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Seepage Detected Near Blown-Out BP Well
BREAKING NEWS...
HOUSTON, Texas -- Engineers monitoring BP Plc's damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico detected seepage on the ocean floor that could mean problems with the cap that has stopped oil from gushing into the water, the government's top oil spill official said Sunday night.
Earlier on Sunday, BP officials had expressed hope that the test of the cap which began Thursday could continue until a relief well can permanently seal the leak next month. Oil gushed from the deep-sea Maconda well for nearly three months until the new cap was put in place last week.
But late on Sunday, the U.S. government released a letter to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley from retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen that referred to seepage near the mile-deep (1.6 km-deep) well as well as "undetermined anomalies at the well head."
"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," Allen wrote.
The worst oil spill in U.S. history has caused an economic and environmental disaster in five states along the Gulf Coast, hurt President Barack Obama's approval ratings and complicated traditionally close ties with Britain.
Those concerns are sure to be discussed when British Prime Minister David Cameron meets Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
The plan had been for BP to resume siphoning the oil after the completion of the pressure tests on the well, which extends 2.5 miles under the seabed, to judge if it is able to withstand the process to seal the leak.
But Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said the company now hopes to keep the damaged well shut until the relief well is completed in August and the leak is sealed off with heavy drilling mud and cement.
"We're hopeful that if the encouraging signs continue that we'll be able to continue the integrity test all the way to the point that we get the well killed," he told reporters before Allen issued his statement. "Clearly we don't want to reanimate flow into the Gulf if we don't have to."
Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington, Eileen O'Grady in Houston, Alexandria Sage in Louisiana; Writing by Deborah Charles; Editing by John O'Callaghan and Jackie Frank.
31 Comments so far
Show AllOff-topic: The name of this well, Macondo, is also the name of the town from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's surrealistic and scathing novel _One Hundred Years of Solitude_. I do not know if the choice was intentional, but the comparison between our present situation and that of Marquez's febrile depiction of a dysfunctional, often demented society is an apt one.
Excellent observation. I read that book years ago and remember enjoying it very much.
It would be interesting to know how it was named.
BP does not want the well shut off.
The government does.
Seepage could mean a methane bubble about to crack through the surface.
That would be very bad.
This report follows what some oil industry insiders have been claiming for weeks: the well is compromised 'down hole': the force of the discharge, coupled with shoddy construction, has ruptured not only the well but the sea bed. Remember those methane hydrate crystals? That's part of what's keeping the sea floor intact. The boost in sea floor temperature from BP's secretive attempts at a solution has aided the melting/disintegration process.
My 2c: The reason the cap was possible is pressure has been bled off further down. This calamity is far from over and the cover-up is about to switch into higher gear.
Yep. Ever get the feeling you're on planet Titanic and captain Obama is absorbing the stunning news that the damage from this BP iceberg means the whole ship is going down?
The analogy breaks down when you realize we're all trapped in steerage and there are no lifeboats at all...
I will not be satisfied until some neutral scientific enterprise can have their own camera equipped submersible get to go down and take a look around. At this point I have no faith in what BP claims. They have been BS-ing and spinning from day one.
One other point. It seems the failure here was not the deep water drilling itself, but the shoddy, rushed and cost cutting practices of the contractors on this well. It is stunning that the industry can do what they do when they do it successfully; truly like operating on another planet. Operating wells are not directly related to this situation, and I don't understand shutting the industry down, it seems a deflection of blame, and it is hurting workers.
I am usually not a paranoid person but, I swear that is not the same well I have been watching for the last three months. I mean one day it is jagged and has lots of holes and the next it is fit onto a perfectly round pipe ? Where did that come from ? To trust them would be very foolish.
2012 is not that far away and already we're facing a potential extinction event. Methane concentrations in the air are explosive. Moving from drill baby drill to burn baby burn is not progress.
inside info from Matt Simmons (former advisor to Bush/Cheney on energy issues) about BP coverup of massive methane/oil gusher 10 miles away from supposed blowout site.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SY3E4LHC
That Methane is closer to the well than that. They were told not to drill there from the begining. The slightest chance of that methane deposit erupting should be avoided at all cost. That is only one of the hundred other reasons why B.P. should not have any say in the matter. I guess they are willing to take the chance of wiping out most of Florida, and the other 5 States, and even Mexico with a 75-200 ft. wave covering everything with oil, and toxic poisens. This is like bad movie.
razormirror- the sequel to the first bad movie is the MSM and even progressive blogsites reporting the gibberish that the cap worked. It is not working and the fracturing is going to make the relief well drilling next to impossible to fix the problem. It has been duly reported, as well, that BP knows there are several "leaks" in proximity to the ruptured pipe lines. These are PR moves and " backstopping " with the hope that " out of sight, out of mind " method of news reporting takes hold. The most pessimistic opinions have been the most correct, so far, and will continue to be. This is Soviet Union propoganda writ large across the TVs of an entire nation. This region is " toast " environmentally speaking: probably for 2 decades.
Here is Simmons July 15.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scl2dgK_-Nw&feature=player_embedded
These are all excellent comments.
7/17/10 -- 20-minute latest interview with MATT SIMMONS:
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2010/7/17_Matt_
Simmons.html
6/28/10 -- Long, detailed, candid interview with MATT SIMONS [note: interview starts at 8th minute of the 1st of 6 ten minute audio segments]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAHyIn43iXo&feature=youtube_gdata
This guy recommends setting off a small nuclear device in the well bore. As a non-expert, I find this incredible and frightening. Anyone care to comment on this. I don't know what to say.
I heard this guy before. He said that the main leak is some 10 miles away from the well bore. So how is this nuclear explosion going to solve that problem. I only listened to half of the latest audio so maybe he explains that. My point is that there are a lot of foolish, if not outright crazy people around who can do even more harm than has already been done. Unfortunately, we do not know who is foolish or crazy. We can only watch with dread. Is this the way it ends for the US?
This guy has a MAJOR resumé. He is not some crazy old coot. I've heard other scientists say that he often makes claims "outside" the oil industry official line --- and in the end, is more often than not proven correct. About half-way through the interview on "King World News" Matt Simmons points out that we've been testing nuclear bombs underwater for decades. The point is to use fusion to melt the rocks into glass and effectively "seal up" the Gulf sea bed.
Yeah, we know his resumé and the "idea" but what about the cracks in the seabed that may or may not exist. Are you willing to give it a try: set off a nuclear device in the well? Really, do you think this should be attempted?
What the hell do I know?...Okay...Yeah...Why not?
What the fuck do we have to lose at this point?
Very strange comments. He says: "go for it" - - why not? Let's get this straight: you're approving of exploding an atom bomb in the well and see what happens. I have no further comment on this.
Thank you very much for the Simmons interview - I was hoping he would do a lengthy interview.
Simmons does NOT seem like the kind of person who would recklessly throw away his reputation - if he believes what he said, he does so on the basis of long experience and access to whistleblowers. I mean sure, it is possible he has lost his mind, but it is almost impossible for me to believe he would make the claims he is making if he didnt think there is evidence there to back up his claims.
Those responsible for the lack of oversite,(ahem, secret energy meetings at the beginning of the last administration) lack of redundant precautions,lack of whatever it takes to assure a safe operation...which is impossible given our present knowledge and technology, I mean, really..should be tried for assault and treasonous acts against the life of the country and it's PEOPLE, and the whole of nature. To sacrifice the integrity of our planet for the bottom line for CEO's and shareholders is JUST the kind of mentality that is going to extinct all of us. Earth will continue when we've gone...I hope. Time to WAKE UP! slow down and rethink ALL of it, how we can sustain life instead of destroying it at every turn for an economic base, before it's too late. Anyone else feeling like the Lorax lately, on way too many levels?
We don't know what is going on. We know that low pressure readings are consistent with a leak which is probable if the well casing is damaged. Let's hope it is not damaged at the point where the relief wells will attempt to plug or we are screwed. We do know however that BP is in charge no matter what the Admiral requests. We do know that BP's record is terrible and that plans are only made on the basis of short term estimates about what might benefit the company profits. Hard to be optimistic.
Because much of our food supply comes from the American South and Mexico, I suggest you all start growing some of your own food - - and encourage others to do likewise.
Just gather some old wooden boxes with or without bottoms. set them on your "lawn" (such a wasteful wilderness, lawns are), fill with compost or decent soil - no sewer sludge - and plant seeds. Easy and very comforting to know you've got some food right there in your own yard - or apartment rooftop or wherever you can do this.
No country can survive long without an agricultural base, and ours has been contaminated by Monsanto's genetically-altered plants containing Agrobacterium Tumefaciens, a tumor-causing bacteria, and other junk we shouldn't have in our bodies' cells.
Local food can save people from starvation when our usual food supplies get cut off.
Organic farming of diversified crops is no longer prosaic, it is essential.
Not bloody likely! The surface currents will carry the warm water away. Hot water rises. Takes a lot of heat to heat water! Calculate the energy needed to raise a cubic mile of water a degree F. Astronomical! Always think about scale when you think (or don't think). The hot oil may be heating the sediment and decomposing the methane hydrates. Science uber alles.
Ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike.---Fausto Coppi
"In two different locations we've seen a few bubbles. This is not uncommon but clearly it's important that we check everything very closely so we're monitoring that," Suttles said."
from AFP article @ www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/19-1
People! What is all this fuss about 'a few bubbles'?