The Dirty Bubble could not be reached for comment on this issue!
/sarc
Posted on 05/09/2010 4:00:51 PM PDT by tips up
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) - The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
An oil worker who was on the platform said that over a week ago. I guess it is official now.
More good info here. Read comments too.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/09/lessons-from-the-gulf-blowout/
Methane? Wasn't there a posting on FR maybe a month or two ago saying that methane was going to be the next target of the AGW crew . . . now that so many holes are appearing in the carbon theory?
Prayers for those families of the lost and hurt.
Old news. There were multiple thread here on FR that discussed it at length.
it seems this should happen regularly. so maybe this one was larger than expected and met the right combination of things which resulted as an explosion? it just seems all these rigs are at risk of this happening and I’m surprised what we saw here appears to be somewhat rare.
Methane does not explode all by itself. It must be in the presence of oxygen and some ignition source.
I read your posts, and appreciate your knowledge.
Perhaps you could point me to a source of information with a diagram
or something that describes how a BOP is “supposed” to work.
Is the leak now coming up behind (on the outside of) the well casing
or is it all escaping up through the failed BOP?
I wondered about the containment structure in that if they did get it to work,
it would permanently deny them any future access to repair the BOP.
Was it supposed to be a temporary fix until the relief wells were drilled?
Just curious...
Thanks in advance.
As Texas Cajun wrote, this kind of methane bubble is common, and usually controlled.
The methane escaped into the atmosphere ( a reliable oxygen source ) formed an explosive mixture and found probably one of several ignition sources. The gas cloud exploded, then the leaking gas continued to burn.
What I don’t get is why the rig sank. The fire was well above the ‘water line.’
Well, that’s all well and good but people aren’t mad at BP because there was an accident. They’re pissed because they did not level with the public to begin with about the scope of how bad it was and kept acting like they had it under control until it became obvious that there was a catastrophe on their hands and they had lied about it since the beginning.
diagrams and info found here: http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=blow+out+preventer+diagram
Per reports, there are a couple/several oil and gas leaks below the surface. One of the smaller leaks is reportedly from/through the failed BOP. The other is out of ruptured casing.
This was TREMENDOUS pressure. Think of it like this — the gas pushed a 5000’ foot column of very dense drilling mud all the way out of the pipe and then ruptured REALLY STRONG BOPs. When the forensics are done on this one it’ll be a real “teaching moment” for the industry.
OK, tell me specifically why this is a “catastrophe”?
Yes, it’s a tragedy that 11 people died.
Yes, the spill MAY cause a costly clean up.
But WHY, specifically is this spill a disaster or a catastrophe?
And what lies did they tell? (I realize “they” repeatedly changed the rate of the leak, but that might have been a mechanically dynamic environmental on the floor of the Gulf)
Just askin’
OK, thanks.
It didn't explode, but was under such high pressure that it blew out the sealing liquids that were containing the well pressure.
Once the gas and oil reached the surface, and thus oxygen, ignition was inevitable.
Well technically it is Halliburton’s fault. They were running underpressure to save time and money.
This is why the climate bill must pass. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as this one of methane.
/sarc
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