Gulf coast oil spill

[tw]

Originally Posted by Flickster

Latest report I'm seeing from the AP, the blame is being placed on a bubble of methane, which could also point to some issues with the cementing process.

This problem occurred (apparently) due to heating of that cement - the curing process.

Ironically, nine BP executives were on the rig when the explosion ripped into the party room. They were celebrating the rig's extraordinary safety record.

Too many things failed simultaneously. The process should have been monitored by those doing the cementing. Alarms should have gone off. They didn't. Chains of safety systems - altogether called a blow out preventer - did not work. Robots could not turn off valves manually. And BP quietly admitted that the leak may be 10 times larger than 5000 barrels per day. That means nothing even partially cut off the flow.

Well, the dome has failed. Hydrates are freezing - clogging the pipe. At that depth, even methane is at near freezing points. A complicated thermodynamic problem.