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Containment Dome Fails to Stop Oil Gusher: No Plan B
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - BP officials desperately searched Monday for a new fix to the enormous Gulf of Mexico oil spill after efforts to cap a gushing leak with a containment dome hit a perilous snag.
An oil soaked bird struggles against the oil slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) British energy giant BP, which owns the lion's share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, is facing the jaw-dropping possibility that, failing a swift fix it has yet to deliver with a containment dome, the crisis could spiral into an even worse environmental calamity.
The White House also was scrambling to contain fallout from the massive disaster threatening to take a toll on President Barack Obama's political and energy agenda.
In Washington, Obama on Monday "will meet with a number of Cabinet members and senior staff in the White House Situation Room to review BP efforts to stop the oil leak, as well as to decide on next steps to ensure all is being done to contain the spread, mitigate the environmental impact and provide assistance to affected states," a White House statement said.
Meanwhile the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it "continues to work with BP to explore all options that could stop or mitigate oil leaks from the damaged well."
The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank some 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana April 22, two days after an explosion that killed 11 workers.
The riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead now lies fractured on the seabed a mile below, spewing out oil at a rate at some 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day.
Sheen from the leading edge of the slick has surrounded island nature reserves off the coast of Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast, threatening tourist beaches further east.
Sea life is being affected in a low-lying region that contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is a major migratory stop for many species of rare birds.
The 2.4-billion-dollar Louisiana fishing industry has been slapped with a temporary ban in certain areas due to health concerns about polluted fish.
No Plan B
BP, facing a barrage of lawsuits and clean-up costs soaring above 10 million dollars a day, had pinned its hopes on a 98-ton concrete and steel containment box that it successfully lowered 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) down over the main leak.
But the contraption lay idle on the seabed as engineers furiously tried to figure out how to stop it clogging with ice crystals.
Still, if efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes.
Untold damage is already being done by the 3.5 million gallons estimated to be in the sea so far, but the extent of that harm will rise exponentially if the only solution is a relief well that takes months to drill.
Admiral Thad Allen, head of the US Coast Guard, suggested they were considering what he called a "junk shot" to plug the main leak.
"They're actually going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tires, golf balls and things like that and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak," Allen, who is leading the US government's response, told CBS television.
This could be risky as experts have warned that excessive tinkering with the blowout preventer -- a huge 450-ton valve system that should have shut off the oil -- could see crude shoot out unchecked at 12 times the current rate.
There are also fears the slick, which covers an area of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 square kilometers), could be carried around the Florida peninsula if it spreads far enough south to be picked up by a special Gulf current.
"If this gusher continues for several months, it's going to cover up the Gulf coast and it's going to get down into the loop current and that's going to take it down the Florida Keys and up the east coast of Florida," warned Florida Senator Bill Nelson.
"You are talking about massive economic loss to our tourism, our beaches, to our fisheries, very possibly disruption of our military testing and training, which is in the Gulf of Mexico," he told CNN.
On the dome front, clearing out the slushy crystals is easy -- the chamber just has to be raised to warmer levels, Suttles told reporters. Keeping the crystals out so that a pipe can be lowered into the dome to suck the oil to a waiting barge is another matter.
BP began drilling a first relief well one week ago, but that will take up to three months to drill -- by which time some 20 million gallons of crude could have streamed into the sea and ruined the fragile ecology of the Gulf.
164 Comments so far
Show AllNow your children and theirs have no future. It's over. Time to die.
Will you lead the way?
No, you won't, because it's not true.
Let's see, there are 50 to 100 million barrels of oil in the deposit. I figure that's enough to cover 4/5 of the Earth's surface with a slick. We'll die when that happens. There is no plan B, so that does indeed look very possible.
there are a number of wells down there...are they all on the same deposit?
if all of the other wells pumped that much harder...might lessen pressure on the bleeder...
are they already pumping as hard as they can?
or, Superman could fly counter around the Earth real fast, reverse the spin, thereby reversing time, and we could...
it worked when Lois died...
this bleeder is making it very hard for me to find much meaning in my daily life...
two steps forward, three steps back...
Dubet,
Technically they don't 'pump' these wells. They use the massive amount of pressure already existing in the well to bring the oil up to the surface. This underground pressure brought to bear by the weight of the earths crust above the oil and the water above that is enhanced by plunging a small diameter drill pipe into it. Multiply all that undergound pressure per cubic foot of pipe and you are talking anywhere between 20,00 and 40,000 psi by the time that oil is in the pipe.
This is what exacerbates a gas bubble in the well excaping up the drill pipe. Gas expands as it rises to the surface...then it goes BOOM!
ah...thank you...
they just poke holes, and take what comes...like the blood bank...
no ... like a vampire.
well, the Supreme Court said that corporations are people, so lets charge BP with terrorism, strip them of any and all rights they have, imprison everyone that works for BP, seize their assets (a la War on Drugs) - simple solution, except for that sticky gook that will harm our beaches and fisheries.....
Now THAT is a good idea!
Of course that is a joke. Corporations have been given the privileges of personhood, but none of the responsibilities or liabilities. You cannot lock up a corporation in jail, nor even subject it to torture. Corporate personhood is a joke too.
New National Anthem " Drill Kill, Drill Kill ad nauseum"
The "Junk Shot" , I hope it is better than Obama's
jump shot.
The nomination of Kagan demonstrates that Mr. Obama does not fear "progressives" because he knows that "progressives" are politically impotent. The cause of the impotence is well known to me. "Progressives" failed to form their own coalition-based "Tea Party" during the Bush administration. In the end they massively voted for Obama. He speculates that they will again in 2012.
The recent attempt to form a progressive "Tea Party" fizzled in a laughable "Kaffee Klatsch".
Your impotence is well known. In a way this story is about your party's impotence to control your greed.
The common man will bear the brunt of this, now and I am afraid in the future.
There is nothing that can be said in defense of his party, but his main point is entirely true. Progressives are completely impotent because they will support Obama no matter what he does.
What was it that the son of the Irgun terrorist called progressives? Oh yes, Rahm said they were retards. The fact they still support the administration after being continuously bitch slapped by Obama proves that Rahm was right.
100% on the mark, CN.
Perhaps investing in Kleenex might be a good idea at this point. Democrats are sure to run the factory into overdrive after the next 2 elections.
If you think they cried like babies for Gore/LIEberman and the Cowardly Kerry, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Who will they blame this time? Nader? Cheney? Bush? Beck? The Tin Man, Captain Kangaroo?
Its gonna be sad.
Oil Blows - BP Sucks
(I'm in a Daily News mood this morning.)
Interesting that most of these in depth articles here on CD, pointing to the magnitude and daunting challenges of the spill are coming out of the European press.
This is indeed a very sad and painful event alas a reminder as to our collective involvement in this era of oil addiction and use.
Hopefully a sliver lining will be a huge wake up and cry for a sensible alternative and sustainable energy policy (including conservation and efficiency elements) from the public that cannot be ignored by politicians and their corporate sponsors.
Yes, but never a word about PROSECUTION for willful criminal negligence.
Why not call for a Grand Jury Investigation? Put out a petition. NO accountability insures this will happen again. Why not demand accountability? Everyone toiling at the bottom knows how it works.
"Between January and March of 2001, incoming Vice President Dick Cheney conducted secret meetings with over 100 oil industry officials allowing them to draft a wish list of industry demands to be implemented by the oil friendly administration. Cheney also used that time to re-staff the Minerals Management Service with oil industry toadies including a cabal of his Wyoming carbon cronies. In 2003, newly reconstituted Minerals Management Service genuflected to the oil cartel by recommending the removal of the proposed requirement for acoustic switches. The Minerals Management Service's 2003 study concluded that "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."
The acoustic trigger costs about $500,000.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/05-10
The story should not be about what can be done NOW, but what should have been done to PREVENT this and WHO the criminals are and HOW we can prosecute them.
The point is accidents DO happen. So, let's prosecute the politicians who voted for offshore drilling. I guarantee they voted that way because of lobbyists!
i suppose the 'greek tragedy' fades to insignificance in light of this major cock-up.................
Are you sure that blowing up the well with a bunker bomb would seal it? What if it blew open a wider hole and the oil flow increased many times?
I agree with your last paragraph.
Thank goodness I got to read Onecaptjim before he got deleted.
It's extremely cold down there and maybe no salinity to the water trapped in the rock layers, so ice choking is going to keep happening with that big cement funnel even if they lift it to warmer water, let it melt, and then re-lower it for another shot. In aviation, ice quits forming when it gets too cold -minus 40 degrees static air temperature. Not sure about those tremendous pressures but right now we should indict Dick Cheney and George Bush and find out what kind of kickbacks they received for trashing all the safety regulations.
How's this big Federal Government working out for you? It's just a tool of Robber Barons. It would be far better to have nothing. Because that's what we have now: nothing.
Let's cut the Federal Government down by 90 percent in spending levels and then we can start over again. This would choke off the funds for the wars and end corporate welfare. Any company over ten million in assets get broken up into small regional companies that are accountable to the states.
TJ
Civil Libertarian
BP will not recompense people. BP WILL bend the U.S. taxpayers over, stick it in and break it off, and our elected representatives will thank BP for doing so. Such it is when people are stupid enough to believe corporatism is americanism.
That's exactly how this will play out. The real thing that is broken is our political system which is in the hands of these criminals and their pals in DC.
That is exactly how the Exxon criminals played it out and nothing will change with B.P. The only answer is for these Corporations and their criminals to be held accountable and be given the death penalty, but we all know that this is a pipe dream! These companies like Chevron and B.P. deserve the death penalty, but as our government is in bed with them it will never happen.
not an engineer but I wonder if the leak could have slowed by filling the "dome" with a heavy material (concrete), or perhaps shooting BP execs down the tube. It's a shame so much of our technology is for killing and destruction. The death of the gulf coast environment reflects the death of our industrial imagination and the shallow goals of consumerism gone mad.
You inquire: "not an engineer but I wonder if the leak could have slowed by filling the "dome" with a heavy material (concrete)..."
The answer is no. The reason is that the well is pushing up methane and heavier fractions at a minimum of about 10,000 psi and the riser connected to the BOP is rated for service at no more than 500 psi.
The result of shutting off the flow through the broken riser would be to increase the pressure on the remaining intact riser and create one or more additional blowouts to this piping system. The worst case scenario would be if the riser were completely lost and the sand-entraining methane and oil mixture then were allowed to port unimpeded through the BOP, soouring the steel in that structure and allowing the full pressure from the well below to then escape. Should that occur, everything that has occured so far in this disaster would appear to be nothing but a benign prelude to utter Hell on Earth.
-Ray
I am afraid "they" have really really fucked up bigtime this time. I'm afraid that hole in the bottom of the ocean is going to be eroded to the point where it just gives way and the whole seabed in the area of the well just splits open and the whole oil/methane deposit is released all at once. These people, BP, simply have no idea what to do. Their "relief" well is a shot in the dark as well. We could be REALLY screwed this time. I'm afraid we are right now ver close to your "Hell on Earth" scenario.
I do not know anything about oil wells, but when I take my leaking tire to the garage the mechanic does not poke another hole in the tire to fix the leak. It seems to me that the purpose of drilling a second well is to save as much of the oil as BP can. Where are the model builders? Can BP pump oil faster than the oil is leaking? What will all that oil do if half of the deposit ends up in the ocean?
The the high pressures in an oil well during drilling are normally controlled by keeping the hole filled with heavy mud (bentonite, barite and other additives). The weight of the mud is carefully controlled by adding just the right amount of barite so that the column of mud in the borehole balances the high pressure of the gas and oil in the hydrocarbon-bearing strata. The purpose of the "relief" well will be to inject mud into the bottom end of the blowing well until, the frictional back-pressure of the flowing mud mixed with the oil, then simply the static weight of the mud, "kills" the blowing well.
The real trick is that the new hole has to be directionally-drilled so it intersects with, or ends up within a few feet of, the bottom of the blowing hole. I really don't know how they do that, but apparently they can. It's a slow process though, and small miscalculations can render the months of drilling useless.
Given the BP/Halliburton record of success so far on this monster, do you really think that they will have any more bright ideas?
And to the posters who invoked Superman - Why not call in the Avengers to arrest the criminal masterminds who touched off this entire debacle in the first place?
It's the Larry Howard technique, featured at 5:05 or so: http://tiny.cc/twoholes
Yeah. Looks about right.
I meant Larry Fine. Doh.
We're going to have 20 years to repent our government's regulatory cowardice at leisure.
BP is going to get off with $75 million in capped damages. Funny how their cap works.
Don't be so sure paulk. Seeing as ex-post facto laws are now in style, (See retroactive telecom immunity) we can just have congress re-pass that $75 million cap to make it say unlimited? Or we could just use the supremes recent decsion about corporate persons and have BP extradited, charged, and executed for murder and terrorism.
Ex post facto laws are only in style if they protect corporations, like ATT. I wouldn't count on anything being done for the public's benefit.
http://www.roguegovernment.com/A_Simple_Way_To_Clean_Up_The_Oil_Spill_In_The_Gulf/21120/0/9/9/Y/M.html
Interesting video on cleaning up the oil via means other then chemicals.
Linky no worky GwNorth!!!!
Found it:
http://www.roguegovernment.com/A_Simple_Way_To_Clean_Up_The_Oil_Spill_In_The_Gulf/21120/0/9/9/Y/M.html
Every cloud has a silver lining...
You mean they are not getting enough practice in Iraq and Afghanistan?
No shit.
Looks like they'll have to set up shop off Miami Beach.
:)
Propaganda alert
"The riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead now lies fractured on the seabed a mile below, spewing out oil at a rate at some 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day."
All news wire services carried by Common Dreams such as AFP, and MSM, repeat the above official numbers.
Consider the following, and please spread the word if you find this compelling. I've contacted Common Dreams, and others, but no one seems to be interested in pushing for the truth, which is critical such as Common Dreams own headline link to this article points out.
Here it goes…
With BP clearly clueless as to how to stop the "leak" in the Gulf of Mexico, it is past time for a journalist, or a news agency, or someone with a bullhorn, to challenge the official estimate of 5,000 bpd / 210,000 gpd.
With this "leak" set to go on for months it seems, knowledge of what we are facing is absolutely critical.
Here is a quick calculation proves on the face of it, and by the most basic logic, the official estimate can not be true.
210,000 GPD divided by 86,400 seconds per day equals a flow rate of 2.43 gallons per second.
So the "gusher" is a whopping 2.43 gallons per second? That's what we are supposed to believe?
Just for the sake of further illustrating the point, take an average between the 3 leaks.
2.43 divided by 3, equals .81 gallons per second per leak.
I realize that there is a main leak, and two smaller leaks, but the averaged number makes the case clearly that the official estimate is toxic sludge, and BP and the NOAA should not be allowed to put forth this bullcrap any longer. They need to be challenged.
Just to drive in the point a bit further....
I did a quick google search for fast flow pump systems, and the first hit was from a company called www.fastflowpump.com , seeking to find a point of comparison to a system that has known pressure, and known output physical dimension, with a known flow rate.
They sell a pump, that weighs 26 pounds, fully submersible, that can attain an operational flow rate of 600 gallons per minute, out of a 4 inch pipe or hose, which of course is 10 gallons per second!
So the useful analogy is, that the official numbers would have us believe that a natural gas and oil deposit, known to be a high pressure deposit, does not produce as much outflow into a much larger pipe, than the small pump unit.
Those numbers are just utter bull __ , and I just can't believe that no one in the media is digging for the truth.
The government screwed up, in creating such a deregulated environment such that a massive oil platform didn't have to submit a blowout plan, or an environmental impact report, so there is motive for it to try and cover its butt. The motive for BP to do so is obvious, so it is clear that BP and NOAA have a common interest in downplaying this disaster.
With BP having disclosed without elaboration, in the meeting with lawmakers, that the "leak" could go as high as 60,000 BPD, and given the above illustration of how ridiculously low the official estimates are, common sense would dictate, that BP knows the flow rate now, and it is likely NOW to be close to 60,000 BPD.
Two or three gallons a second does sound ridiculous.
What you say makes a lot of sense!
I read elsewhere that the oil deposit itself is under pressure of around 175,000 lbs per square inch. I don't know how big that "blowhole" might be but under 175K psi, it seems logical that more than 2.43 gallons a second may be issuing forth. You are absolutely correct and it is absolutely frightening. 60K bpd is indeed the more likely flow at the moment.
I just sent the following to the Harrisburg PA Patriot-News rag:
This is not a letter to the editor. I am still waiting to see whether you will publish the recent one I sent decrying the recent 30% PP&L rate increase and their immediate request for another 10% making the total rate increase 43% if the PUC grants the additional 10%, while the whole time sitting on top of $6.5 BILLION IN CASH which, now that they got their initial 30%, they intend to use to purchase an out of state electric company.
No. This is not a letter to the editor.
My purpose for writing is to suggest a story for The Patriot staff.
It is said that the blowhole in the gulf is spewing 5000 barrels per day, or 210,000 gallons a day from an oil deposit under an estimated pressure of 175,000 pounds per square inch. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Simple math reveals that a 175K psi deposit is only pushing 2.43 gallons per second out of the damaged well.
Really? 175,000 pounds per square inch? 2.43 gallons per second? Really?
I think the true flow rate should be revealed. Don't you?
Doug Shaw
Upper Allen Twp.
I doubt the pressure is 175K psi.
The highest the pore pressure at the well depth of 18,000 feet cound be is about 12-13,000 psi, (18,000 theoretical maximum) plus the 2200 psi pressure from the 5000 feet of sea water over the well. But the pressure at the wellhead would be the formation pressure, minus the pressure from 18,000 feet of oil and other fluids in the borehole, minus the frictional pressure losses of the oil flowing up the casing, minus the sea water pressure. Subtract all those, and the pressure at the wellhead is a few thousand psi. Still alot more than a 60 psi bathtub faucet.
According to Raw Story, a local paper in Pensacola is reporting that an oceanography professor at Florida State University says the flow rate is five times greater than what BP and the Coast Guard are telling the public. That's 25,000 barrels/day - so over a million gallons/day.
http://www.pnj.com/article/20100510/NEWS01/5100314
According to DemocracyNow's report: "A senior BP executive admitted in a closed-door Congressional briefing Tuesday that the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could be gushing as much as 60,000 barrels of oil a day. That's more than ten times the initial estimate of the flow of 5,000 barrels a day."
So, they already know it could be as high as 60,000 barrels a day.
...and Lena Horne gets a more prominent roll in the CBS Evening News tonight than this spill (second block after the first commercial break. Almost got buried in NBCs as well.
Godm I love it!