 PSI or so surrounding it, then the differential pressure would be around 1/2 of what it would be at atmospheric pressure. Would be nice if the govt. would give us a view with our own sub cameras instead of relying only on BP's video of the well. Does anyone know whether oil is leaking at any other areas of the seafloor?

Boycotting BP at the gas pump is a waste of time. Where do they think gas from some of the other stations comes from? It all goes into the same pipe from the refinery and gets distributed under the name brands later. People don't realize how much oil is used for the production of chemicals and plastics, and that fuel is only part of where the oil ends up. If they want to boycott BP, they should also stop buying cell phones, soda bottles, and anything else made out of plastic. We mold tons of polypropylene that is made by BP Amoco Polymers.

Ric Ks. · Jul 16, 2010

Sooo... If there is so much presure on the well stem and they can cap it why not complete the job and pipe it to the surface and use it. Wouldnt that relieve some presure and at the same time recover some of the costs.
Maybe use the sale of the oil from this well for continued payback to locals.

And yes... there is oil seeping from the bottom all the time, and there are organisms that live on it. Bottom of the food chain type stuff.

What we humans clean up will be a drop in the bucket, compaired what nature will do on its own.

730d se · Jul 16, 2010

Just another example of a guy who's aspirations are much higher than his abilities and experience. The last time I sat in the cockpit of a 757-200 was B/4 911. As well as I recall, my butt fit just as well as the pilot's, and all of the controls were equadistance for the both of us. You tell me the difference? I would love to be a pilot but I do not have the proper training nor time in the seat.
The moratorium should be on any oil company substituting thinner walled unproven pipe for the more expensive but reliable thicker walled pipe. We have been drilling in deep water for years and never had this happen.
As for little tar balls, 10 years ago I was walking the shores around Ft Lauderfdale, FL. I was barefooted. When I got back to the pool, I had little black stuff on the bottoms of my feet.

Fred Martin · Jul 16, 2010

Well, it is my understanding that every thirty three feet down you can add another 14.7 pounds. So, 5280 divided by 33 is 160 atmospherics...or 160 times 14.7 or 2352 pounds per square inch at that depth. That still leaves 6648 PSI at the depth where the well head and liner is. Still quite a bit of pressure, huh? Don't know anything and can't even suspicion engineering problems or stresses or compounded by temperatures down there. Maybe thats why they weren't sure and still may be holding their breath somewhat till they get the new drilling completed and sealed off with mud, cement, JB Weld or whatever. I do recall that the temperature of the oil coming up from the depths at Prudoe Bay was 140 degrees fahrenheit...interesting. ohfred

Bret4207 · Jul 16, 2010

That's good news. My issue with BP isn't over the well, it's over their meddling in the Scotish Court System and helping get the Lockerbie Bomber released, allegedly on humanitarian grounds because the murdering scum was so sick. Well, he ain't dead yet and BP got drilling concessions in some country with lots of sand and rock and people who hate Christians because of something that happened in the 7th century.

http://www.examiner.com/x-58460-Phoenix-abundant-Examiner~y2010m7d16-BP-gone-rogue-admits-lobbying-for-alMegrahi-release

Sid · Jul 16, 2010

"Does anyone know whether oil is leaking at any other areas of the seafloor?" I have read that about one million barrels of oil a year seep into the gulf area from natural seeps.

buickanddeere · Jul 16, 2010

BP oil spill

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