Gulf Coast Oil Spill

I just want to know how the oil spill is effecting everyone. I feel really bad for the people whos jobs are fishing ect. and their income counts on it. They are still going to do offshore drilling even though this happened? I just want everyones thoughts on this and how if effects them stories ect. Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Bacon on May 4, 2010 at 8:30
Hey Ralph and LP, maybe start your own thread if you can't stay on topic.
Permalink Reply by LP on May 4, 2010 at 9:04
I thought I was on the topic.
But, maybe not. ????
Will quietly abandon the thread.
Permalink Reply by Stay Informed on May 7, 2010 at 4:44
You are on topic
Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 4, 2010 at 10:17
Permalink Reply by Stay Informed on May 4, 2010 at 12:43
I just want you to speak for me from now on. Everything you post is what I think, I just can't find the right way to express it.
Permalink Reply by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on May 5, 2010 at 5:19
I think a quote that provides the most sober response I've heard was from a shrimpman down there who was quoted in an article as saying, "I don't resent the oil company, without them we don't have a way to fish these waters."

Sometimes being a productive and successful nation is messy. We learn and move on. It's what we've done over the course of history.
Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 5, 2010 at 7:49
Here's an explanation from a former supervisor on the Horizon as to what likely happened.

O.k. folks I will put to rest that anything other then a tragedy occured. The failures are a sequence we don't yet fully understand. What I know with certainty is the operation when things went tragic. The voiding of gas from a Riser is our largest fear. I have witnessed and survived it one time and pray not to see it again. I have also worked on a wild well team for 8 months. A gas blow out can ignite with the push of a button. I have seen gas blow outs that never catch fire. It is very likily that the seal assembly for their last casing run failed. This would allow gas from the back side of the casing to be released into the riser. Gas expansion occurs at a rapid rate. At some point the pressure of the gas bubble over comes the hydrostatic pressure of the riser column. This leads to a rapid swap of fluid for gas. This would void the riser of fluid (loss of hydrostatic pressure that controls the well bore) and allow the well to flow uncontroled (blow out). We have a circulating system that would now fill with gas vs fluid. Actions that we understand took place would have to be perfect to gain control at this point. It is clear to us that failures took place at this time that doomed the rig. I have had to stop typing a couple of times because this makes me cry. The men that would have performed the displacement (my job) were trapped like rats with no hope to come out alive. The Horizon rig design would place guys where there is no way out. Sad thing is many rigs have the same design.

Now back to what actions I know they took. When the gas swap occured in the riser the Diverter was opened. The diverter is designed to give gas a path out to the side of the rig. This volume had to be such that the system could not handle it. Depending on the sequence of events the shears perhaps should have been closed at the first sign of gas to the riser. When the diverter was hit the Blind Super Shear rams should have been activated. The blind shears stop all added flow from the well bore. This did not take place (big question).

Now with gas and oil to the surface space are filling with gas any spark and it's now a fire. The first exposion. Once the first explosion occures anyone on the drill floor is dead. The B.O.P.panel on the drill floor is destroyed. The remote panel in the living Quarters will only work for seconds if at all. Fire is burning the control lines that send the signal to the sea floor. Now with no controls the well comes on line full force (the second explosion). All hope for shutting the well in from the rig is lost. You can not disconnect the rig from the sea bed. The rig will burn down with in 15 seconds the derrick is gone. Men are loading boats and jumping into the water to save their lives I have talked with two that made the 68' jump.. Fear and panic rule.

Question why did the failsafe shut in on the B.O.P. not work?

No one blew this Rig up. There were failures that took place. We have lost our work mates. We will figure it out like we always do.

Gas and Oil come at alot higher price then these companies can ever pay us. Today I will share with the kids on my rig the reality that they are just now looking at. I will speak to them after our weekily fire and abandon drill. Their attitude will be adjusted with my tears. More then the tears my harsh reality is that what we do can and will kill men. I will no doubt have some choose not to come back offshore; God bless them. God bless and allow each of us that stays to remember the Deepwater Horizon and never fail to do our jobs.
Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 5, 2010 at 7:56
Eye witness account from fisherman tied to the rig at the time of the blow out.

Some friends got me motivated to take the boat out on an overnight fishing trip offshore 4-20 on into 4-21. We first tested the boat the day before and one motor threw temp light and the other would not start! So we began! The port motor just needed to have the sand flushed out the water pump and VIOLA, no more temp light... the starboard motor, on the other hand, read 12.4v @ the battery and 12.4v @ the starting magnet and 7v @ the starter when cranked.. The port motor had a new magnet on it so we assumed it must be the magnet ($170) and we bought a new temp sensor for the fun of it ($40). After installing the new magnet on starboard motor we had the same results. So we then assumed the starter must be bad. Pulled the starter and tested it, and of course it was good. So we charged the battery and Bam! Eureka! We brought the boat into the lake around 9pm and ran it for a test run... The gas leaked out of the water separator on the port motor and melted the float sensor for the bilge pump causing the wires to touch and heat the float and melted it. The bilge almost burned up as well. We replaced the water separator ($10) and installed a new float switch as well ($60). Went to bed at 1am Tuesday morning and rose again @ 7am to head out. We loaded up and headed South from Mandeville. We caught a flat on the trailer in Belle Chase and replaced it with a smaller tire to make do to get us to Venice! We launched and went to head out and starboard motor wasn't getting fuel... Soooo, we found the problem, which was a broken, corroded, elbow connecting the fuel line to the gas tank... We went to a local parts place and made do with $80 of misc fittings and hose and replaced that fuel separator ($10) for the fun of it. We fixed it and left the dock @ 3pm headed down river to BP 109 offshore rig. We stayed there until we landed enough blackfin tuna and make it to our sleeping destination before dark!


We left there in a hurry to make it to Deep Water Horizon before dark. The water was like glass.



My radar got stolen off my bought before this trip so we planned on getting to a floater before dark and staying/fishing till sun up the next day. We got to Deep Water Horizon at sunset and began catching more tuna. These jelly fish were floating everywhere.


It was pretty cool to see them literally SAIL! When we drove at night the jellyfish would glow as they passed under the boat by the thousands. The tuna bites were starting to slow down so we drove right up to the rig to try to catch bait. No bait, but we found more tuna under the floating rig. Around 10pm the entire center of the rig started rushing water downwards over all the pipes... I've never seen such an event take place. I looked at my friend who previously worked offshore, and he said that's BOP something another and the rig took a 'kick!' I thought the rig was sinking and that was their way of bilging... But nope! Methane gas began BLOWING out of the West side of it and the noise of the thrust was louder than anything I've ever herd (except for a sonic boom I herd once, and what I'm about to tell you next) My eyes began to burn and that friend I was telling you about earlier began to SCREAM, "GO, GO, GO, GO, GOOOOO!" I positioned my compass North and put the gears in WOT! At approximately 100 yds from the rig it Exploded! Puts a new meaning to explosion. We hit the deck and continued North @ WOT, Blind because the moon was at quarter crescent and I had no radar.


The switch board went black for unknown reasons; therefore I had no running lights either. The flood lights in the rear did work. The rig continued EXPLODING. A very large crew boat was tied to the rig as it blew and the ppl began rafting to that boat as it floated away slowly. I got on the radio to try to help and they told me to stay away for safety. The rig blew a few more explosions after that and began to burn down. Some of the rig began dripping into the water and the platform tilted in and turned RED HOT. As bad as we wanted to save ppl, it wasn't the case here. I tried going in to be a hero and my posse wasn't having it! Maybe they were right...


The guy who predicted the explosion was terrified of what would happen next and would not allow for us to get any closer than a mile. He told me things about air rising from the pipes below, and how the pipes could be below us since they run at angles under water, and how the explosions would continue. I think he knew what he was talking about and made us all worry...




We stayed a mile off the fire and searched/listened for missing ppl for 4 hours. We saw nothing. 20 or so commercial liners eventually brought Medics and oxygen for survivors. Helicopter came for search and transport. All the other facts you probably already know about; via News. The 11 missing people in 'mind' I hope slipped away in a safety boat, but in reality I doubt they are alive. This is a sad thing to say, but if you would have seen the explosions you wouldn't believe anyone of the 126 would have survived it! I pray for all of them and their families! We left at morning to make our way in, we were 60 miles offshore and gas was running low. We stopped at Elf on the way in and filled the ice chest.




The tuna were busting on top water and we couldn't resist. We left the half way point in hopes to make it home. The starboard motor ran out of gas at the very mouth of the river, but fortunately we had a spare gas tank on board! We made it to Venice at about 3pm on Wednesday and began cleaning the fish.


I made it to my home at 8pm Wed night (37 hours with no sleep). And now it seems like it was a dream!
Permalink Reply by drilltheshale on May 5, 2010 at 8:41
As Louisiana citizen by birth and as a HS mineral owner, I know the value of the oil and gas industry to our state. However, being reminded lately of the safety history of British Petroleum in our country, I wonder about their commitment to safety.

Remember, after the Texas City, Texas, British Petroleum facility explosion which killed 15 workers and injured 170 more, OSHA issued BP the largest fine in the history of the Agency, $21.3 millon, for both "willful" safety violations and "egregious willful safety violations". OSHA also entered into a settlement agreement with BP to require corrective action so this kind of accident would not be repeated.

Four years later in 2009, OSHA fined BP a new record $87.4 million, for 270 instances of violations of that very settlement agreement to correct their problems at the Texas City facility.

Quoting OSHA , "When BP signed the OSHA settlement from the March 2005 explosion, it agreed to take comprehensive action to protect employees. Instead of living up to that commitment, BP has allowed hundreds of potential hazards to continue unabated."

Then there was the 2006 BP Alaskan oil spill from a pipeline they had been warned to inspect 4 years earlier, but hadn't, followed by three more BP pipeline failures in 2008 and 2009.

And now we are here, 11 more workers dead and a slick the size of Delaware and defense of British Petroleum as a company that puts safety first is, well-difficult.
Permalink Reply by Mark on May 6, 2010 at 9:20
If I remember correctly, wasn't this exp well supposed to go to around 30k deep? If so, why is there so much oil coming from it. Or is this just the oil based mud that they use to drill/circulate with. Also, if Hal just completed a cement job 20 hours earlier, where in the world is the oil coming from? All I can say is that we're just seeing the mud percolate upwards out of the riser and 18k ft of hole...
Permalink Reply by Mark on May 6, 2010 at 10:15
thanks
Permalink Reply by The_Baron on May 7, 2010 at 7:26
New BP logo


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