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Deep-Sea Ice Crystals Stymie Gulf Oil Leak Fix
CBS/AP) ^ | 08 May 2010 4:16PM

Posted on 05/08/2010 5:19:56 PM PDT by Touch Not the Cat

click here to read article


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To: codder too

Yep. It’s mighty damn cold down at 5,000 feet!


41 posted on 05/08/2010 8:07:35 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: rovenstinez

> So, it’s crystals...like ICE....what is the temperature down there in the water,...I’m confused, we’re talking GULF here not ARTIC.

They call it ice, but it’s more like moth ball-like large waxy chunks of crystals mixed in vasoline. It’s methane-hydrate and it is formed from methane and water under very high pressure.


42 posted on 05/08/2010 8:07:40 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Comrade O has to go.)
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To: rovenstinez

when you get 5000 feet down, there is so much insulation from the surface, that it makes no difference what the surface looks like — the temp is just above freezing


43 posted on 05/08/2010 8:14:10 PM PDT by BohDaThone
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To: Lucretia Borgia
tar -xvzf

Heh, that's exactly what I thought of when I read 'tar balls'. Unix nerds, like us.

44 posted on 05/08/2010 8:15:18 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer ("It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." --Jefferson)
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To: Dark Fired Tobacco

The Saudis already control the White House, much of DC, many politicians in the US and Uk plus a stake in Fox news and probably the others.

We have the energy.


45 posted on 05/08/2010 9:34:09 PM PDT by Frantzie (McCain=Obama's friend. McCain/Graham = La Raza's Senators & Estefan-Rubio)
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To: TaMoDee

The Eagle Ford Formation south in Southern Texas which stretches from the border with mecio toward louisiana. It is being ramped up.


46 posted on 05/08/2010 9:35:25 PM PDT by Frantzie (McCain=Obama's friend. McCain/Graham = La Raza's Senators & Estefan-Rubio)
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To: Frantzie

Wrong, Fox News was never bought up by the Saudi’s. I keep hearing wild eyed reactionaries making this claim. What actually happened was the Saudi’s paid Murdoch to relocate his ME HQ to the nation of Qutar. This rumor does more harm than good. If they did buy FN then Glen Beck would be off the air!


47 posted on 05/08/2010 10:07:27 PM PDT by STD (islam a spiritual-legal-political Theocratic system of governance which is not to be questioned;)
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To: TaMoDee

I’m including the Bakken Formation. There are in fact huge amounts of hydrocarbons there. There are no large reservoirs of oil, however. Instead, oil is trapped in small pockets that have to be reached using horizontal drilling techniques. Also, the surrounding rock is highly permeable, meaning the oil can escape and migrate downward. It’s rather like water in a sponge.

Several small, publicly traded companies are drilling there extensively. The total volume is still very small. The most optimistic projection I have seen is for six months of current U.S. demand spread over a 20 year period.

It will help, and better drilling methods combined with high oil prices will surely make the formation more productive in the future. It is not, however, going to address the shortfalls in supply over the next ten years.


48 posted on 05/08/2010 10:25:00 PM PDT by Dark Fired Tobacco
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To: rovenstinez

“So, it’s crystals...like ICE....what is the temperature down there in the water,...I’m confused, we’re talking GULF here not ARTIC.”

This is from an article that was written before the box was lowered into the gulf.

The Register Citizen: Northwest Connecticut’s Daily Newspaper
Serving Litchfield County, CT

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Boat with containment box at oil site

Published: Thursday, May 06, 2010

“That process presents several challenges because of the frigid water temperature — about 42 degrees Fahrenheit — and exceptionally high pressure at those depths. Those conditions could cause the pipe to clog with what are known in the drilling industry as “ice plugs.” To combat that problem, crews plan to continuously pump warm water and methanol down the pipe to dissolve the clogging.”

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/05/06/news/doc4be2ab4474914955388048.txt


49 posted on 05/09/2010 1:30:47 AM PDT by Mila
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To: STD

Wrong. The Saudi prince (POS) who has a lot of stock holdings including Citigroup, who offered a $1 million check to NY after 9/11 but is a Jew hater and Rudy told him to stick it - owns part of NewsCorp (Fox News).

Speaking of Beck - he ranted about Islam at CNN. As soon as he got to Fox he stopped. Beck’s “well the Repubs and Dems are the same” and he and O’Reilly being anti-birthers make they Dems to me.


50 posted on 05/09/2010 8:10:59 AM PDT by Frantzie (McCain=Obama's friend. McCain/Graham = La Raza's Senators & Estefan-Rubio)
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To: Bruinator

I have seen how thick some of the drill pipe is.

In any event terrible situation going on out there


51 posted on 05/09/2010 9:45:10 PM PDT by valkyry1
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