BP Oil-Spill

Possible oil seep may force BP to try again

2010-07-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

BP thought they were in the clear, until the government ordered them to uncap the valves they just capped off as outlined by the New York Times. This try that BP has made, although it is their 10th, has been working as far as anyone could tell. Sadly, oil may be coming right out of the ocean floor now.
Obama becomes a BP problem
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has caused more problems than just PR and financial issues for BP. The Jones Act has hurt the response from Obama and is going to hurt the Democrats in elections. The public will likely continue to be mad about more seep. The Times shows us that even though the seep is being investigated still, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen over the spill is allowing pressure testing to continue Tuesday.
Nothing from pressure tests yet
Blowout and seep is monitored with pressure tests after capping the well. Considering the BP oil well extends down three miles into the seabed, there is much area to monitor. Even if oil doesn’t come back up from the cap due to a pressure spike, there is the potential that oil and gas can seep into the ground. At that point, little to nothing could be done to control its escape, wrote Allen in a recent press release.
Help comes from Russia?
Andrew Revkin within the Times writes that an “independent set of eyes” might help the oil spill although Obama might want to just use our resources? Oil seeping into the floor might happen at any depth. James Cameron has a panel of experts that offered a suggestion to the Obama administration. Russian submarines could help us monitor the spill at lower depths. It would be easier to find a seep.
More information accessible at these websites
Deepwater Horizon Response
deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/791891/
New York Times
dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/bp-pressed-to-assess-seep-near-its-well/
Voices from Russia
02varvara.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/russian-mir-submersibles-may-go-to-gulf-of-mexico-to-fix-oil-well-gusher/
CNN reports on seep near well head
youtube.com/watch?v=DPeoRnWV4vw

New Drilling Moratorium

2010-07-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration issued a new drilling moratorium within the Gulf of Mexico Monday. Last month a federal court judge, citing oil drilling jobs, overturned the first deep water drilling moratorium. Interior secretary Ken Salazar vowed to come back with one more one courts would accept. The first deep water drilling moratorium singled out drilling for oil at any kind of depths of 500 feet or more. The new drilling moratorium disregards depth and focuses only on drilling scenarios and know-how. The 2010 oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico dumped an estimated 140 million gallons of crude into the sea.
Article resource: New drilling moratorium issued as first drilling rig leaves gulf by Personal Money Store
New drilling moratorium works at all depths
Last week, a federal appeals court rejected an appeal that was given by the interior department to restore its original offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells. It was reported by the Washington Post that Salazar made the announcement Monday, arguing that a drilling moratorium is still needed to ensure that oil and gas companies implement safety measures to lower risks – and are prepared to deal with oil spills. Unlike the first moratorium, which applied to drilling rigs in waters of more than 500 feet, the new one applies to any deep-water floating facility with drilling activities.
At risk is apparently oil drilling jobs
The new moratorium is prepared to last through Nov. 30th. Some permits might be allowed before then if drillers prove safety methods are taken. Meanwhile, a New Orleans business group said the economic damage from a drilling moratorium would be worse than the toll taken by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. Business Week reports that Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans Inc. told the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling at a listening to the six-month drilling ban may affect as much as 24,000 oil drilling jobs in Louisiana. Hecht assumed the economic impact from the BP oil spill would be dwarfed by the impact from the moratorium.
Companies that do oil drilling aren’t trusted
Salazar disagrees with Hecht’s assessment of the outcome. Salazar said in a statement, “A pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deep water drilling at the moment poses. I am basing my decision on evidence that grows each day of the industry’s inability in the deep water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely.”
To leave the gulf is the first drilling rig
At the national commission listening to, the CEO of a service provider for offshore drillers said drilling rigs will leave the Gulf because of the drilling moratorium. So far, one has proven right. It was reported by the Houston Chronicle that on July 9 Diamond Offshore announced that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters instantly — making it the first to abandon the gulf in the wake of the BP oil spill and also the drilling moratorium being tested within the courts.
Citations:
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071203003.html?hpid=topnews
businessweek.com
businessweek.com/news/2010-07-12/economic-damage-of-drilling-ban-to-dwarf-oil-spill-hecht-says.html
Houston Chronicle
chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7101738.html

Affects of BP oill spill on tourism

2010-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

On day 72 of the disaster Thursday, the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010 became the worst oil spill ever within the region. The rate of oil washing up on beaches increased this week thanks to Hurricane Alex, and cleanup operations were suspended. The booming tourism expected on the Gulf coast as the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches is virtually non-existent. What's more, the government overseer of BP's oil spill claim program said oil spill tourism losses may not qualify. Meanwhile, the oil spill cap remains attached in the high winds and heavy seas, but it only captures about 25 percent of the crude that continues to spew from the undersea gusher into the gulf.
Article source: BP oil claims chief says oil spill tourism losses may be denied by Personal Money Store
Feinberg – BP claims for oil spill tourism in doubt
As 4th of July weekend approached and tourism tanked, the head of the $ 20 billion BP oil claims program added more bad news to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. USA Today reports that Kenneth Feinberg, appointed by President Obama to handle claims, said companies hurt because tourists have stayed from the Gulf might not be eligible for reimbursement. Tourism officials and individuals who make a living from tourism say the BP oil spill is driving away visitors and costing businesses billions of dollars. In a statement to the House Small business Committee, Feinberg said that claims made by companies that say tourists are staying away because they think beaches are ruined "may be non-compensatory".
More money, faster processing are Feinberg's goal
Up to 60,000 barrels a day are pouring to the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists has estimated. Hurricane Alex has taken as much as 6,000 skimming ships out of commission. As the environmental and economic disaster spreads with no end in sight, CNN reports that Feinberg said his priorities could be to cut bigger checks and send them out faster to the oil spill’s economic victims. Even though more than 80,000 claims have been made, the oil company has only made good on 41,000 worth about $ 130 million. Rather than the month-to-month emergency checks going out now, Feinberg plans to have his new entity, the Gulf Spill Independent Claims Fund, send out six-month lump sum payments “to give small companies more certainty”.
Worst oil disaster warrants biggest fine
As the oil that has spilled for two and a half months turns the Gulf of Mexico's white beaches brown and kills both wildlife and also the fishing industry, The Associated Press reports that BP's blowout has passed the 140-million gallon Ixtoc 1 spill off the coast of Mexico 30 years ago. Keeping track of the growing total is important, according to Larry McKinney, director of Texas A and M University at Corpus Christi’s Gulf of Mexico research institute, who told AP that BP's fine grows along with the gallons.
Citations:
usatoday.com
money.cnn.com
google.com/hostednews/ap/article

10 year old smarter than BP

2010-06-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Check out this story about a 10 year old boys idea to stop oil spill. BP could use somebody's help.

Idea to stop oil leak go here ----> Fix leak

2010-06-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Attorney General has launched a BP criminal investigation. As if the government and Eric Holder making life even more miserable for the energy giant was not enough, it was also announced that on the heels of that news, the stock price for BP plummeted. The “top kill” method for dealing with the BP oil leak has apparently not worked, and the company has a public relations nightmare on their hands.

BP stock sinks

To make matters worse for the company, BP stock has begun to slide down in a hurry, according to Forbes. Since the oil rig explosion and the subsequent Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP stock has lost almost 37 percent of its value, costing the company $75 billion in market value. It is also reported that the BP oil spill has cost the company $930 million. The loss for Tuesday, June 1, alone was a 15 percent loss, as stocks lost more than $6 per share in value. This is piggy-backed on top of the failure of the top kill operation.

BP Latest Attempt to Stop Oil Leak for June 4,2010

2010-06-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

A cap collected some of the oil spewing out of the blown-out Gulf well, but black crude was still leaking into the sea, and officials said they won't know until later Friday how the device is working.
It's the latest bid to contain — not plug — the nation's worst spill. Even if the cap is successful, it will not collect all the oil coming out. Stopping the leak is still months away.
But officials were optimistic when the inverted funnel-like system, wrapped in hoses and more sophisticated than previous devices, started pumping oil and gas to a tanker on the surface.It is everyone's hope this latest "bandaid" will at least substantially slow down the leak until a permanent fix is in place.

BP Latest Attempt to Stop Oil Leak

2010-06-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

The latest attempt by BP to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is to saw off the top of the pipe and try to cap it.The problem is the saw got stuck.They are trying to change angle of cut to free blade or they may possible have to change the blade.If they get the pipe cut successfully it will probably leak worse for a short period(hopefully) until they get the cap on it.I pray that this attempt will be successful.

BP Top Kill

2010-05-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

BP’s renewed efforts at plugging the flow of oil from its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico stalled again on Friday, as the company suspended pumping operations for the second time in two days before resuming the procedure Friday evening, according to a technician involved with the response effort.
The company suspended "junk shot" operations about 2:30 am Friday and resume almost 12 hours later at 3:45 local time.

BP Oil Spill

2010-05-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Watch video of Admiral Thad Allen discussing live feed of BP oil leak.He discusses if there was any talk about shutting off the live video feed.Go to this link to see official BP live feed---> BP feed