Gulf Oil Disaster

[Slybacon]

Department of Homeland Security to take control of spill response website

Published on 07-07-2010 Email To Friend Print Version

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GODKHG2.htm

The US government is expected to take over control of the central information website on the Gulf oil spill response that has been run jointly by various agencies and BP for the 2 1/2 months since the rig explosion.

The Department of Homeland Security wants a one-stop shop for information that is completely overseen by the government as it settles into the long-haul of dealing with the response to the disaster. The U.S. Coast Guard falls under Homeland Security's authority.

BP and the federal government are part of a unified command that is working together to try to contain the oil gusher, but the government has been directing BP at every turn.

A DHS spokesman told The Associated Press on Sunday that the joint relationship won't change when the website is given a dot-gov address instead of a dot-com address.

But who can post information to the site would change. Details are still being worked out.

The spokesman, Sean Smith, said the government wants to be as transparent as possible and increase Americans' access to information.

BP is helping pay for the current website. The government could still bill BP when it takes over the site.

The deepwaterhorizonresponse.com site may still be maintained during the changeover, but ultimately it will be taken down altogether when the government moves the response information to its own website.

A BP spokesman did not immediately respond to several requests for comment on the move, which could occur within days.

A frequent critic of the administration's response to the oil spill, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., was skeptical the change would amount to much.

"Given that the government taking over the cleanup hasn't exactly fixed things, it's hard to imagine the government taking over a website making things much better either," Issa, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement e-mailed to the AP.

"In recent weeks, we've heard directly from local officials pleading for less bureaucracy, more resources and expressing an overall frustration with this administration's apparent pre-occupation with the public relations surrounding this catastrophe," he said.

[Slybacon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq65E7rmO_k&feature=player_embedded

[bℓσωηG]

 

dont we have anything better to do than give a fark ? RIP mother ocean.....

[Torsten]

here is an interesting article on the potential of this disaster, ie how it could end most life on this planet.

It's written like a good conspiracy story and is terribly flawed in facts, but the theory itself is correct and has precedent. ie, while it's not the end of the world yet, it might pay to know the warning signs.

http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

[Slybacon]

^^^^ Could this be an engineered disaster to stop a huge methane explosion????? Just a thought. Maybe they knew and this was the lesser of two evils???

And to think they were actually serious about nuking the area.

Edited July 13, 2010 by Slybacon

[Slybacon]

Goldman Sachs sold 44% of its shares in BP just prior to when this disaster began.

BP’s CEO Tony Hayward sold a large chunk of his BP shares a few weeks before the spill.

Both Wachovia and UBS also sold a large block of their BP shares before the spill.

Hmmmmmm.....

[Auxin]

Goldman Sachs sold 44% of its shares in BP just prior to when this disaster began.

That doesnt surprise me, BP had several weeks notice about the impending disaster and goldman is known to chase profits at any cost, no matter how horrific, as evidenced by their premeditated murder of tens of thousands via starvation for profit [1]

We really need to ban these companies from our countries.. not much chance of that tho.. currently they dont even have to pay taxes here!

[bℓσωηG]

Is using a nuke to destroy the Gulf of Mexico leaking oil well will give Iran an excuse to pocesse nuclear weapon , with the excuse that they need it just in case some of their oil wells starts leaking ???

Discussing whether the oil well should be nuked, with CNBC's Bertha Coombs, Christopher Brownfield, former nuclear submarine officer and Matthew Simmons, The Ocean Energy Institute.

um...yeah great idea nuke the leak ...??? http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/

 

[Auxin]

Remember, your talking about americans... we may not have invented overkill but we advanced it to a multitrillion dollar industry and life-philosophy

[psili sausage]

New cap raises hopes of end to Gulf oil disaster

What annoyed me when I heard this story on the news this morning was the way they said "And this is how we may deal with situations like this in future..."

Why, after a tragedy of this magnetude, is there not a mandatory reduction of oil usage and increased research into alternative fuels/technologies?

[bℓσωηG]

 

 

Why, after a tragedy of this magnetude, is there not a mandatory reduction of oil usage and increased research into alternative fuels/technologies?

welcome to prison planet

 

[Distracted]

New cap raises hopes of end to Gulf oil disaster

Why, after a tragedy of this magnetude, is there not a mandatory reduction of oil usage and increased research into alternative fuels/technologies?

 

Because people would rather look down on those 'causing the environmental impacts' while living in their plastic world than actually make a change in their lifestyle.

People like shovelling blame almost as much as I like typing on my plastic keyboard and driving my petrol fuelled car.

[Slybacon]

Government gives BP go-ahead to test new cap on leaking oil well

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07/14/23...o-ahead-to.html

Posted Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2010

By TOM BREEN and HARRY R. WEBER

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS -- BP allayed last-minute government fears of making the disaster worse and started trying to slowly choke off the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in the hope of finally stopping the leak.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point man on the disaster, said the government gave the go-ahead after carefully reviewing the risks of the procedure.

The plan is a test of whether a new temporary well cap can withstand the pressure and ultimately contain the oil.

"What we didn't want to do is compound that problem by making an irreversible mistake," he said at the end of a 24-hour roller-coaster of hopes raised, hopes dashed and hopes raised again along the Gulf Coast.

The cap -- a 75-ton metal stack of pipes and valves -- was lowered onto the well Monday in hopes of either bottling up the oil inside the well machinery or capturing it and funneling it to the surface.

But before BP could test the equipment, the government intervened because of second thoughts about whether the buildup of pressure from the gushing oil could rupture the walls of the well and make the leak worse.

"We sat long and hard about delaying the tests," Allen said.

He said that the pause was necessary in the interest of the public, the environment and safety, and that officials were convinced the test could go forward.

If the cap works, it will enable BP to stop the oil from gushing into the sea, either by holding all the oil inside the well machinery like a stopper or, if the pressure is too great, channeling some though lines to as many as four collection ships.

The test began with BP shutting off pipes that were funneling some of the oil to ships on the surface so the full force of the gusher went up into the cap.

Then deep-sea robots began slowly closing, one at a time, three openings in the cap that let oil pass through.

Ultimately, the flow of crude will be blocked entirely.

All along, engineers will be watching pressure readings to learn whether the well is intact. The first two valves shut off like a light switch, while the third works more like a dimmer and takes longer to close off.

Allen said BP will monitor the results every six hours and end the test after 48 hours to evaluate the findings.

The one-day delay came just when it looked as if the Gulf oil crisis was nearing an end.

The holdup was met with disappointment along the Gulf Coast.

"This thing's been going on for so long now, it's time to take a gamble," said Mitch Jurisich, a third-generation oyster farmer from Empire, La. "If it's going to blow the bottom of the ocean out, it's just going to blow the bottom out."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the government acted "out of an abundance of caution to do no harm," and added that he did not consider the delay to be "some giant setback."

With the testing on hold, oil continued to spew nearly unimpeded into the water. Two vessels on the surface collected about 700,000 gallons Tuesday, BP said. The government estimates 1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons are leaking every day.

[Slybacon]

Newly discovered leak halts oil well test

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/14/gulf....bid=qAEur2lNUae

By the CNN Wire Staff

July 15, 2010 -- Updated 0705 GMT (1505 HKT)

New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Equipment that the oil company BP was using to help stop the massive oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking -- another setback for the beleaguered company in its hope of stopping this disaster.

The company will need to fix the leak before it can run crucial tests that could show whether an end finally is in sight to the environmental disaster, the company said.

There was no timetable for when the leak was to be fixed, a company spokesman said early Thursday morning.

Earlier, BP was proceeding with the critical test of its crippled well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. government had told BP Tuesday to proceed with the "integrity" test on the well in the Gulf of Mexico, and BP had begun the process of shutting off valves on its new capping stack, to see whether the well can hold the pressure.

It's hoped the tests, whenever they begin, will show whether the well can be contained -- either by closing the 30-foot, 75-ton cap stack or siphoning off oil to the surface.

That could signal a beginning of an end to the catastrophe that began when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and launching the relentless oil spill. But even if the well is contained, the cleanup could take years.

Retired Adm. Thad Allen, who is heading the government's response to the oil spill, announced Wednesday the test had been given a green light, after it was delayed for a day so that procedures could be scrutinized.

He said that after intense consultations with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other scientists involved, "At this time we'll be releasing an order to BP to proceed with the well integrity test. But we gave them some additional direction to make sure we were are taking due care and in some cases an overabundance of caution, to make sure we didn't do any irreversible harm to the well as we proceed."

Allen said the officials "sat long and hard about delaying the test" and it was "not easy" to decide to delay. He said they wanted to make sure they're "getting this right" for this "significant event."

Allen added the earlier delay was not prompted by the White House. "We advised the White House that we decided to take a 24-hour break. It was us advising them that we thought it was the right thing to do. We briefed them," he said.

BP's Senior Vice President Kent Wells reported shortly after Allen spoke that the middle valve of the three-valve stack had been closed. That's an initial step in the complicated process of closing off the well and checking pressure to see how it's holding.

A key question was whether shutting the well was worth the risk, or whether it might damage the well bore. Allen said the test would be a stop-and-go process.

It involves incrementally closing three valves on the new cap while testing pressure, a process that could unfold could over two days.

Higher pressure readings would mean the leak is being stopped, while lower pressure indications would mean oil is escaping from other parts of the well. It was not clear early Thursday if the new leak was discovered by a lower pressure reading.

The massive cap, which has a better seal than the last cap placed on the well, is about three stories high and weighs 160,000 pounds.

If the well can't be shut off completely, oil could be diverted through riser pipes to ships on the surface. The Helix Producer and Q4000 currently are at the surface, but it might take several weeks before two more ships can be brought in to contain all the flow. Allen said a four-vessel system could recover up to 80,000 barrels (3.3 million gallons) a day, more than the high-end estimates of the well's flow rate.

Scientists estimate that 35,000 to 60,000 barrels (1.4 to 2.5 million gallons) of oil have spewed daily from BP's breached well. Wells said the Helix Producer is ramping up production and recovered about 9,200 barrels (386,400 gallons) on Tuesday.

The test is called an integrity test because it is aimed at ensuring the well bore has enough integrity to hold the pressure in the well when it is closed.

"In this exercise, high pressure is good," Allen said. "We are looking for somewhere between 8- and 9,000 [pounds per square inch] inside the capping stack, which would indicate to us that the hydrocarbons are being forced up and the well bore's being able to withstand that pressure."

Allen said that if low pressure readings persist for around a six-hour time frame, that could signal problems with the new cap.

Meanwhile, two relief wells are seen as the ultimate solution to the oil disaster. They're expected to be completed in August.

Wells had said Tuesday that work on the relief wells was being delayed while officials prepared for the integrity test, noting that "it's a good precaution to take." But Allen said Wednesday in his briefing the government hasn't ordered BP to halt work on the relief wells.

"They are going very slowly. They haven't stopped," he said. He did say that operations on the second relief well were temporarily suspended at a depth of 15,963 feet to ensure there is no interference with the first relief well.

The second relief well is a backup to the first. When the relief well does intercept the crippled well, heavy mud and then cement would be pumped in to seal it permanently.

Allen cautions that even if the engineering containment efforts work, there is still a lot to be done in a disaster that has affected the environment and the livelihoods of people from Louisiana to Florida.

"There's still a significant amount of oil out there, and the oil recovery and the impacts of this oil will probably extend well into the fall in terms of oil coming ashore, tar balls, beach cleanup, and then we will be ... trying to understand the long-term environmental/ecological impact of the event," he said.

CNN's John King, Jamie Morrison, Vivian Kuo and Scott Thompson contributed to this report.

[Slybacon]

NEW ORLEANS – BP said its capped-off well appeared to be holding steady Friday morning, almost midway into a white-knuckle waiting period in which engineers watched the pressure gauges for signs of a leak.

Results monitored from control rooms on ships at sea and hundreds of miles away at the company's U.S. headquarters in Houston showed the oil staying inside the cap, rather than escaping through any undiscovered breaches, BP PLC vice president Kent Wells said on a conference call.

Four underwater robots scoured the sea floor but had also found no signs of new leaks.

President Barack Obama said Friday the progress was good news, but cautioned an anxious public not to "get too far ahead of ourselves." Obama said the cap was still being tested and there was still an "enormous clean up job" and ensuring quick compensation for Gulf residents and business in the offing.

There was no evidence of a leak in the pipe under the sea floor, Wells said, one of the main concerns. Wells said the results were encouraging 17 hours after valves were shut to trap oil inside the cap, a test that could last up to 48 hours.

He said pressure continued to rise inside the tight-fighting cap, a good sign that oil was not getting out somewhere else. The pressure was more than 6,700 pounds per square inch, above the minimum they were hoping to see, but not yet in the high range of 8,000 to 9,000 psi they were hoping for.

"The pressures we've seen so far are consistent with the engineering analysis work that BP has done," Wells said. "It's been a very steady build."

Wells also said work would resume on a relief well, the oil giant's more permanent solution meant to plug the leak for good underground to end one of the nation's worst environmental catastrophes.

That's also a sign that things were going well. Engineers had stopped drilling one of the wells Thursday in case that bore hole deep underground could be affected by the oil cap effort.

Engineers and scientists continue to monitor the cap's pressure. When the test is complete, more sea floor mapping will be done to detect any damage or deep-water leaks.

BP finally stopped oil from spewing into the sea Thursday for the first time since an April 20 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet beneath the water's surface.

The accomplishment was greeted with hope, high expectations — and, in many cases along the beleaguered coastline, disbelief. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles urged caution and warned the flow could resume, saying it wasn't a time for celebration.

There was no end in sight to cleaning the oil already in the water and on shore. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

Long strands of white absorbent boom strung along the beach were stained chocolate brown at Orange Beach, Ala., early Friday after a fresh wave of pea-sized tar balls washed ashore. Charter boat captains who can't fish because of the oil spill patrolled the shore looking for more oil slicks.

A few miles away, an oily sheen swirled around a $4.6 million steel oil barrier erected at the pass into Perdido Bay, located near the Alabama-Florida border.

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said shutting the well meant a light at the end of the tunnel, but the damage is done.

"The other side is they're not paying claims and I'm watching people moving away, people losing their jobs, everything they've got. How can I be that happy when that's happening to my neighbor?"

The mayor worried that BP would forget its pledges to restore the Gulf when the spotlight moves away.

"Our city has a claim for $1.9 million, and BP has only paid $50,000 and it's a simple claim," he said. "That $20 billion escrow fund is fine, but that's not going to go very far across five states."

On Pensacola Beach in Florida, dozens of BP workers in neon vests operated heavy equipment up and down the beach throughout the night and early morning. Workers used shovels and rakes to comb through the sands for pieces of tar. Other workers then collect the clumps of tar in bags, which are carried by the front-end loaders to dump trucks and hauled away down the beach.

BP said the decision on whether to reopen the well after the test would be made by the government's national incident command, run by retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen.

It's not clear yet whether the oil will remain bottled in the cap after the test, or whether BP will use the device to funnel the crude into four ships on the surface.

The cap is a temporary measure until the gusher can be plugged deep underground, where a seal will hold better than by blocking the powerful gusher from the top. BP plans to shoot cement and heavy drilling mud into the well from one of the two relief it is drilling.

The 48-hour watch period started at 3:25 p.m. EDT when the last of three valves in the 75-ton cap was slowly throttled shut.

It came after repeated attempts to stop the oil — everything from robotics to different capping techniques to stuffing the hole with mud and golf balls. The week leading up to the moment where the oil cloud ended was a fitful series of starts and setbacks.

BP officials have said repeatedly they were right to take a step-by-step approach to trying to shut off the geyser over the last three months, to make sure they didn't make the disaster worse. They have also pointed out that the current cap system in place took time to design and build and to make sure it could withstand the massive water pressures a mile below the sea.

BP removed a previous, looser cap last weekend, at which point oil flowed freely into the water. Robotic submarines swarmed the site to unbolt a busted piece of pipe and install a connector atop the spewing well bore — and by Monday the 75-ton metal cap, a stack of lines and valves, was latched onto the busted well.

After that, engineers spent hours creating a map of the rock under the sea floor to spot potential dangers, like gas pockets. They also shut down two ships collecting oil above the sea to get an accurate reading on the pressure in the cap.

As the oil flowed up to the cap, two valves were shut off like light switches, and the third dialed down like a dimmer switch until it too was choked off.

And just like that, the oil stopped.

The news was met with a mix of joy, skepticism and disbelief from beleaguered Gulf Coast residents. A quiet optimism started to take hold.

Richard Forester, executive director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it's possible the season can be saved.

"Fortunately, we are still seeing pretty good occupancy because most people recognize we are so much more than a beach destination," Forester said. "The oil spill has had an impact on our beachfront hotels, charter operations, vendors, gift shops. Whether or not they've stopped it, there's still a lot of oil out there that's got to be cleaned up."

The Gulf Coast has been shaken economically, environmentally and psychologically by the hardships of the past three months. That feeling of being swatted around — by BP, by the government, even by fate — was evident in the wide spectrum of reactions to news of the capping.

The fishing industry in particular has been buffeted by fallout from the spill. Surveys of oyster grounds in Louisiana showed extensive deaths of the shellfish. Large sections of the Gulf Coast — which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the oysters eaten in the United States — have been closed to harvesting.

The saga has also devastated BP, costing it billions in everything from cleanup to repair efforts to plunging stock prices. BP shares, which have lost nearly half their value since the disaster started, jumped in the last hour of Thursday trading on Wall Street after the oil stopped. But they were down again more than 3 percent Friday morning.

Long after the well is finally plugged, oil could still be washing up in marshes and on beaches as tar balls or disc-shaped patties. The sheen will dissolve over time, scientists say, and the slick will convert to another form.

There's also fear that months from now, oil could move far west to Corpus Christi, Texas, or farther east and hitch a ride on the loop current, possibly showing up as tar balls in Miami or North Carolina's Outer Banks.

[Slybacon]

What Are the Results of the Oil Well Integrity Test?

Submitted by George Washington on 07/16/2010 13:07 -0500

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-are-...-integrity-test

UPDATE: Oil Pressure Stopping Short of Target ... Does that Mean the Well Integrity Test Is Failing?

If you don't know what the results of BP's oil well integrity test are, you're not alone.

As I pointed out Wednesday:

BP suspended the "top kill" operation for 16 hours - because, according to numerous experts, it was creating more damage to the well bore - without even telling the media, local officials or the public that it had delayed the effort until long afterwards.

BP also admitted - many days after it stopped the top kill attempt - (1) that BP had to stop because mud was leaking out below the seafloor, and (2) that capping the well from the top could blow out the whole well.

Similarly, it took more than 5 hours for BP to publicly announce the delay of the "well integrity test" after the decision to delay was made.

So BP doesn't have a great track record of promptly informing us of what is happening.

Because so little information is being released, even oil industry experts like Rob Cavner are resorting to watching the underwater video cams to try to figure out what's happening.

And Cavner says that BP and the government are making things up on the fly, so it is a very fluid situation, and that long periods of silence mean that something is happening:

It’s clearly been on the fly. There’s a lot more discussion behind the scenes obviously with the government and bp team than what they’re disclosing to the public. What I’ve learned in this whole experience, if you get a long on period of silence, something’s going on. I think that’s a lot of what happened today.

Fortunately, Cavner says that it looks like BP is doing a thorough job of monitoring visual and sonar images for leaks.

For example, the Geco Topaz is conducting seismic surveys over a range of many miles. Indeed, the Topaz has sailed perhaps 50 miles in and around the site of the oil gusher. See this and this (the Topaz is the ship indicated in light blue).

So What Do We Know?

Even independent oil industry experts are guessing at this point because BP is keeping everything close to the vest (and that some allege that the government is not publicly disclosing what it knows).

And the stakes are high. As president Obama said this morning, there is a risk that - if the well is incorrectly capped - numerous leaks could spring from the seafloor:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWxnhN1bxY&feature=player_embedded

(starting at around 30 seconds.)

So the question is what we do know at this point?

Putting aside Matt Simmons' (Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush and was a prominent investment banker to the oil industry. NOTE TO ZH READERS: IF YOU CAN FIND ANY CONFIRMATION OF SIMMONS' CLAIMS, I'LL EDIT THIS SENTENCE) claims that there is a conspiracy to cover up a larger leak miles from the cap - for which there's been no independent confirmation to date - here's everything that we know at this point:

Well pressure is currently a little above 6,700 psi, far short of the 8,000 psi which would prove that the well integrity is more or less intact.

If the well pressure keeps rising, and stabilizes at 8,000 psi or higher, then the well is fairly stable, and the below-seafloor damage to the well is not significantly impacting well strength. It would not be unexpected for the pressure to start lower and then to rise, so at least another 24 hours is needed to get the final result. BP says "The pressure has been a very steady build as predicted by engineering anlysis we did. " BP also says that the seismic, sonar and visual inspections so far indicate "no negative evidence".

If well pressures rise and then suddenly drop, then the well integrity test itself has caused a new leak.

If well pressure stabilizes far below 8,000, then there are major leaks. Oil industry professionals posting at the Oil Drum hypothesize:

What this could indicate is that there is a possibility of crossflow at the bottom of the well. What this means that the oil and gas that are flowing out of the reservoir into the bottom of the well, are, under the pressure in the well, now flowing into a higher reservoir of rock, now that they can't get out of the well. Depending on where that re-injection flow is, this may, or may not, suggest that the casing has lost integrity. This is a topic that has been covered in the comments at The Oil Drum, where fdoleza - "a petroleum engineering consultant retired from a major multi-national oil company" - has noted:

... I believe the flow will be coming out of the bottom sand and going into the upper sand. It would not be a leak, but it would tell them why their pressure data ain't a classical surface buildup. And I sure hope they're modeling temperatures and so on, because this is a very interesting case. They don't have downhole gauges, so they'll have to take the way the oil cools down as it sits to get a better idea of the way things are moving down below.

If there are questions whether there is still flow in the formation or from the original formation into surrounding rock, then it is possible that the relief well (RW) is close enough to the original well (WW) that putting a set of very sensitive microphones down the RW might allow some triangulation to estimate where such a flow might be occurring. It might make it easier that the well hasn’t been finally cased yet. But the test has 2 days to run, and will be evaluated every 6 hours. With time some of these questions may be answered as the test continues. (If there is no flow anywhere, after a while all the readings should become quite stable).

 

[Slybacon]

Oil Pressure Stopping Short of Target ... Does

that Mean the Well Integrity Test Is Failing?

Submitted by George Washington on 07/16/2010 16:46 -0500

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pressure-...ng-short-target

Mexico MSNBC New York Times NOAA

→ Washington’s Blog

The well integrity test is arguably failing, as the pressures are not reaching the 8,000 psi minimum target.

CBS News notes:

The federal pointman for the BP oil spill says results are short of ideal in the new cap but the oil will stay shut in for another 6 hours at least.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said on a Friday afternoon conference that pressure readings from the cap have not reached the level that would show there are no other leaks in the well.

He said the test will go ahead for another 6-hour period before being reassessed to see if BP needs to reopen the cap and let oil spill out again.

MSNBC writes:

Allen said two possible reasons were being debated by scientists: The reservoir that is the source of the oil could be running lower than expected three months into the spill. Or there could be an undiscovered leak somewhere down in the well.

The New York Times reports:

Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is overseeing the response to the gulf oil spill, said that while there were indications from the test that the well was in good shape, it was not yet possible to rule out damage that could complicate efforts to halt the leak permanently.

“We want to be careful not to do any harm or create a situation that could not be reversed,” he said in a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon.

***

Admiral Allen said the test would continue in six-hour increments and that any new data would be reviewed by scientists and engineers from the government, BP and other companies. He said there would be “enhanced monitoring” of the seabed, including acoustic tests that could detect tiny bubbles of methane gas coming from the bed, which would be evidence of damage to the well.

***

Admiral Allen said that such a pressure buildup suggested that the well was not damaged. But he said that the pressure level reached — about 6,700 pounds per square inch, or more than 450 times atmospheric pressure — was below that expected for an intact well.

One explanation for the ambiguity, he said, is that the reservoir of oil 13,000 feet below the seabed could have been depleted by the well as it galloped out of control for nearly three months. But another possibility is that the well is breached, with oil and gas escaping into the rock or, worse, into the gulf through the sea floor.

BP states that the pressure in the well is only rising 2 pounds per square inch each hour.

I will post a transcript of Allen's report when it becomes available (here is an unofficial, rough transcript). In the meantime, blogger Wang - who attended the press conference by telephone - added details from Allen's press conference (I simply edited for clarity of reading; I will update with corrected and expanded transcript as I receive it):

Uncertainty about the meaning of the pressure. Could be lower because of well integrity, or the reservoir has become somewhat depleted and so is lower in pressure than expected.

The initial curve of pressure build up was normal but stopped short of our target which is the concern.

Don't want to create harm or an irreversible situation.

Was the reservoir depleted or is there an ongoing way for the oil to leave the well bore? We do not know the condition of the well bore. There's a good chance it could be depletion. Checking out the well bore. Checking for leaks. We have no indication of a seafloor breach so it could be reservoir depletion.

Additional seismic surveys are required.

This kind of formation can maybe heal itself if we do damage it, the quickest way to reduce pressure is opening the kill and choke line.If there is a problem we will vent the oil.

Reservoir depletion can be measured by determining if there was an aquifer beneath the reservoir but there is not one. If the seismic and acoustic show no sign of leakage we will continue with the testing.

NOAA boat looking for methane from the sea floor with acoustic device. There is some concern about methane. We want to make sure there is no methane. If we were to detect methane we would lower the pressure by venting or ramp up Helix Producer.

We will reevaluate in 6 hours and have a series of meetings (with the committee) everything moving forward is condition based. We should have results in the next 6 hours. The 6 hour period starts now.

There are actually at least four potential explanations for the low pressure readings:

(1) There are substantial leaks in the well;

(2) There is leakage in the sands deep under the seafloor. Oil industry professionals posting at the Oil Drum hypothesize:

What this could indicate is that there is a possibility of crossflow at the bottom of the well. What this means that the oil and gas that are flowing out of the reservoir into the bottom of the well, are, under the pressure in the well, now flowing into a higher reservoir of rock, now that they can't get out of the well. Depending on where that re-injection flow is, this may, or may not, suggest that the casing has lost integrity. This is a topic that has been covered in the comments at The Oil Drum, where fdoleza - "a petroleum engineering consultant retired from a major multi-national oil company" - has noted:

... I believe the flow will be coming out of the bottom sand and going into the upper sand. It would not be a leak, but it would tell them why their pressure data ain't a classical surface buildup. And I sure hope they're modeling temperatures and so on, because this is a very interesting case. They don't have downhole gauges, so they'll have to take the way the oil cools down as it sits to get a better idea of the way things are moving down below.

If there are questions whether there is still flow in the formation or from the original formation into surrounding rock, then it is possible that the relief well (RW) is close enough to the original well (WW) that putting a set of very sensitive microphones down the RW might allow some triangulation to estimate where such a flow might be occurring. It might make it easier that the well hasn’t been finally cased yet. But the test has 2 days to run, and will be evaluated every 6 hours. With time some of these questions may be answered as the test continues. (If there is no flow anywhere, after a while all the readings should become quite stable).

(3) A hypothesis proposed by Roger N. Anderson - professor of marine geology and geophysics at Columbia University - that the pressure could be rising slowly not because of a leak, but because of some kind of blockage in the well: "If it's rising slowly, that means the pipe's integrity's still there. It's just getting around obstacles"

or

(4) The reservoir has been depleted more than engineers anticipated (although many experts have said that the reservoir is much bigger than BP has forecast; in any event, there are factors other than size which determine pressure. For example, blowouts can reduce pressure pretty quickly in some reservoirs)

While many oil industry experts are betting on damage to the well bore or communication between layers of sand, Don Van Nieuwenhuise - Director of the Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston - thinks reservoir pressure has simply "deflated", and that 6,700 psi isn't unexpected:

The 6,700 pound- per-square inch pressure reading logged inside the blown-out Macondo well this morning may suggest that the well has lost power over the almost three-month-long period it has flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not that the well is leaking somewhere beneath the sea floor, a geologist who has been following the gusher said.

The reservoir could have "deflated" since it began leaking April 20, reducing the amount of pressure it is capable of producing, said [Van Nieuwenhuise].

***

But Van Nieuwenhuise said this morning's 6,700 pounds per square inch reading should not cause worry.

"I don't think it's a cause for immediate concern, because it could reflect a natural loss of oil in the reservoir," Van Nieuwenhuise said. "It's amazing that it has held its strength for as long as it has."

***

When they first said this, I said if they can get to 7,000 (pounds per square inch) that would be good," Van Nieuwenhuise said. "The 8,000 to 9,000 estimate reflects its initial pressure, but since it's been bleeding so much, I'm not surprised it's at 7,000."

Note 1: Because pressures are still rising (if only 2 lbs per hour), it probably means that the well integrity test hasn't caused any new leaks so far.

Note 2: Oil industry expert Robert Cavner notes that seismic testing isn't as straightforward as it sounds:

Seismic puts sound into the sea floor, and measures the time it takes for those sound waves to return. Different kinds of rocks reflect sound waves at certain velocities, or speeds. By measuring the time it takes for the sound to return from a certain depth of rock, geo-scientists can draw maps of the subsurface. Often you can get an idea of the fluid within the pore space of rocks by the way it returns sound waves. They ran a baseline survey a couple of days ago, and will compare that data to the data that they'll get today to see if anything has changed around the well to indicate fluid movement. But, as one of my geologist friends of mine likes to say, reading seismic for precise conclusions is often like trying to observe airplanes flying overhead while lying on the bottom of a swimming pool. It's difficult to draw definite conclusions, even using high frequency seismic, but it will be another data point.

[Slybacon]

BP buys up Gulf scientists for legal defense, roiling academic community

Published: Friday, July 16, 2010

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_buys_up...ntists_for.html

For the last few weeks, BP has been offering signing bonuses and lucrative pay to prominent scientists from public universities around the Gulf Coast to aid its defense against spill litigation.

BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved in discussions with the company's lawyers. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research.

The Press-Register obtained a copy of a contract offered to scientists by BP. It prohibits the scientists from publishing their research, sharing it with other scientists or speaking about the data that they collect for at least the next three years.

"We told them there was no way we would agree to any kind of restrictions on the data we collect. It was pretty clear we wouldn't be hearing from them again after that," said Bob Shipp, head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama. "We didn't like the perception of the university representing BP in any fashion."

BP officials declined to answer the newspaper's questions about the matter. Among the questions: how many scientists and universities have been approached, how many are under contract, how much will they be paid, and why the company imposed confidentiality restrictions on scientific data gathered on its behalf.

Shipp said he can't prohibit scientists in his department from signing on with BP because, like most universities, the staff is allowed to do outside consultation for up to eight hours a week.

More than one scientist interviewed by the Press-Register described being offered $250 an hour through BP lawyers. At eight hours a week, that amounts to $104,000 a year.

Scientists from Louisiana State University, University of Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M have reportedly accepted, according to academic officials. Scientists who study marine invertebrates, plankton, marsh environments, oceanography, sharks and other topics have been solicited.

The contract makes it clear that BP is seeking to add scientists to the legal team that will fight the Natural Resources Damage Assessment lawsuit that the federal government will bring as a result of the Gulf oil spill.

The government also filed a NRDA suit after the Exxon Valdez spill.

In developing its case, the government will draw on the large amount of scientific research conducted by academic institutions along the Gulf. Many scientists being pursued by BP serve at those institutions.

Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs lawyer who specializes in environmental law, said that he sees ethical questions regarding the use of publicly owned laboratories and research vessels to conduct confidential work on behalf of a private company.

Also, university officials who spoke with the newspaper expressed concern about the potential loss of federal research money tied to professors working for BP.

With its payments, BP buys more than the scientists' services, according to Wiygul. It also buys silence, he said, thanks to confidentiality clauses in the contracts.

"It makes me feel like they were more interested in making sure we couldn't testify against them than in having us testify for them," said George Crozier, head of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, who was approached by BP.

Richard Shaw, associate dean of LSU's School of the Coast and Environment, said that the BP contracts are already hindering the scientific community's ability to monitor the affects of the Gulf spill.

"The first order of business at the research meetings is to get all the disclosures out. Who has a personal connection to BP? We have to know how to deal with that person," Shaw said. "People are signing on with BP because the government funding to the universities has been so limited. It's a sad state of affairs."

Wiygul, who examined the BP contract for the Press-Register, described it as "exceptionally one-sided."

"This is not an agreement to do research for BP," Wiygul said. "This is an agreement to join BP's legal team. You agree to communicate with BP through their attorneys and to take orders from their attorneys.

"The purpose is to maintain any information or data that goes back and forth as privileged."

The contract requires scientists to agree to withhold data even in the face of a court order if BP decides to fight such an order. It stipulates that scientists will be paid only for research approved in writing by BP.

The contracts have the added impact of limiting the number of scientists who're able to with federal agencies. "Let's say BP hired you because of your work with fish. The contract says you can't do any work for the government or anyone else that involves your work with BP. Now you are a fish scientist who can't study fish," Wiygul said.

A scientist who spoke to the Press-Register on condition of anonymity because he feared harming relationships with colleagues and government officials said he rejected a BP contract offer and was subsequently approached by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a research grant offer.

He said the first question the federal agency asked was, "'is there a conflict of interest,' meaning, 'are you under contract with BP?'"

Other scientists told the newspaper that colleagues who signed on with BP have since been informed by federal officials that they will lose government funding for ongoing research efforts unrelated to the spill.

NOAA officials did not answer requests for comment. The agency also did not respond to a request for the contracts that it offers scientists receiving federal grants. Several scientists said the NOAA contract was nearly as restrictive as the BP version.

The state of Alaska published a 293-page report on the NRDA process after the Exxon Valdez disaster. A section of the report titled "NRDA Secrecy" discusses anger among scientists who received federal grants over "the non-disclosure form each researcher had signed as a prerequisite to funding."

"It's a very strange situation. The science is already suffering," Shaw said. "The government needs to come through with funding for the universities. They are letting go of the most important group of scientists, the ones who study the Gulf."

[Slybacon]

Destruction of the 'LOOP CURRENT'

in the Gulf of Mexico

The escalator current is now dead

http://archives2010.gcnlive.com/Archives20...cal/0716102.mp3

http://archives2010.gcnlive.com/Archives20...cal/0716103.mp3

[ThunderIdeal]

could you explain the last one mr ham? quite disappointing to hear the cap failed but now you're saying the ocean is fucked?

[Slybacon]

Talk Show on Gulf Spill

An american talk radio show accusing the BP spill to halting the loop current in the gulf. The show discusses the impact that could/will occur if this current has stop flowing.

The Gulf Stream originates in the Gulf of Mexico, flows up the US east coast, then crosses the Atlantic, where it splits in two, with one branch crossing to West Africa. The other branch, the North Atlantic Drift, extends towards Europe. The warm water it brings to Western Europe's shores raises the temperature by as much as 10 degrees in some places and without it the continent would be much colder and drier.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Slybacon

[Slybacon]

Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

CLIMATE change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream — the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing.

They have found that one of the “engines” driving the Gulf Stream — the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea — has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength.

The weakening, apparently caused by global warming, could herald big changes in the current over the next few years or decades. Paradoxically, it could lead to Britain and northwestern and Europe undergoing a sharp drop in temperatures.

Such a change has long been predicted by scientists but the new research is among the first to show clear experimental evidence of the phenomenon.

Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at Cambridge University, hitched rides under the Arctic ice cap in Royal Navy submarines and used ships to take measurements across the Greenland Sea.

“Until recently we would find giant ‘chimneys’ in the sea where columns of cold, dense water were sinking from the surface to the seabed 3,000 metres below, but now they have almost disappeared,” he said.

“As the water sank it was replaced by warm water flowing in from the south, which kept the circulation going. If that mechanism is slowing, it will mean less heat reaching Europe.”

Such a change could have a severe impact on Britain, which lies on the same latitude as Siberia and ought to be much colder. The Gulf Stream transports 27,000 times more heat to British shores than all the nation’s power supplies could provide, warming Britain by 5-8C.

Wadhams and his colleagues believe, however, that just such changes could be well under way. They predict that the slowing of the Gulf Stream is likely to be accompanied by other effects, such as the complete summer melting of the Arctic ice cap by as early as 2020 and almost certainly by 2080. This would spell disaster for Arctic wildlife such as the polar bear, which could face extinction.

Wadhams’s submarine journeys took him under the North Polar ice cap, using sonar to survey the ice from underneath. He has measured how the ice has become 46% thinner over the past 20 years. The results from these surveys prompted him to focus on a feature called the Odden ice shelf, which should grow out into the Greenland Sea every winter and recede in summer.

The growth of this shelf should trigger the annual formation of the sinking water columns. As sea water freezes to form the shelf, the ice crystals expel their salt into the surrounding water, making it heavier than the water below.

However, the Odden ice shelf has stopped forming. It last appeared in full in 1997. “In the past we could see nine to 12 giant columns forming under the shelf each year. In our latest cruise, we found only two and they were so weak that the sinking water could not reach the seabed,” said Wadhams, who disclosed the findings at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna.

The exact effect of such changes is hard to predict because currents and weather systems take years to respond and because there are two other areas around the north Atlantic where water sinks, helping to maintain circulation. Less is known about how climate change is affecting these.

However, Wadhams suggests the effect could be dramatic. “One of the frightening things in the film The Day After Tomorrow showed how the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean is upset because the sinking of cold water in the north Atlantic suddenly stops,” he said.

“The sinking is stopping, albeit much more slowly than in the film — over years rather than a few days. If it continues, the effect will be to cool the climate of northern Europe.”

One possibility is that Europe will freeze; another is that the slowing of the Gulf Stream may keep Europe cool as global warming heats the rest of the world — but with more extremes of weather.

[ThunderIdeal]

ahhh. been in the works now for a while. i jumped to the conclusion that the oil disaster was somehow responsible!

[Slybacon]

^^^^ Not responsible tho any more instability in the area could push things along faster. The oil gushing out is already at very high temps and could be a big factor in changing currents.

[Slybacon]

double

Edited July 18, 2010 by Slybacon