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Senator Nelson: The BP Well May Have Lost Structural Integrity Beneath the Sea Floor
On June 2nd, Bloomberg pointed
out:
Plugging the well is another challenge
even after BP successfully intersects it, Robert Bea, a University of
California Berkeley engineering professor, said. BP has said it
believes the well bore to be damaged, which could hamper efforts to
fill it with mud and set a concrete plug, Bea said.
Bea
is an expert in
offshore drilling and a high-level governmental
adviser concerning disasters.
On the same day, the Wall Street
Journal noted
that there might be a leak in BP's well casing 1,000 feet beneath the
sea floor:
BP PLC has concluded that its
"top-kill" attempt last week to seal its broken well in the Gulf of
Mexico may have failed due to a malfunctioning disk inside the well
about 1,000 feet below the ocean floor.
***
The broken
disk may have prevented the heavy drilling mud injected into the well
last week from getting far enough down the well to overcome the
pressure from the escaping oil and gas, people familiar with BP's
findings said. They said much of the drilling mud may also have escaped
from the well into the rock formation outside the wellbore.
Yesterday,
Senator Bill Nelson told MSNBC that he's investigating reports of oil
seeping up from additional leak points on the seafloor:
Senator
Bill Nelson (D-FL): Andrea we’re looking into something new right now,
that there’s reports of oil that’s seeping up from the seabed… which
would indicate, if that’s true, that the well casing itself is actually
pierced… underneath the seabed. So, you know, the problems could be just
enormous with what we’re facing.
Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC: Now let
me understand better what you’re saying. If that is true that it is
coming up form that seabed, even the relief well won’t be the final
solution to cap this thing. That means that we’ve got oil gushing up at
disparate places along the ocean floor.
Sen. Nelson: That is
possible, unless you get the plug down low enough, below where the pipe
would be breached.
Indeed, loss of integrity in the
well itself may explain why BP is drilling its relief wells
approximately twelve
thousand feet (and see this)
beneath the leaking pipes on the seafloor.
And prominent oil
industry insider Matt Simmons believes
that the well casing may have been destroyed when the oil rig
exploded.
On May 27th, Simmons addressed this
issue on MSNBC:
On May 26th, Simmons referred
to this again on a second appearance on MSNBC:
And he referred to it again on Bloomberg on May 28th:
And again on MSNBC
yesterday:
Other updates on the Gulf oil situation:
As McClatchy wrote
yesterday, the 100,000 barrels
may still be gushing every day from the BOP/riser itself (forget the other leaks or the potentially broken well), even after the installation of the LMRP cap:
BP's runaway Deepwater Horizon well may be spewing
what the company once-called its worst case scenario — 100,000 barrels a
day, a member of the government panel told McClatchy Monday.
"In the data I've seen, there's nothing inconsistent with BP's worst
case scenario,"Ira Leifer, an associate researcher at the Marine
Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a
member of the government's Flow Rate Technical Group, told McClatchy.
Leifer said that based on satellite data he's examined, the rate of
flow from the well has been increasing over time, especially since BP's
"top kill" effort failed last month to stanch the flow. The decision
last week to sever the well's damaged riser pipe from the its blowout
preventer in order to install a "top hat" containment device has
increased the flow still more _ far more, Leifer said, than the 20
percent that BP and the Obama administration predicted.
Leifer noted that BP had estimated before the April 20 explosion
that caused the leak that a freely flowing pipe from the well would
release 100,000 barrels of oil a day in the worst-case scenario.
The oil was not freely flowing before the top kill or before they cut
the pipe, Leifer said, but once the riser pipe was cleared, there was
little blocking the oil's rise to the top of the blowout preventer.
Video images confirm that the flow of black oil is unimpeded.
"If
the pipe behaved as a worst-case estimate you would have no visual
change in the flow, and I don't see any obvious visual change," Leifer
said. "How much larger I don't know but let's just quote BP."
How
much oil is gushing from the well has been the subject of heated debate
for weeks, with independent scientists suggesting that as much as
95,000 barrels could be gushing into the Gulf of Mexico each day. For
more than a month BP and the Obama administration placed the figure at
5,000 barrels a day.
***
Leifer, who is described in the flow
rate's preliminary report released last week as a "world reknown
researcher" who's published more than 60 scientific articles, said BP
still has not delivered the data that scientists need for an accurate
appraisal of the spill's size.
"We're still waiting," he said.
»
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a lot of people aren't feeling the physics of the situation - pressure, pressure and a lot of water between the problem and the solution - very scary IMHO
That explains why they won't shut the vents on the top cap...if they did the back pressure would blow the bottom of the preventer. This way they at least can collect some of the oil.
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Not junque. Good stuff. Thanx.
Speechless. Tears. Sides Hurt.
+Priceless.
What is a seal wearing clothes doing in the video?
God Help Us All. It's an Albino Penguin, Son.
That's BILL Nelson, not Ben, the astronaut senator from FL who went over to Damascus, immediately following his last election in 2006, to provide comfort to US adversaries in the middle of a war. When I told him to vote no on the Geithner confirmation, he told me he believed the tax fraud was an honest mistake...
POTUS has been on it since day one. The govt has everything under control.
Gotta LOVE the sentiments of Populist Political Profligates suggesting that all would be "Rectalfied" by Nationalizing BP.
The Gubbament do such a Fine Job with Everything else they get their Leprous Hands upon, t'would only serve to Kill the Golden Goose as it were, for where else might the Funds be Generated to Pay for Remedial Efforts, but Savings in the Modern Reorganized, Reengineered and Resuscitated HealthKare System?
Should seriously consider changing the homily on our Coin and Currency from "In God We Trust" to "Every Man for Hisself"
First, BP ISN'T a US corporation, therefore it cannot be "nationalized." Second: the govt usually deals with stuff that cannot be handled by private business, as such stuff is too one-off or requires massive subsidies (regardless!).
Disclaimer: I'm not an appologist for govt. Facts are facts: big systems DON'T work (unless they existed before man), be they managed by govt or by "private" businesss.
This crisis shows the failure of the US philosophical principles.
Supposedly, US citizens should judge the actions, not the doer.
Evidence they cant.
The government is bad on the simple matter it cannot tackle a situation nobody else can tackle.
That is the crux of the story.
The bottom fact is that BP involved in an activity they knew to spawn a very hard to bring under control mess if the activity was to go off track.
BP or the government being in troubles to control the aftermath is not the issue here. The issue is that from the start, BP knew that troubles would be too big for them to control on spot and too big for many, many organizations around the world.
Probably, no organization could have brought this disaster under control quickly.
BP was safe therefore to engage in this kind of activity.
I need to wash my brain out now
Gotta consider, 3/4ths of the world's oil is controlled by state-owned companies. Private companies are the exception rather than the rule.
PEMEX and Chavez have plainly fucked things up. Such is the way of Latin America.
Consider the North Sea... Norway and Great Britain, exploiting the same fields.
Norway nationalized its interests. It has never had a major accident, is still a net exporter and has one of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund.
Britain left its oil industry in private hands. The Oxy incident was on the same scale as Chernobyl-on-the-Gulf until recently. It's a net oil importer. It's also flat broke-ass.
All depends on whether a nation sees energy as a strategic resource or not. In the US's case, GoM and Prudhoe Bay are only about 7% of our consumption. Not worth the effort and whinging to nationalize.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/06/rahm-emanuels-.html
BP Indirectly Funded Rahm Emanuel's Rent-Free (and Tax-Free) Use of Capitol Hill Townhouse
Now, we learn the details of a connection of Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer.
Shortly after Obama's happy inaugural, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg.
For an ordinary American, that would likely raise some obvious tax liability questions. But like Emanuel, the guy overseeing the IRS now is another Obama insider, Tim Geithner, who had his own outstanding tax problems but skated through confirmation anyway by the Democratic-controlled Congress. ...
Greenberg's consulting firm was a prime architect of BP's recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan "Beyond Petroleum."
Greenberg's company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit -- GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry's 2004 campaign manager.
According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you'll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.
at one time in america accusations were answered.
http://worldreports.org/news
http://www.bullionbullscanada.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=122&func=view&catid=6&id=650
the web is full of articles and accusations by prominent people that go unanswered. they just make plans to shoot the messengers .
Eff it, bring on Katla and Yellowstone.
Just desserts, as they say....
I voluntold Nelson to get his sorry ass down there, and confirm.
He replied with: where?
Moron of the first order, is he.
+ 100
How could someone as dumb as Nelson ever get through Astronaut School???
Course being dumb no barrier to being a Senator.
I've searched but I can find no denials from BP or the Administration. I invite others to try to find denials of oil rising from the seafloor. (Other than the well...)
G.W. is correct in assuming this news is important since if they are not denying a claim of this magnitude (which has been out there for some weeks now...) then it is very possible that these 'rumors' are correct.
In my searches however I did cross some disturbing news about Jesus being arrested just when we need him the most...
Apparently he was caught trying to 'walk on water' that resembled a freshly paved asphalt parking lot... I hope they don't crucify him for this...
They should make BP pay $200 for every barrel of sludge that anyone brings in. Can you imagine all the people that would be out cleaning up? That would be a shot in the arm to the economy like nothing else. I think I could sop up three barrels a day.
yeah, God only knows what collection methods they'll use...
Might be better than the next-to-none that is being employed now.
Can you image the service stations that would be saving up all those oil change cast-offs!
(Yeah, I know the Gulf oil has a chemical fingerprint -- just joshin'.)
You could start a reality show on all the redneck contraptions people came up with to collect more sludge.
Elegant, effective and so simple.
Under the circumstances this would be a win-win for everybody. Fisherman would be trawling day and night with booms, People would be able to help in a meaningful way while getting some financial return to offset their related loss of income and the gov would no doubt get the cred for it being their idea. BP could eventually refine a large percentage of the recovered sludge and recoup something also?
It boggles the mind to try an understand why solutions like this are never even entertained by the PTB?
TSTF. (Too Simple To Fail... it would raise the competency bar if they came up with an idea that actually worked!)
+ $200 to you guys above. A great idea.
Hey! Christ! NO SKATEBOARDING ALLOWED!
Jesus should give his Cross Of Oil Speech from the confines of his cell.
He just told me he'd prefer to give it from the Mount of Oil-lives...
The US Government is just a worthless pile of CRAP at this point. Unless the People of the United States of America take matters into their own hands, this Government WILL NOT STOP till it has destroyed the lives of everybody in this country, and perhaps the world.
Agreed.
Dont you think that it began with NAFTA and that was their intent all along?
"Govt," owned and controlled by corporations, isn't about to let the "people" take matters into their own hands, to "interfere" with "free trade!"
"this Government WILL NOT STOP till it has destroyed the lives of everybody in this country, and perhaps the world."
Well, they (see above paragraph) ARE destroying the lives in the rest of the world: just ask the folks in the middle east.
Making the world safe for "free trade," er a, "democracy"...
The people of the United States - the greatest country in the entire universe - are driving to the mall right now to purchase plastic trinkets. So, they are probably hoping this "oil thing" (which is just a media event anyway) will just goes away; as it is making them feel mildly like a bunch a guilt-ridden pansy eco-euro trash (who all hate America); but if they purchase enough trinkets this feeling will pass (and increase consumer spending); so (what I'm getting at is) America is really kinda busy right now.
NOTaRealmerican-
Can't agree with you more . Just one more news bit to tune out before "Dancing" or "Idol" come on . Uneducated ? Yes . Dullards ? Yes. Folk my wife and I have talked to about the spill just look on with blank stares . They have no clue . - We were looking at coastal properties in Fl. last winter . Fortunate we did not buy , and grateful. What do you all think of the Prez drivel about spill on MSM ?
We are very busy people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuXOao6jBoM
Timmy has great taste.
But they will soak up our wealth before we are killed.
Not soaking up my wealth. If in doubt, read some of Gordon's articles.
Buy (physical only) gold and pass it along to your children...
I thought Simmons was a nut last week. Turns out he may be correct... and if he is then the 160,000 maximum barrel per day blowout number by BP is going to be (is) tested.
If this is true (and it makes sense...) it explains why top kill efforts were abandoned so quickly. The additional pressure build-up in the well from the mud and junk shots would further fracture the loosely consolidated strata 1000 feet below the seabed. But if the drilling mud was dissappearing into the void then it's almost a certainty that oil from the well (at @8,000 PSI remember... far above the pressures down 1,000 feet... only 1,050PSI from overlying seds) is also making it's way into these structures and then rising to the surface.
As bad as things are now... if true?... this may get two or three times worse.
If it turns out that there ARE multiple oil geysers jetting out of the seafloor as predicted then someone(s) in the Administration should be going to jail for covering BP's ass and lying to the people all these weeks.
Here is Matt's latest interview from yesterday with Dylan on MSNBC. I am not sure what Matt is thinking as the BOP is on camera. He thinks this tiny leak is in the riser. There seems to be some confusion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBL_MUGtWdsFull disclosure: I used to work with Matt.
That's what threw me off too pigpen... I can roughly calculate that at least one barrel (42 gals or 200 litres) and probably much more per second is coming out of the BOP. (Just look at it youself again...) That already gives you 86,000 barrels per day which is about what the experts have agreed.
I read an opinion at the oildrum (I believe) that concluded that in the event of a complete wellhead blowout we are looking at up to 500,000 barrels per day. That kind of flow could indeed form the large 22 mile long 'pool' of suspended oil.
86,000 barrels/day... that is such a huge amount... that is an Exxon Valdez every 3-4 days... and BP will simply pick up its water toys and move them somewhere else in the world while they obstruct any legitimate legal claims with proficient legal maneuvering. All we can hope is that this will galvanize together people who have been traditionally partisan... and we as a country will shift to a strong center.
There is at least that amount emerging from the BOP Minnesorta... if there are additional sea floor leaks creating those huge pools everyone seems to be talking about but no-one can seem to quantify... then the real total is likely to be much much higher.
As for it's water toys... seems it would rather just see the oil move somewhere else in the world judging by it's dispersant techniques... hopefully somewhere out of sight and out of mind.
Unfortunately I don't think a 'strong center' is in the cards... and if it did exist... it too would be owned by BP. You can bet your next fill-up on that one!
Well... it looks like BP has the situation completely under control once again... Business Insider just posted a story about "BP expressing extreme confidence about latest leak fix... says flow will slow to a trickle".
http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-expresses-extreme-confidence-about-latest-leak-fix-says-flow-will-slow-to-a-trickle-2010-6
Business Insider is nothing but a publisher of propaganda. Facts not necessary when you're simply publishing the Party Line.
Once again, Minn Nice, very glad to have you back.
I'm just soooo relieved that it's all over now. Say... what do they do when a hurricane passes through? :)
"I thought Simmons was a nut last week."
Simmons a Nut?
Read his book for free. He is the most analytical coherent nut I know...
"Twilight in the Desert"
Twilight In the Desert was a great and insightful book. But as a petroleum engineer, I had to read between the lines to figure out what he was really saying. He didn't seem to be getting much advice from petroleum engineers when he was writing the book. The same goes for the comments Matt Simmons, MSNBC, and the senator from Florida have been making now. They don't make any sense. A disk 1000 ft deep? Whatever that is I have no idea. It didn't doom the top kill because the top kill had zero chance of success without a working junk shot anyway. The same goes for the relief wells. They have to be drilled to the bottom of the well to work. I think ZH should stop printing these comments from Simmons and MSNBC because it is making the entire web site look bad.
CEO of the Sofa
Writing from the Sultinate of Oman
Read it years ago... very insightful and I concur that much of the stated reserves simply don't exist and the Saudi production numbers are now 'augmented' by seawater injection. That said he's got his book to talk... so I take what he says with a grain of salt especially since there was no independant comfirmation of these giant oil pools at the time so I couldn't bite on his "the leak you are seeing is not the real leak" line. That said it is looking more and more likely each day that he may be spot on!
(My only disagreement with him is his estimate of an initial blowout reservoir/well pressure of 40-50 thousand PSI... you can only get to those numbers if the well has been drilled to 35 or 40 thousand feet... not 13,000 below sea bed.)