Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on August 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Click to read the full “Oil Budget” report (just released).
The vast majority of the oil from the BP oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed – much of which is in the process of being degraded.
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Montara, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on August 4, 2010| 3 Comments »
I awoke to an email message from Odd Finnestad linking the BP announcement. It’s only fitting that Odd delivered the news. He and I have been following Montara and Macondo on a daily basis since August 21, 2009, the day the Montara well blew out in the Timor Sea. A few thoughts:
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Lousiana, macondo, marshes, offshore oil, oil spill, well control on August 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
In the less than 3 week period since Macondo was capped, we have transitioned from “doom and gloom” to “all is well.” What next?
Click to read an interesting USA Today article.
“Oil doesn’t really kill marsh plants,” says John Pardue, director of Louisiana State University’s Hazardous Substance Research Center, who has studied the effects of oil on marshes. “You can put several inches of oil on the vegetation surface and you won’t kill the plants.”
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, well control on August 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Those are the latest official numbers provided by the Unified Command’s Scientific Teams. Once again, no assumptions or calculations are provided. Why? What was the range of estimates for the different methods (videos analyses, reservoir modeling, acoustics, and extrapolations based on recovery volumes)? Show us the data!
Posted in accidents, tagged dispersants, EPA, macondo, oil spill on August 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Link to EPA Release. The results are not surprising.
These results confirm that the dispersant used in response to the oil spill in the Gulf, Corexit 9500A, is generally no more or less toxic than the other available alternatives.
Good, timely work by EPA. Also:
EPA believes dispersants should only be used sparingly and when absolutely necessary. Since the well was capped, only 200 gallons of dispersant have been applied to the Gulf, but constant monitoring continues.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, dispersants, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on August 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »
End game mysteries?: As BP prepares for the static kill operation, the well’s flow path is still not clear. While the consensus seems to be that the flow originates in the annulus outside the production casing, irregularities during the cementing and testing of that casing suggest the possibility of flow inside the casing. The condition of the well bore and casing strings is also uncertain. Perhaps of greatest importance will be the inspection of the BOPE after the well is plugged and the stack is pulled. This inspection process should be closely supervised by the regulators.
Press conference etiquette?: After admitting that they joined yesterday’s Unified Command press briefing late, two reporters asked questions that had been answered earlier. Perhaps they think their time is more important than Admiral Allen’s, or that of the other attendees, viewers, and listeners. One of these questioners asked when the static kill operation would begin. Admiral Allen, who answered the question politely and patiently, should have asked when it would be most convenient for the reporter. Surely, the Unified Command would want to accommodate the reporter’s busy schedule. 😉
Dispersants: As has been demonstrated at oil spill workshops and conferences for the past 30 years, you can always stir up passions by questioning the use of dispersants. Dispersants, unlike burning and skimmers, don’t remove oil from the water (at least not directly). The On-Scene Commander (OSC) must consider the tradeoffs and make the decisions that he or she thinks will minimize the net impact of the spill. Given the magnitude of location of the Macondo spill, I think the OSCs made the correct calls. Dispersants were also used (not without controversy of course) in responding to last year’s Montara blowout in the Timor Sea.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Gulf of Mexico, Jay Grimes, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, oil weathering, oil-eating bacteria on July 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »
oil-eating bacteria
“When a large amount of oil comes into the environment, then they quickly muster, if you will, and they can sometimes grow to 1,000-fold,” said Jay Grimes, a professor of microbiology at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged macondo, offshore oil, oil spill on July 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
“For southern Florida, the Florida Keys, and the Eastern Seaboard, the coast remains clear,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “With the flow stopped and the loop current a considerable distance away, the light sheen remaining on the Gulf’s surface will continue to biodegrade and disperse, but will not travel far.”
The scare is over, return to your stations and enjoy the sunsets.
Dr. Lubachenco’s announcement is no surprise to the savvy readers of this obscure blog, but it’s nonetheless good to hear the official word. Don’t expect any apologies from the fear mongers who predicted that the loop current superhighway would carry oil to east coast beaches as early as the first week of May or from the media folks who were eager to report the pending doom.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, Tony Hayward on July 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It’s much too soon to make a call, but the early data seem to favor A. The Telegraph and Time have posted interesting articles on this topic.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, fire, firefighting, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, safety, well control on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Fighting Deepwater Horizon Fire
This question is receiving a lot of attention since the topic was discussed at the Department of the Interior – Coast Guard investigation.
To the best of my knowledge, this concern was first raised by a one of our very smart and experienced contributors, Dr. Malcolm Sharples, who did not wish to be identified at the time. Malcolm is now comfortable being identified, and I thought I would draw attention to his insightful comment. See item 3 in this 30 April post.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 