Sunday, July 11, 2010

OMG BP


This situation gets worse every time we hear about it.  I'm not going to get into a speech about how messed up this is, but I saw this article this morning.  There aren't enough heads to roll to make us forget about this anytime soon.

If you’ve noticed, there’s been a near media blackout on the Deepwater oil rig catastrophe, after it consumed almost every minute of the 24 hour news cycle for weeks. The reason for this may be that BP has realized they’re in super deep shit considering that the Deepwater rig had to punch a hole in a massive undersea volcano to get to the oil and we may not actually have the technology to keep every drop of oil from this oil pocket from spewing into the Gulf.

Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in the Gulf of Mexico is a deep core monster. Seismic studies done (link has vanished since last week) in 2003 showed huge pockets of methane gas under volcanic pressure; up to 100,000 psi. Pressures that high are beyond human technology and we have no way to control them. There is evidence to suggest that BP should never have been allowed to poke a hole in it. A 1997 MMS report explains the reasons in detail.

After reading the MMS report, it is obvious that BP knew the risks of tapping the Macondo field were huge. But the financial rewards were too tempting; the Macondo reservoir holds the second largest deposit of natural gas and oil on the planet. And there is scientific evidence to suggest (See video below) that it is virtually bottomless, through deep channels to the largest reservoir in the world - near the Yucatan peninsula. To an oil company, Macondo is the black gold dream they would sell their souls for.
A report from an apparent oil industry insider said, “There are no “Disks” or “Subsea safety structure” 1,000 feet below the sea floor, all that is there is well bore. There is nothing that can allow the mud or oil to “escape” into the rock formation outside the well bore except the well, because it is the only thing there.” Adding, “All the actions and few tid bits of information all lead to one inescapable conclusion. The well pipes below the sea floor are broken and leaking. Now you have some real data of how BP’s actions are evidence of that, as well as some murky statement from “BP officials” confirming the same.” Business Insider supports the claim, “The well bore structure is compromised ‘Down hole’.”

Whether the well was damaged in the initial explosion, or after the top kill failed does not change the fact that it is done. So when BP cut the top off the BOP, warnings that it would increase the flow were a clue that they knew they had to reduce the pressure below to keep the whole well from exploding.

“If you note their actions, that should become clear. They have shifted from stopping or restricting the gusher to opening it up and catching it. This only makes sense if they want to relieve pressure at the leak hidden down below the seabed…..and that sort of leak is one of the most dangerous and potentially damaging kind of leak there could..There is no way to stop that leak from above, all they can do is relieve the pressure on it and the only way to do that right now is to open up the nozzle above and gush more oil into the gulf and hopefully catch it, which they have done, they just neglected to tell us why,” the report adds. It is a foregone conclusion that erosion in what’s left of the casing is progressing and it is impossible for it to do anything but get worse over time. At some point, the entire system will fail. We can’t change the laws of physics.
 Like I said, I'm not sure what needs to be done...  Thoughts?

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