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How the ultimate BP Gulf disaster could kill millions
Helium.com ^ | Terrence Aym

Posted on 06/20/2010 8:10:15 PM PDT by GonzoII

Disturbing evidence is mounting that something frightening is happening deep under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico—something far worse than the BP oil gusher.

Warnings were raised as long as a year before the Deepwater Horizon disaster that the area of seabed chosen by the BP geologists might be unstable, or worse, inherently dangerous.

What makes the location that Transocean chose potentially far riskier than other potential oil deposits located at other regions of the Gulf? It can be summed up with two words: methane gas.

(Excerpt) Read more at helium.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: bp; catastrophism; geology; gulf; gulfofmexico; methane; oilspill; research; science; silly; transocean
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To: jonrick46

I love it.


21 posted on 06/21/2010 9:56:12 AM PDT by goldi (')
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To: o_zarkman44

Link doesn’t work


22 posted on 06/21/2010 12:03:23 PM PDT by mojitojoe (banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: silverleaf

Yikes!


23 posted on 06/21/2010 12:07:11 PM PDT by mojitojoe (banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: mojitojoe

try copy and paste


24 posted on 06/21/2010 2:29:27 PM PDT by o_zarkman44 (Elect Chuck Purgason US Senate http://purgasonforsenate.com/)
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To: GonzoII

...

Elevation map] A supersonic tsunami would literally sweep away everything from Miami to the panhandle in a matter of minutes. Loss of human life would be virtually instantaneous and measured in the millions. Of course the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and southern region of Georgia—a state with no Gulf coastline—would also experience tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Loss of property is virtually incalculable and the days of the US position as the world’s superpower would be literally gone in a flash...of detonating methane.

http://www.helium.com/items/1864136-how-the-ultimate-bp-gulf-disaster-could-kill-millions?page=3

This would please Obama.


25 posted on 06/22/2010 9:37:03 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: spyone

There are other articles with named, credible sources worried about the same thing.


26 posted on 06/22/2010 9:37:56 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: spyone

“Author names four sources. All unamed. This is all speculation.”

Ah, don’t sweat it!

Obama isn’t taking any of this seriously eithe.

He’d laugh at this too!


27 posted on 06/22/2010 9:40:00 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: GonzoII; Munz; mojitojoe; Smokin' Joe; LucyT
The Well from Hell - Opinion
28 posted on 06/22/2010 11:09:03 AM PDT by Larousse2 (The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance. ~ Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BBell; ...
Uh, naw.
 
Catastrophism
 
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
 

29 posted on 06/22/2010 3:01:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
Well, you got first dibs on the short response...

For a bubble of methane to be mixed at the right proportion (an explosive mixture) and large enough to go 'boom' instead of whump (burning, but not exploding) and be large enough to be an ELE, would be highly unusual to say the least. Just the atmospheric mixing required is phenomenal.

As for floating around dissolved in seawater, the closer it gets to the surface, the less soluable it is, and methane is really pretty much insoluable in water at atmospheric pressure.

30 posted on 06/22/2010 5:15:41 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: silverleaf
Some years back a lake “belched” in Africa and killed thousands

IIRC, that was suffocation, CO2, and bowl shaped geography in a much smaller area.

31 posted on 06/22/2010 5:19:27 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Smokin' Joe

We’ve had a few guys around here killed on these gaswells

that have blown up,,,(Haynesville Shale),,,

That area of the Gulf has some of the highest bottom hole

pressures in the world,,,

No place for short cuts...


32 posted on 06/22/2010 8:26:20 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
I'm not belittling the possibility of an explosion--rig, wellsite sized, but not enough to blow a tsunami across the Gulf.

You have to have oxygen to have an explosion and that means the right mix as well. Getting a large enough cloud of methane/air mix over a rig or a wellsite is one thing, but miles across between the LEL and UEL is pretty tough to do.

Whatever happens to blow things out of the hole may be a high pressure event, but not a typical explosion, just a pressure difference without the chemical reaction.

Yes, I do have plenty of respect for both, I'm a former firefighter as well as an oilfield hand.

Nothing out there is cheap enough to die for, or too expensive if everyone makes it home.

33 posted on 06/22/2010 9:27:22 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Smokin' Joe
All my work was at the local refinery years ago,,,

Some of the old guys sure had some stories to tell,,,

I thought I saved the piece about areas with the highest

bottom hole pressures but I guess Vista ate it !...;0)

34 posted on 06/22/2010 10:24:58 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: Shadowstrike; All

Should I warn relatives in Miami?


35 posted on 06/22/2010 11:04:32 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68

Bottom hole pressures can fool you. Even here where they are generally considered fairly low, there are wellheads out there with 5000-10000 psi on them. Madden Deep in Wyoming comes to mind as one place on land notorious for losing rigs. There are plenty offshore, too.


36 posted on 06/22/2010 11:54:00 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Highest bottomhole pressure: 34,660 psi, a world record,,,

I think this one was in a ME field,,,

The best I can remember is that area south of Mobile was

9 or 10,000 lbs,,,ain’t sure,,,

Thunder Horse ran into pressure problems south of the

blowout a year or so ago...


37 posted on 06/23/2010 12:48:35 AM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68

That’s pretty high. The highest I’ve personally encountered was about 8500 psi, and that was tricky enough for the rig/time/place. Any idea of the depth at which they hit the 34,660? Just curious.


38 posted on 06/23/2010 8:50:46 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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