Gulf coast oil spill

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yeah, you seemed to be up on the subject. Thanks for the information.
BP is responsible, but I think it's Haliburton's fault, from what I've read.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Flickster

My assumption is that these are temporary solutions

... which means three months and not during periods of extreme weather. Let's see. When does hurricane season start?

Well, BP who originally put the spill at 1000 gallons per day now estimates the number may be ten times higher than their latest numbers - 200,000 gallons per day.

Oh. And Haliburton refuses to testify before Congress. Blackwater was a division of Haliburton.

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Yeah, you seemed to be up on the subject. Thanks for the information.
BP is responsible, but I think it's Haliburton's fault, from what I've read.

The well completion process, including the cementing, performed in this case by Haliburton, is way beyond my realm of associated knowledge. I too have read that theory, but at this point it's only a theory. Another is that the pressure buildup was not detected, or went unnoticed, by the operator.

My hope is that when this as all said and done, they are able to determine exactly what went wrong and use that information to prevent this from ever happening again.

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by tw

... which means three months and not during periods of extreme weather. Let's see. When does hurricane season start?

Well, BP who originally put the spill at 1000 gallons per day now estimates the number may be ten times higher than their latest numbers - 200,000 gallons per day.

Oh. And Haliburton refuses to testify before Congress. Blackwater was a division of Haliburton.

To my knowledge there has not been a Congressional investigation regarding this spill. At this point I think there are still far too many questions as to what happened.

An investigation of what happened after the explosion could advance, but Haliburton was not included in those activities.

As for hurricane season....your point is? Not sure how surface conditions affect conditions 5,000 feet below. As for any surface activity, rigs ride out storms all the time. They do evacuate during severe storms, but the rig remains in place.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Flickster

To my knowledge there has not been a Congressional investigation regarding this spill.

I should have said Federal investigation - not Congressional.

Cementing is a process where the cement must be carefully measured, mixed, and inserted. If cement remains, then a serious and dangerous problem exists. Not known is what Haliburton is supposed to do next.

Apparently the explosion happened two hours after Haliburton applied their cement. Since Haliburton is not talking, almost nothing about the cement process is known.

Alarms should sound if a blowout is detected. None did. Question as to whether those alarms were disabled or if Haliburton did something to subvert alarms and the Blow Out Protector are unknown.

Rig only does something if connected to a ship. No ship means oils flows uncollected. Storms such as last week means a ship may not be able to remain connected.

[Flickster]

Originally Posted by tw

I should have said Federal investigation - not Congressional.

Cementing is a process where the cement must be carefully measured, mixed, and inserted. If cement remains, then a serious and dangerous problem exists. Not known is what Haliburton is supposed to do next.

Apparently the explosion happened two hours after Haliburton applied their cement. Since Haliburton is not talking, almost nothing about the cement process is known.

Alarms should sound if a blowout is detected. None did. Question as to whether those alarms were disabled or if Haliburton did something to subvert alarms and the Blow Out Protector are unknown.

Rig only does something if connected to a ship. No ship means oils flows uncollected. Storms such as last week means a ship may not be able to remain connected.

There are many different types of rigs and surface processing vessels. From what I'm reading on the spill containment/capture, this will go directly to a surface processing vessel, where the oil & water will be separated. My guess would be an FPSO or the like.

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.

[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.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Yeah, you seemed to be up on the subject. Thanks for the information.
BP is responsible, but I think it's Haliburton's fault, from what I've read.

No, no, no.... blame it on Bush.

[tw]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

No, no, no.... blame it on Bush.

So rally up the tea partiers and burn down the country. Extremists will find enemies hiding everywhere.

Clearly it was bin Laden. But since Bush protected bin Laden, we must blame someone else. I hear Nessy left the Loch now that Conservatives were taking over the government. Clearly we should blame it on a foreigner – even if it is not human.

[tw]

Lies, lies, and more lies. And finally we are hearing what investigators have been confronting.

How much oil was flowing into the Gulf? From video, BP would have known this all along. That 18 inch diameter pipe was always flowing full open. Just from the video, BP knew oil flow was easily 200,000 gallons per day - probably more. BP hid this fact even when the White House demanded to know the numbers. BP made early statements such as 1000 gallons hoping that (for example) robot submarines would cut off the oil before we knew how extreme it was. Public image - to even deny to the White House the impending disaster - was more important.

The White House even demanded those videos. BP openly refused. BP would have known oil flow was maximum by simply measuring how quickly that massive oil cap 'filled'. And still BP would not admit the severity of that failure. Instead, only quietly admitting to the White House that the flow was probably worse than they had said - when BP already knew the numbers were worse.

BP told federal authorities that BP had plans for such 'accidents'. As the cap demonstrated, BP had no plans - no contingencies. BP built the cap from scratch without every having even tested this solution. Therefore BP did not even know about thermodynamic problems that would cause that cap to fail. BP did no plannnig for such leaks - another lie to federal authorities.

We now know that BP knew the blowout preventer had failed hours before an explosion occurred. Previous tests (including a negative pressure test) failed.

Worse, is the state of that blowout preventer. At least one critical hydraulic line was not tightened. Apparently one nut was many turns too loose. So hydraulic fluids, essential to prevent a blowout, could not flow.

Also in this safety device are two controllers for dead man operation. If nothing else worked, these electronics devices would initiate a safety cut off on their own. One controller was removed. Its battery was dead. That is typical when (due to problems directly traceable in management) basic maintenance is not performed. Why management is responsible for creating check lists and other procedures so that humans do not make mistakes.

Another system in the BOP would crush the pipe. Apparently the BOP did not have sufficient strength to crush that type of pipe. These kind of mistakes are not even close to being called an accident.

BP's knowledge for addressing this problem was so minimal that even Exxon had to teach BP that disperants should be applied directly into the well. Until informed by Exxon, BP did not even know this. So much for those existing plans that BP claimed to have.

Unknown is why this blow out occurred. However testimony from a support ship (asked to remain on scene due to unknown problems) observed a massive mud flow long before any explosion. So much mud as to pour from the rig's deck. Crews obviously knew long in advance that a problem existed. More than sufficient time to activate the blowout preventer. Eventually, mud was followed by a massive gas bubble (probably methane) that eventually filled rooms where the gas found ignition sources - exploded.

Unknown how long the blowout was ongoing before the entire rig eventually exploded. But this we do know. Crews knew for a serious problem existed with plenty of time to avert the disaster - if the so many safety systems worked. The ship that was asked to standby rescued all survivors - 115 of the 126 that were on that rig.

Every critical safety system on that BOP apparently was defective. BP knew long ago that they had bad wiring, a pressure problem, and that the BOP that had already failed a negative pressure test. All facts that BP would not admit to until Congress forced them to give up the documents.

We do not even know who asked that ship to standby - or why.

Meanwhile, we also know oil booms to contain oil are mostly for show. Those booms do nothing except in the most calm waters. Over three weeks later, we only only beginning to learn how much they knew - and did not want us to know.

Like Three Mile Island, the Challenger, and the Columbia - all failures directly traceable to multiple failures in top management. Lies, lies, and more lies from BP make this failure that much more suspicious.

Who technically failed to do their jobs? Halliburton? The BOP manufacturer? We do not yet know. What we do know is that BP has been lying repeatedly. That casts major suspicions on BP's topmost executives - whose actions would also explain the massive refinerary explosion in Texas and the Alaska pipeline failure directly traceable to maintenance that BP was paid to perform - and did not perform.

BP that called itself 'Beyond Petroleum' in an advertising campaign to promote itself as a 'green' company is also a boldface lying company - according to facts that were finally released.

[xoxoxoBruce]

We do not even know who asked that ship to standby - or why.

Maybe because there was some BP big shots on the rig for a party? They escaped, but at least one was injured in the explosion.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Maybe because there was some BP big shots on the rig for a party? They escaped, but at least one was injured in the explosion.

That seems likely. Didn't the blowout valve fail a pressure test that morning? I wonder if they didn't put on the show the big hats wanted despite the potential problem.

[classicman]

BP: Big Fines, Good News
Brian Wingfield 10.25.07

It's been rough few years for BP. Allegations of illegal propane trading. Massive oil spills in Alaska. A deadly explosion at a Texas refinery. All this since 2003. Such catastrophes would cripple or kill most companies.

In an effort to wipe the slate clean and return to the business of making money - which it seems to do very well - the London-based oil and gas giant agreed Thursday to:

*pay $373 million in fines and restitution for violating U.S. environmental laws and defrauding customers through manipulation of energy markets. In addition,
*four of its former traders were charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiring to corner the propane market.

*The company must pay must pay $50 million for a March 2005 explosion at the company's Texas City refinery that killed 15 contractors and injured more than 170 others.

The fine is part of BP's penalty for pleading guilty to violating the Clean Air Act when it failed to keep dangerous gases from being released at the refinery. The fine--the largest ever assessed under this particular environmental law--comes with a three year probationary period. BP will pay:

*$12 million in criminal fines, as well as
*$4 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and
*$4 million to the state of Alaska, for violating the Clean Water Act and for its criminal liability due to crude oil leaks from its pipelines in 2006. The fines in this case are part of a separate guilty plea by BP.

Finally, the company agreed to pay:
*$100 million criminal penalty fee, plus
*$25 million to the U.S. Postal Inspection Consumer Fraud Fund,
as well as a
*$125 million civil penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission so the company can defer prosecution in an Illinois court for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud.

And if that weren't enough, the company must pay
*$53 million to victims of its propane trading scheme
the largest manipulation settlement in the history of the CFTC.

"These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law," said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone, in a statement. "For that, we apologize."

BP's recent run-ins with the law began more than four years ago, when propane traders tried to sell the fuel at an artificially high price in 2003 and 2004. The refinery explosion the following year was the next blow for the company. But in March 2006 came the biggest PR disaster of all: a 200,000-gallon oil spill onto an Alaskan tundra and frozen lake, the biggest in the history of the state's North Slope. Five months later, a 1,000 gallon oil leak exposed further negligence of BP's pipelines.

Sounds like quite a drubbing for any company to take. And BP has already coughed up at least $1.6 billion to compensate the victims of the explosion, the company says.

Link

A link with some of BP's history and its fines/penalties.

BP had just come off probation in 2008.

**Note the date of this article...(top of the page)

[xoxoxoBruce]

And it looks like drumroll

[classicman]

But the date says 11/05/2010????