The BP well could be capped tonight

[Ivan Seeking]

I suppose you are an expert on all things oil. Seeing that you've been nancy about the whole thing since it started. Judging from the threads on the oil spill, all the members who are distraught about this have done is wail their arms in the air, and refuse to participate in any logical discussion. It seems as though you can't mention BP without hearing someone crying havoc.

What logical discussions? Those based on little to no information? I don't claim to be an expert. I just repeat what they say. While you are all arguing among yourselves, I'm listening to Thad Allen.

What did you lose, a few hundred bucks. Oh my.

 

[KalamMekhar]

What logical discussions? Those based on little to no information? I don't claim to be an expert. I just repeat what they say.

What did you lose, a few hundred bucks. Oh my.

Russ_Watters and aldirno were the only ones trying to have an intelligent discussion on the oil leak, everyone else was crucifying BP for anything they said or did.

My financial information is none of your business.

 

[Office_Shredder]

This is coming from someone who thinks BP's stock dropped because their oil reserves are lower now.

Let's not take him too seriously

 

[KalamMekhar]

This is coming from someone who thinks BP's stock dropped because their oil reserves are lower now.

Let's not take him too seriously

More oil = more money. Oil that makes it to a refinery is more oil that turns into gasoline, which turns into bank. My stocks dropping had nothing to do with that oil. It had to do with BPs image being tarnished by jump the gun hippies.

 

[edward]

More oil = more money. Oil that makes it to a refinery is more oil that turns into gasoline, which turns into bank. My stocks dropping had nothing to do with that oil. It had to do with BPs image being tarnished by jump the gun hippies.

Then again perhaps BP deserves that bloody hand of justice.

BP previously admitted to working for a 2005 Libyan prisoner release, and U.S. Lawmakers demanded to know whether the company had anything to do with a similar deal for Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi. Al-Megrahi is the only person ever convicted for the airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. He remains a celebrity in Libya a year after he left prison with 3 months to live.

The company cracked just before 4:00 PM Phoenix time. BP admitted that they lobbied the British government to transfer al-Megrahi in order to protect a $900 million deal for Libyan oil. That becomes blood money, plain and simple.

http://www.examiner.com/x-58460-Pho...e-rogue-admits-lobbying-for-alMegrahi-release

 

[KalamMekhar]

I suppose the daily telegraph is running that story too eh?

 

[collinsmark]

I suppose the daily telegraph is running that story too eh?

I'm not sure what you're implying, but...yes. (Well, sort of. A link to the Telegraph article is below.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7892112/BP-admits-lobbying-UK-over-Libya-prisoner-transfer-scheme-but-not-Lockerbie-bomber.html"

[Edit: Here's a related Telegraph article from today (not-totally on topic, but related none-the-less): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7895189/BP-lobbying-over-Libya-may-overshadow-David-Camerons-US-visit.html" ]

 

[Newai]

Damn near half of the gulf coastline hasn't even seen oil. It isn't some sort of super-mega-monster-disaster where everyone is on the beach covered in oil trying to fly away. There are still people shrimping and oystering (?) in the gulf, just not as much as before. Everything will go back to normal.

That's assuming a comfortable level with the damage that is known to exist. Even if not one drop had ever hit the shoreline, this doesn't mean we can relax on it.

 

[KalamMekhar]

I can guarantee you the media will relax on it in a week or two. Another big story will come along and this will be all over.

 

[Newai]

You can't measure a disaster by the sum of journalists posting reports. It's not just media coverage.

 

[edward]

The situation is not out of the woods yet. The well pressure didn't get as high as was expected. It is running at 6,700 PSI. Over 8,000 PSI was expected.

There has been mention that the well could have lost pressure because of the prolonged venting into the ocean.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6685882n&tag=related;photovideo

 

[turbo]

The situation is not out of the woods yet. The well pressure didn't get as high as was expected. It is running at 6,700 PSI. Over 8,000 PSI was expected.

There has been mention that the well could have lost pressure because of the prolonged venting into the ocean.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6685882n&tag=related;photovideo

Or because the well's pipes could have been damaged during the rig's fatal incident and be blowing out oil and gas someplace else somewhat removed from the well.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, like I said last night, their story suddenly changed. This has happened every time they encountered complications.

The good news is that based on the pressure, the leak, if it exists, should be at something like 11,000 feet into the rock]. As reported, there are several layers of sealing rock that help to ensure that the leak cannot rise to the surface. So the plan is to capture 100% of the oil unless a storm hits, at which time they can shut the well down when the ships leave.

So far, it sounds like the concern is that damaged seals may get worse if the well is allowed to leak. So by keeping the well pressure below the pressure at depth [at the presumed leak] no futher damage to the seals occurs. If the well has to be capped for a storm, hopefully the seals can survive well enough until the ships return to relieve the pressure.

As Edward mentioned, this all assumes that the well hasn't just lost enough energy so that the pressure is significantly reduced. So far, the sonar soundings have not detected the flow of gas that would be indicative of a casing failure.