(over 750) Gulf boats having trouble finding any oil: US official

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 7/21/10 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 750 boats drafted in to scoop up oil from the Gulf of Mexico are having "trouble" finding any crude in the sea, a top US official said Wednesday, almost a week after a busted well was capped.

"We are starting to have trouble finding oil," US pointman Admiral Thad Allen, who is in charge of handling the government's response, told reporters.

The boats, which have been drafted in to skim oil off the surface of the Gulf, are "really having to search for the oil in some cases" around the area of the capped well, he added.

According to official US government figures, more than 270,000 barrels of oil (11.3 million gallons) have been burned in controlled operations since the start of the spill in April.

That is more than all the crude that spilled into the seas off Alaska in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

[NormsRevenge]

a new crisis? ;-]

Uhhh.. take the cap off..

Don't want all them boats going to waste,, like this crisis.

[gimme1ibertee]

Oh noes!! No OIL??? Wha-whatever will we dooooo????

[manc]

what happened to the photo’s and videos of oil washing up and the ducks etc having oil on them?

Why did the Govt and BP do a blackout and a no go zone?

[mainsail that]

Unemployment goes up! :)

[Lazamataz]

Riiiiiight.

Try over in the Gulf, not in the Finger Lakes.

[newfreep]

Hmmm, related to Obozo refusing to allow any “journalists” close enough to take photos of the “oil mess”?

[cranked]

...large portions of it are heading around the tip of Florida....

[ichabod1]

more than 270,000 barrels of oil (11.3 million gallons) have been burned in controlled operations since the start of the spill in April.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I’m sure they are getting paid by the hour and not by the barrel recovered....I’m sure they are searching hard...more like idling around saving money on fuel costs and equipment wear and tear.

[ichabod1]

What about the chinee? In chinaland, they got oil soaked PEEEpool. Schmawllll peepool, put peepoool nonetheless.

[GSWarrior]

Sounds like good news to me.

[deport]

The boats, which have been drafted in to skim oil off the surface of the Gulf, are "really having to search for the oil in some cases" around the area of the capped well, he added.

---

Tell them to expand their search and get away from the Well.....

[PaForBush]

In asn article on the CNBC website on Monday they had a graphic showing that if the Gulf of Mexico was the equivalent in volume to the Cowboy’s new Texas Stadium the amout of oil spilled would equal a 24 oz. can of beer. Between burn-off and evaporation much of the original leak will never be accounted for.

[hattend]

Yeah, figure a 3 knot current and oil rising from 5000 feet down

Have them look 10 miles downcurrent.

[PATRIOT1876]

*WILL OBAMA EVER GO TO CHURCH ON A SUNDAY OR WILL HE LET THE MEDIA/THE LEFT BE FOOLED FOR EVER*

I think his holy day is Friday....

[elpadre]

talked to one guy who was on a business trip to the MS/AL area last week saying the beaches he saw and heard of are clean and free of oil.

is that true up and down the coastline??

[deport]

Some poster has made the calculations that the total volume of oil spill would fill a cube a about 400’X400’X400’. That’s using 7.2 gallons of crude per cubic foot. A foot ball field expanded to 400’ ft each way.. That’s a lot of oil gathered in one location but in terms of the entire gulf it is a small amount. However the areas that get it on them are devastated for a long time.

[DJtex]

I have not seen a single news item about the speed that the oil in the Gulf is being consumed by microbes. University studies have confirmed the overall rule that the half-life of petroleum in a warm body of water is 40-60 days. Since the spill started over half the oil has been eaten. In another 120 days, 7/8 of the oil left will be consumed by microbes.

Dispersants have moved the oil from a 2-D surface to a 3-D volume. NOAA finds “oil plumes” 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep that have maximum concentrations of 1-2 PPM. This would be legal for drinking in fresh water. Most of the oil is trapped in a giant eddy. Long before any of it gets picked up in the loop current and swings around Florida it will only be measurable in Parts per Billion.

[snowsislander]

Good.

[Non-Sequitur]

Look on the beaches.

[SouthTexas]

Crank the relief wells back up!

[21twelve]

The temperature changes in the various ocean “layers” has trapped the oil and gas in one zone. Combined with the various circular water currents it is in a HUGE pancake type shape in the water. It lies directly above the now vacant cavern in the rock where it leaked from - which is filling with methane gas. In the near future the methane gas pressure will be so great in the cavern that it will explode. Igniting the oil trapped in the water above it, and spraying it up and out of the water all the way to New Orleans and Miami. Huge firestorms will erupt from all of the burning oil crashing to the ground. The methane gas will rise into the upper atmosphere and will block the sun's rays causing a non-stop winter of several years. The Gulf will be empty in 3 months after it drains into the huge hole left behind.

Either that, or nature, with a bit of our help, is dealing with the spill. (In spills, I read where 50% of the stuff evaporates!) Although the dispersants that they added would have prevented some of this I think as the oil didn't make it to the surface. I sure hope those dispersants don't end up doing more harm than good in the long run.

[Nervous Tick]

>> In chinaland, they got oil soaked PEEEpool

Was their a whole thru the earth that draint all the awl down their?

[Nervous Tick]

>> The temperature changes in the various ocean “layers” has trapped the oil and gas in one zone.

Well, drill THERE! Drill NOW!

[tx_eggman]

From PaForBush: "In asn article on the CNBC website on Monday they had a graphic showing that if the Gulf of Mexico was the equivalent in volume to the Cowboy’s new Texas Stadium the amout of oil spilled would equal a 24 oz. can of beer. Between burn-off and evaporation much of the original leak will never be accounted for."

From DJtex: "I have not seen a single news item about the speed that the oil in the Gulf is being consumed by microbes. University studies have confirmed the overall rule that the half-life of petroleum in a warm body of water is 40-60 days. Since the spill started over half the oil has been eaten. In another 120 days, 7/8 of the oil left will be consumed by microbes."

This isn't Prince William Sound where the water temperature varies from 40 degrees farenheit in the winter to just below 60 degrees farenheit in the summer. The winter low temperatures in the GOM are about the same as the summer high temps in the Prince William sound, the summer high temperatures in the GOM are 25-28 degrees higher (87 - 88 degrees).

Assuming the leak has been stemmed, oil that reached the surface will be gone before Halloween. The key for now is to keep it out of the coastal wetlands and bays ... if that can be done the sand beaches can be cleaned and the environment will be back to near normal in 2 summers. If the drilling ban isn't lifted, the economy of the gulf states will be screwed for a long, long time.

[tx_eggman]

The temperature changes in the various ocean “layers” has trapped the oil and gas in one zone. Combined with the various circular water currents it is in a HUGE pancake type shape in the water. It lies directly above the now vacant cavern in the rock where it leaked from - which is filling with methane gas. In the near future the methane gas pressure will be so great in the cavern that it will explode. Igniting the oil trapped in the water above it, and spraying it up and out of the water all the way to New Orleans and Miami. Huge firestorms will erupt from all of the burning oil crashing to the ground. The methane gas will rise into the upper atmosphere and will block the sun's rays causing a non-stop winter of several years. The Gulf will be empty in 3 months after it drains into the huge hole left behind.

The clearest, most succinct scientific explanation I have ever seen in my life.

By the way, could you send someone over to clean up the coffee I spewed on my laptop screen.

[Frantzie]

Has any more gotten to the surface? I would guess on the surface it eventually evaporates. Baby oil or tanning lotion in a pool probably does that and some gets on the side of the pool.

Meanwhile drama queen, AH, Democrat and liar Charlie Crist wants to ban any drilling. Stupid suntanned sissy.

[ichabod1]

Naw, they gots they OWN awl speeeul over dar. Sumfin ‘bout a pahplahn or somfins.

[tx_eggman]

ping

[kcvl]

We have several friends who have been to the gulf coast on vacation and the beaches were clean at Destin, Florida and Gulf Shores, Alabama where they vacationed.

[21twelve]

“The clearest, most succinct scientific explanation I have ever seen in my life.”

I don’t feel like I can take complete credit. Most of these facts were gleaned from the internet. Much of it right here on FR!

[South Hawthorne]

Either that, or nature, with a bit of our help, is dealing with the spill.

Then why wouldn't your fancy pants "nature" take care of global warming which is going to kill us all and destroy the universe?

[NoLibZone]

Bump

[Nervous Tick]

Hokey doke. Thanky.

[Brown Deer]

Cowboys stadium has an internal volume of approximately 104 million cubic feet, compared to the just over 50 cubic inches of volume in a 24-ounce can.

Just like the can, the spilled oil represents only .00000002788% of the liquid volume present in the Gulf of Mexico, although as the oil is dispersed, the amount of water affected becomes substantially greater.

[Finalapproach29er]

It’s all in the marshes and on the beaches- check there guys.

[Brown Deer]

sources?

[elpadre]

FYI - I was a teen during the final years of WWII living inland from the Outer Banks. I recall, that in either ‘44 or ‘45 going to the Kitty Hawk beach and it was covered with oil as far as you could see (not many cottages in those days) The U-Boats sank many merchant ships, including tankers off OBX. We went back several months later and the beach was clear. Thinking the oil was beneath, we dug holes looking for it and there was no sign.

I talked with an Alaskan not long ago who said much the same re their tanker spill.

I do believe nature has a way of handling these things. And, although everyone fears what a hurricane would do, I think they would be surprised. Hurricanes are natures cleansers and I believe one would clear the oil from the sea, swamps, etc.

[left that other site]

That would be unprecedented and unexpected and Bush’s Fault Fer SURE!

[21twelve]

Interesting story! I bet as a kid you kept your eye out for more than just oil from those wrecked ships! It is so easy to get wrapped up in the disaster of the day (oil spills, earthquakes, hurricanes, economy, etc.) that the lessons from history go unnoticed. Of course whatever disaster WE are going through is “unprecidented”, the “largest”, the “worst”, etc.

[St. Louis Conservative]

Charlie Crist will be an unhappy man if this is true. Exploiting the oil spill crisis was his only ticket in the FL Sen race.

[Dem Guard]

So keep them working anyway. Why should this government project end when most others never do. ;-)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Oh no,....more unemployment....

[pghoilman]

Did you make that up?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Clean up your story and you can post it on Helium and get paid...although Terrence Aym has preceded you and already has incorporated the Nuke driven pulse generator...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I was referring to the author of the article on this thread:

Doomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a 'world-killing' event

Will see if I can find the thread with the Pulse Generator item.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFLMAO !!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If the drilling ban isn't lifted, the economy of the gulf states will be screwed for a long, long time.

Hey....from Washington...Obama snickers....

Mission Accomplished!!

[Mears]

Gee,what a classy post ! (Sarcasm intended)

[21twelve]

Regarding post #46 - mixing some science in with the story must make it true! (And I think the natural methane “burps” could cause huge problems some day. Just like a mega volcano could. They have in the past, they no doubt will again in the future.)

And for post #48, see my tagline.