According to news reports all efforts so far to operate the BOP have failed.
Look at the slide show it shows the robot at BOP control panel. I wonder if the hydraulics were still connected. The reports say the platform is intact laying about 1300 feet from the well head.
Here in Texas nobody gives a crap about an oil spill, but this will probably kill development off the east and west coasts for a long time. Is it fair to blame BP? They seem to be a showcase for how not to run an oil company.
Anecdotal:
The approach now being discussed about using a bell shaped device. Sombrero. direct the oil to some collection device is 79's technology which this paper gives credit to Brown and Root when actually the idea came through Red Adair and was proposed by a local gentleman I knew quite well. Tex Edwards owned a steel erection and crane rental service and was quite the tinker and inventor. He had a tower crane long before they hit the scene in Europe, He had two working wheeled hydraulic cranes very early on. He was notorious for adding extremely long jibs to existing lattice boom friction cranes.
I have been wandering when this scenario would come up, now evidently it is being considered a serious possibility.
Earlier today there had been no comment from the government but the article was updated with a response.
I've talked to my wife' daughter's in-laws, a total of five who are in the drilling business both as rig owners and one driller on an offshore rig. To a person they can't understand why this blowout got s far as it did as they said the well would have been giving all types of signs that something was wrong at the bottom. Their only explanation was that supposedly there was a cementing crew on the floor operating the rig at the time of the incident.
IMO- The BOP was either 1- not operating correctly(valve, actuator malfunction, etc), which could be due to improper maintenance. 2-The electronic linking to the BOP was either disconnected, or malfunctioned. Which could be an operator or maitenance error. However, there are none of the original operators around to answer some of these questions.
Like you said,Unclesyd, there are all sorts of warning signs of BOP failure, and I know for a fact that the Deepwater Horizon had a minimum of 4 failsafes to stop flow from escaping the wellhead. It seems odd to me that none of them did. Honestly, the whole thing doesn't make sense to me. Failsafes that should have worked, didnt. That's pretty much the sum of it.
As the majority of the failures of BOPs has been during cementing here is an interesting presentation by Haliburton on the hazards of deep water cementing.
I hope BP ceases to exist and that at least some top managers are civilly and criminally liquidated. Somehow their propaganda department has managed to stay ahead of numberous incidents on the ground that show a company that struggles with the most basic operations and safety. Beyond the legendary stupidity that led to the 2005 explosion, BP was unable to even produce a supervisor (in the draft report anyway) who would admit to being in charge, and is still fighting the record breaking but otherwise lenient fine.
To essentually claim in their environmental impact assessments that the risk of deepwater drilling was the same as any other drilling project was utterly irresponsible, possibly criminal. Unfortunately, my congressional representatives in Louisianna (Charles Boustany, etal) have repeatedly protected oil company profits in the belief that cheap energy and jobs were more important than a responsibility to employee and public safety, and the environment. I don't really blame politicians because it is their nature to do what gets them elected, and we can just as surely predict that they will act shocked and angry in the aftermath.
BP announced multi-billion 1st quarter profits well above expectations on the same day as the rig accident. I think that there is a a pretty good chance this company will go the way of Union Carbide before all the congressional hearings, clean-up costs, safety and environmental fines, civil and (hopefully) criminal suits are even concluded. Sell any BP stock you own, but don't cry for BP! The workers and assets will continue on under new and hopefully more responsible management.
" I fish in the general area of the spill quite lot and have made many trips to west and north of the area snapper fishing."
Haha, You and me both. Im originally from Beaumont, TX, but have lived in Baton Rouge ever since college, currently working in the Norco area.
If they get off only to the present value of what Exxon paid for their 1889 spill, this would "only" be a $25billion accident. However, I think BP could end up folding because you will have multiple states involved and the spill is in the face of millions more people.
Does anyone know what insurance company holds the liability with BP?
Is the BOP still in place? We saw a picture of an ROV trying to operate the BOP controls. Are these controls at the BOP or are they at the sunken platform?
If the BOP could be operated, would it stem the flow, or fail and become part of the debris?
Any estimates of the amount of reserves and the time for the well to deplete and stop on ts own?
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
Anecdotal:
Just think that I paid a $150.00 fine for a small sheen from diesel fuel by my boat while fueling because the fuel man laid his delivery nozzle on the rail a few drops went overboard. This was kick in the butt until about 5 years before this the state used to spray diesel along the shoreline two or three times a year to kill the Dog Flies.
sshep,
I jsut listened to a news broadcast where a Senator from Alabama stated under the current legislation BP was only responsible for the cleanup and not the damages, I hope he miss stated even though he said it twice.
That fact might be the reason that BP was requiring anyone who signed up for cleanup work had to sign aa contract stating that they wouldn't file future claims.
That could also explain the reason that have received 2 calls from legal firms concerning our fishing boat.
waross,
I know you have been in industry long enough to realize that when a problem starts you hear from the experts, but as the situation deteriorates they quickly disappear into the wood work only to reappear if there is progress in the resolution of the problem.
When all the plans depends on a plan by one entity and it turns out they have no real plan, the old empty bag syndrome comes into play.
