Posted on 04/22/2010 7:36:09 AM PDT by metmom
“He’s been doing it all along and in the coal world too, but offers no alternatives.”
au contraire: He did offer his alternatives.
“We can’t have 5% of the world’s population and continue to use 25% of the world’s resources and expect the rest of the world to say that’s OK.”
and
“Under my plan, utility rates would necessarily skyrocket.”
The practical implications of these alternatives are obvious. But 52% of the electorate chose to ignore them.
Pure guess, it sounds like they were running a packer to test it so one of several things could happen. The packer could have been in the BOP and prevented it from closing. The packer run can displace mud and the crew was lax in keeping the hole filled. They could have been in a gas pocket where a build up happened at the same time the mud volume was down.
Every ded gum year before the summer driving season.
Plants shutdown for maintenance
Rag heads attack a pipeline
Hurricanes threaten rigs
Fire at oil terminal
Iranians threaten to close the straits of Hormuz
My comment was not limited to “deep water” Gulf rigs; it was industry wide.
That said, the shallow water Gulf rigs near LA and TX ARE seasonally affected, and much more active in the spring/summer months.
“Do you have any idea how the BOP would fail?”
My guess is someone tried to save $20 and put a $98 rubber o-ring inside, instead of the square wire-filled gasket.
Pressures up fine -— in the shop.
Cycles of pressure when underbalanced?! Watch out.
sabotage for earth day
$98 = $.98
And I have no doubt that gas prices will spike because of it.
I guess we only have speculation at this point. According to the article they were drilling in 5000 feet of water and 13000 feet below the seabed. Would that then be 18000 feet of mud to displace?
My experience is on the OSV’s, I have only the foggiest notion of what goes on up on the rig, only that they consume a lot of mud, cement, pipe, water, fuel and groceries!
I though I read something a bit ago about a rig fire in Indonesia as well, but can’t find the article now.
I don’t know why because it was not even an active well yet. It should go down because they found a lot of gas down there.
“BUT EVEN NOW, I can hear the rush of speculators running to take advantage of a bad situation by things even worse for the American energy conmsumer.”
They should be; that is the market place at work.
Hmm, no doubt dear leader will use it to his advantage, but even with him, innocent until proven guilty applies.
“They should be; that is the market place at work.”
No.
That is the sound of robbers seeking to take advantage of a catastrophe to make a killing and screw the masses of their fellow citizens and scerw up the economy.
They contribute NOTHING to the economy.
Here is an update from RigZone:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=91349
UPDATED: Search Continues for 11 Missing WorkersRigzone Staff|Thursday, April 22, 2010
At approximately 10 p.m. (CST) Tuesday night, an explosion rocked Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the search continues for 11 workers still missing following what could be one of the nation’s deadliest offshore drilling incidents of the past half-century.
Seventeen people were injured in the blast and taken to hospitals earlier Wednesday. Yesterday, four workers were treated at West Jefferson Hospital, while another worker was treated at the University of South Alabama Medical Center’s burn unit. Five others were undergoing evaluation at the facility in Mobile, Alabama.
The rig, located more than 50 miles southeast of Venice off Louisiana’s coast, was still burning Wednesday morning as the U.S. Coast Guard commenced a search for the missing rig personnel. The Deepwater Horizon has been engulfed in flames since Tuesday night.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard estimated that 126 workers onboard the rig were able to evacuate. Of the 126 people, 115 crewmembers have been accounted for. Of those accounted for, 17 crewmembers were medevaced from the scene; 94 crewmembers were en route to Port Fourchon, Louisiana aboard the Damien Baxton, an offshore supply vessel; and four crewmembers were transferred to a separate vessel.
The Damien Baxton arrived at Port Fourchon early Thursday morning. The offshore personnel were checked by doctors and then brought to a hotel in New Orleans to reunite with their relatives.
Eleven workers were reported missing Wednesday as the Coast Guard focused efforts on rescuing other personnel from the burning rig. The Coast Guard’s search is ongoing for the missing workers.
The Coast Guard have since dispatched three HH-65 C Dolphin rescue helicopters, an HH-60 rescue helicopter and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry rescue plane to participate in the rescue efforts, along with two cutters. Three other cutters were en route to assist search and rescue workers.
The Coast Guard is currently investigating the cause of the explosion, but did not say when the fire would be extinguished. Environmental teams are on standby to assess the damage once the flames die out, but say that damage to the environment appears to be minimal so far.
A spokesman for operator BP told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday that the oil major has begun work to shut off the oil flow that is feeding the fire. Remotely operated underwater vehicles have been deployed for the task. The spokesman did not say how long the operations would take.
On location in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon recently concluded exploration drilling on the Macondo prospect. According to the Minerals Management Service, BP filed a permit to temporarily abandon the well, which commenced drilling in February 2010.
According to RigLogix, the Deepwater Horizon, an RBS-8D-designed dynamically-positioned semisub, is rated to work in water depths up to 10,000’ and with a rated drilling depth capacity of 30,000’. The rig is under long-term contract to BP through September 2013 and its current dayrate is $502,000. The Deepwater Horizon was built in Ulsan, South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries at a cost of
approximately $365 million and entered service in 2001.
Beautiful explanation, but loaded with acronyms. For those of us not up on oil lingo, care to expand? Many thanks!
Sorry, but wrong again. Not to start a flame war but I hate it when people post their “opinion” rather than facts... Please do a bit of research when you don’t know what you’re talking about or just admit that you are incorrect... Please see http://rigzone.com/data/utilization_rigtype.asp which utilization of drill barges. For your information, drill barges are used in shallow water.
Additional info: http://www.ods-petrodata.com/odsp/day_rate_index.php
At this link, you might notice that in 2007 and 2008, the rig utilization actually drops in the fall and winter and the peak is in the summer...
Price is the King, not the season...
Sorry - this is my industry and I KNOW what I’m talking about (as it appears does TWfromTexas)...
Someone has interest in spiking oil. Do they really have to be so transparent about it?
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