re: Oil Spill and Offshore Fishing (Latest Developments)

Is that link of the outline of the non-fishing area in the Gulf; is this centuries the new Area 51 of a body of water that man needs and could use?

quote:

---

that makes NO SENSE at all. the riser has ZERO to do with the flow of oil.

---

But does it make sense, under these circumstances, because there are kinks in the riser that are restricting the flow?

In the Upstream Online article (linked a couple of pages back) addressing the well control efforts that are under way, they mention removing the riser to add a 2nd BOP to the existing stack. One of the drawbacks of this option is that they suspect the existing annular bag(s) have been eroded. If they remove the riser, they also remove the restriction it has created, which could lead to increased well flow, at least until they get the 2nd BOP in place.

quote:

---

quote:

---

I just found the story of some fisherman who were tied to the rig when things began to go wrong, and witnessed the explosions. It is an amazing story.

---

That story is total bullshite. They would not have been allowed to tie up to the Horizon.

They could have been in the area. The thread that you linked provides a link to another site that is down so I can't read the whole story.

---

I'm getting set to go to work now - but I saved the page to my hard drive...

Here's the gist of it:

quote:

---

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...


(this was a movie - no time to upload now)


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


i can tell you what went wrong too


When the gas started blowing out the side of the rig they turned off the power to prevent electrical spark which would ignite the gas, but when they shut power the generator kicked on and thats all she wrote!

---

May just be scare stuff, but an interesting read, in response to the email that went viral written by some 'engineer with 25 yrs experience' that has been debunked.

I don't vouch for the validity of the matl, and would be interested in any rebuttals or debunking from people who know. 2¢

For inquiring minds: More Here

quote:

---

Oil Deposit Capacity The BP people are not talking, but this well is into a deposit that easily could top 500,000 barrels production per day for 10 or 15 years.

Letting that all go in one blast seems more than foolish. The deposit is one I have known about since 1988. The deposit is very big. The central pressure in the deposit is 165 to 170 thousand PSI.

It contains so much hydrocarbon that you simply cannot imagine it. In published reports, BP estimated a blow out could reach near 200,000 Barrels per day (165,000) They may have estimated a flow rate on a 5 foot pipe. The deposit is well able to surpass this.

The oil industry has knowledge of the deposit more than they admit. The deposit is 100 miles off shore. They are drilling into the edge of the deposit to leak it down gently to be able to produce from the deposit.

The deposit is so large that while I have never heard exact numbers it was described to me to be either the largest or the second largest oil deposit ever found. It is mostly a natural gas deposit.

That is another reason not to blast too willy nilly there. The natural gas that could be released is really way beyond the oil in quantity. It is like 10,000 times the oil in the deposit. It is this deposit that has me reminding people of what the Shell geologist told me about the deposit. This was the quote, "Energy shortage...,

Hell! We are afraid of running out of air to burn." The deposit is very large. It covers an area off shore something like 25,000 square miles. Natural Gas and Oil is leaking out of the deposit as far inland as Central Alabama and way over into Florida and even over to Louisiana almost as far as Texas. This is a really massive deposit.

Punching holes in the deposit is a really scary event as we are now seeing. Rig and Pipe Info The pipe is a fairly rigid pipe and sticks up out of the Blow out prevention device for some distance before it bends over and kinks off. The distance is not long but is enough to do what I suggested.

Explosive forming of metals is a standard technology and under water it is easier. The charge focuses very predictably. Imaging a long straw that is 1 mile long and has kinked over in several locations. This is about what you have. I have seen the submarine photos from early on.


Just a really big straw. It has about a 1.5 or 2 foot diameter drill pipe in the center with about a 10 inch hole down the center. I am not exactly sure on the drill pipe size. The casing here is very thick steel. It has to handle massive pressures.

The rig is quite some distance away from the well. It may be a 1/4 mile or more away. It sort of bent over and then kinked the pipe as it went down. I guess the size here sort of bends the imagination. This rig has a deck area of about 3 to 4 acres. It had a crew quarters on board that had about 120 people in it. (Imagine a big hotel here.) The hotel on the rig was about 4 stories high.

You just cannot imagine until you see these rigs how big they are. If you want to see one go to Mobile Bay. Gulf High Island 2 and other rigs in the area can be seen clearly for 90 miles from Pensacola Florida.

The towers go up 1100 feet. You can take the ferry right between two rigs if you go from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island. There is no comparison to these rig anywhere in the world. They are the biggest ever built bar none.

---

quote:

---

this riser IS kinked dup

---

the riser WAS kinked


i've been studying a lot lately and i've missed a lot sorry

quote:

---

The BP people are not talking, but this well is into a deposit that easily could top 500,000 barrels production per day for 10 or 15 years.

---

Horse shite. Initial word on this discovery was estimated ultimate recovery in the tens of millions of barrells which is reasonable for a deepwater field. 2 billion barrels recoverable from a field that has peak production for 10 to 15 years is not reasonable.

quote:

---

that makes NO SENSE at all. the riser has ZERO to do with the flow of oil

---

Yeah, I questioned it when I read/heard it. I don't recall exactly where I got that from, but I know it was something I read online.

I haven't seen logs to know what type of flow is expected in that field, but that figure, and that info, didn't seem right.

quote:

---

riser jts. do not kink.

---

I'm not trying to argue with you. There's no doubt that you are one of, if not the most, dialed-in guy on this thread. And evn if you're not, your ~12 years as a Driller trumps my one summer (25 years ago!) as a Sample Catcher.

However, I thought that I heard or read, from BP statements, that the "three" leaks (which are actually one stream through the BOP) are at two kniks in the riser and through the broken end of the riser. Some have suggested that these "kinks" are serving as choke points and somewhat restricting the flow.

quote:

---

May just be scare stuff, but an interesting read, in response to the email that went viral written by some 'engineer with 25 yrs experience' that has been debunked.

I don't vouch for the validity of the matl, and would be interested in any rebuttals or debunking from people who know. 2¢

---

I would say its highly likely that the "information" in that email is complete bullshite.

quote:

---

the record used to be the shell mars spar which produced 225,000 in 24 hrs. that was a few years back. maybe someone else now. but, it aint 500,000 barrels.

---

I think Tahiti Spar broke the record last summer if im not mistaken