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The federal government has ordered private company BP to unseal the cap on the Macondo well because of worries of underground leakage of oil that could grow into a bigger problem, but BP has refused to remove the cap, which would cause more oil to flow into the Gulf.
BP over the weekend denied that there was any leaking from the seabed. But the government wants to release pressure on the well, which has been capped but not sealed, by bringing oil to the surface. The pressure readings on the well fell below expectations, which led to concerns about leaks elsewhere in the wellbore. You have a situation where the same data could lead to fundamentally different conclusions, with BP’s “experts” erring on the side of not spilling any more oil (every barrel of which costs them more money in fines and penalties) and the government erring on the side of fixing the problem for good (and capping at this point could prove counter-productive in the long run). This PR dude describes the problem well:
“I can see why they’re pushing for keeping the cap on and shut in until the relief well is in place,” said Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas-based public relations firm.
The government wants to eliminate any chance of making matters worse, while BP is loath to lose the momentum it gained the moment it finally halted the leak, Keeney said.
“They want to project being on the same team, but they have different end results that benefit each,” he said.
The Washington Post has quite a bit more, including a letter to BP from incident commander Adm. Thad Allen, indicating that the government has detected well seepage and “undetermined anomalies at the well head.” But rather than demand a lifting of the cap, Allen told BP to continue their study and provide a immediate reports on any seepage identified.
IANAE (I am not an engineer), but I’m getting a little uneasy since the goals of BP and the government diverge.
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shorter Adm Allen
Please sir, may I have another ?
IANAE either, but I’ve done quite a bit of reading of engineers and the like over on The Oil Drum, and most folks there don’t seem to think that the casing has sufficient integrity to hold if the well is capped. In fact, quite a few of them have been saying this (or words to the same effect) for around a month or so. Seems they think that the oil coming out of the well has an abrasive nature to it, and with the pressure behind it, it would act much like a sand blaster or pressure cutter and would wear holes in the casing quite rapidly.
There is also quite a bit of disparity over there about when/if any “seepage” may appear on the surface (such as it is) of the gulf floor, and that a single point of leakage down-hole could appear in many locations on the gulf’s floor and could take an extended time to appear if it ever makes it through the layers to the floor, and several other thoughts (too many/complex for me to wade through them all).
The point I’m trying to get at is that there is not much consensus on how seepage would appear (if at all) other than lower than expected pressures at the cap, but there does seem to be a pretty big consensus that casing integrity is suspect or assumed to be bad.
There’s much better coverage of this here: http://dailyhurricane.com/author/eljefebob/
The abrupt halt of the top kill operation is what tipped-off my drill rig boss friend that the well casing was damaged. That was many weeks ago. In fact, he insisted that the pressure readings prior to to loss of Deep Water Horizon indicated that there was something wrong with the casing BEFORE the explosion.
I’m cunfused why there is not a pipe hooked up to this thing feeding a parade of tankers. What could possibly be the problem with that.
Can anyone help me understand why BP and the government are saying it will take three days of oil flowing freely again to hook up the collection system for them to pipe the oil to recovery ships? Doesn’t it seem like they should just be able to hook up to the cap with the valves closed and then open the valves? They could probably pre-load the collection system with mud or something like that to ease the release of pressure. At most, it seems to me they should have to dump a couple of equivalents of the volume of the collection lines before everything is collected.
is that Robert Cavner’s place ? he’s been questioning well bore integrity since early June.
Yes, that’s the place. Very interesting observations about the gamesmanship going on.
Here’s Matt Simmons from Friday.
He was on with Dylan Ratigan on Thursday warning about the possibility of Methane making things worse, mortally so.
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews…tt_Simmons.html
He has endured whithering criticism by being consistantly correct in his observations. Since he started to warn about methane on Thursday and the President obliquely referenced ‘problems’ on Friday I think there is something to it.
This is around 10 minutes long and worth the time to listen.
Pass it on if you are inclined.
BP wants that cap on there cause it’s stock went up so drastically when it seemed to work.
Now if there’s a floorbed blowout they can maybe not take the responsibility for it.
I think all this clearly demonstrates how little actual power over things our government has anymore.
Many speculate that keeping the cap in place allows BP to avoid an accurate measurement of the flow rate that could ultimately increase the amount of their fines.
I wonder whether, in addition to that reason which would be much in character for them, they also want to provide an artificial starting time for floor seeps that they might have known about from the beginning but have been covering up, as well as a nice, we’re-trying-to-be-green corporate reason for doing the thing that could trigger the biggest problem.
From the start, their frantic prevarication and defiance have suggested someone who’s got something even bigger to hide than what we already could see at the time, and with any problem with the sea floor or the integrity of the oil chamber I think we’d finally be getting to it.
Link doesn’t work
I have to admit I’m glad the goals of the government and BP are diverging, as I was starting to think the government was a wholly owned subsidiary of BP.
It’s my understanding that 11 men died because of BP’s reckless and sloppy procedures at Deepwater Horizon. When can I look forward to charges of murder being filed?
I had trouble with the url. Perhaps this one will work better.
“I’m cunfused why there is not a pipe hooked up to this thing feeding a parade of tankers. What could possibly be the problem with that?”
The reason is that BP is doing anything it can to mitigate its losses and screw the rest. I think it comes down to two reasons: one, that if the oil was allowed to flow to collection vessels a very accurate figure of well output would then be gained. This would mean potentially a huge increase in their EPA fine. If BP can argue for a low ball estimate that alone could play out in court for years thus delaying any substantial liability payouts. Second, any additional oil that leaks at this point will cost them more money in the form of more fines as well. My hunch is thet do not want the output figure to be accurately measured. That could be a disaster for them financially. I think they are ignoring best practices and sound science and going with saving a buck. Which is exactly how they got into this mess. Can we expect them to behave any differently now? BP has shown it is willing to take any risk whatsoever. Seems to be a company thing.
But Obama is too much of a free-market guy who believes that government should always be subservient to corporations, whether they are criminals or not. So he’ll never demand that the criminals at BP take orders from Uncle Sam, just as he never demanded that any of the banking criminals take orders from Uncle Sam, either.
So this is the Obama admin showing their lack of leadership again. This is just like with Corexit where the Obama admin ordered BP to stop using it. BP said “No” and then BP got their way, so Corexit is still being used to this day. Now every major corporation knows they can boss the Obama administration around – even during a severe disaster, the Obama administration will be the corporate poddle led around on a leash and made to do tricks.
Lookit this:
BP signs major offshore gas deal with Egypt
Are they nuts?
BP defies our government (again!) and they sulk away with their tail between the legs.
It just makes me sick.
Banks on the dole to the tune of the entire Social Security Fund.
Blue Texan’s regularly scheduled post is up: Sarah Palin Assaults Religious Tolerance, English Language — Then Compares Herself to Shakespeare
Yup. I am also increasingly bothered by the fact that reporters are not being allowed unrestricted access. Automatic red flag…but that’s just me…
So the bottom line is, as so many posters and commentators have so eloquently pointed out, BastardPetrol does not give a god damn about the Gulf or the planet, or people’s lives! Their bottom line is the almighty and ever powerful dollar. All this is and has been just smoke and mirrors, and a good portion of our country’s leadership has carried their water for way too long! Useless kabuki players!
We need a good size army of citizens to do a seize and detest to the travesties these immoral asswads have perpetrated upon the Gulf, and everything in it and around it…but even with the valid possibility of a biblical proportioned cataclysmic event still awaiting the sea floor, we have spent close to 3 months, chit-chattering about it.
Bottom line #2: What if it turns out the worst indicators for a larger disaster are within the providence of Mother Earth simply exercising a ‘fuck you’ to us all! Will we still be chit-chatting about it when the sky is raining poison?
This is god damn British Petroleum, not Americo Petroleum. It is like some total stranger from god knows where, coming into your home, and shitting in all your beds, and then robbing your wallet, and warning you: “if you go within 10 feet of your bed, we will arrest you.” Degenerate asswads!
my earlier link for the matt simmons interview broke here it is again
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2010/7/17_Matt_Simmons.html
Here is the Ratigan interview from Thursday.
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/msnbc-july-15-matt-simmons-says-bp-covering-up-massive-hole-miles-away-cap-test-is-absurd
If “they” refers to the government of Egypt under the assumption that there is a concern for harming their people, probably.
If “they” refers to a company that may be “forced” to either sell off assets or pull out of North American markets then the answer is almost certainly not any more than any other company that worships at the temple of mammon.
My biggest concern about Matt Simmons is his endorsement of using a nuke to close the hole. Based on what nuclear experts and oil field experts are saying, a nuke is not the safe solution he claims, and is much more likely to rip the top off the deposit than generate fusion appropriate to close the blowout.
It seems to me from what I’ve read that detonating a nuke in the vicinity of the blowout (or down the bore) is going to be much more like smacking a sheet of glass with a sledgehammer than anything else.
The country, the country. I already know BP is nuts
I agree with you about the nuke, everything I’ve read cautioned about the fractures in the seafloor. Given Haiti, the tectonics in the region might send up some flags about nuking as well
an update on methane.
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/methane-escaping-at-the-surface-is-bubbling-through-the-strata-says-oil-expert-nieuwenhuise-on-cnn-at-120pm-video
It seems to me we are confronting the reality that man has tapped into something that can kill a portion of the hemisphere and nobody has a effing notion of what to do to prevent it. My guess is Allen and the Nobel Prize winners know no more than BP engineers. It’s a crap shoot.
From today’s links post at nakedcapitalism, some background writeups on geology, oil exploration, and drilling.
The abdication of power by the government is by choice. Easy to remedy if the will is there.
This is the most naked example of the consequences of government ceding not only its powers but its responsibilities to for profit, even foreign, corporations. This could be a very powerful meme for liberals and progressives to take into political activism.
Also, it is ironic that this government has no reluctance to criminalize failure to buy health insurance, force schools to close or fire teachers and principals, extra-judicial assassinations etc., yet bends to the wishes of for profit business.
I recall the segment. Ratigan looks a little rattles as the guest via phone as I recall mentioned “extinction event!” Matt Simmons was pissed and disgusted. Great link and do pass it on! Been waiting for the dribs and drabs of info to come forward to confirm Simmons scary assertions!
From Common Dreams:
Published on Monday, July 19, 2010 by the Associated Press
Developing: Oil, Gas Leaking From BP’s Oil Cap
WASHINGTON – Oil and gas are leaking from the cap on BP’s ruptured oil well, but federal officials intend to leave the cork in place for now. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says Monday afternoon that the leaks are so far not a major concern.