Oil spill from rig explosion getting bigger by the day. Bigger than Valdez?

[mungkiman]

I think you mean 210,000 gallons, which is equal to about 5,000 barrels a day.

This would mean (at the current rate) that it would take about 50 days to equal Valdez.What is it now, 11 days?

[JL Sargent]

Yeah, your right mungkiman. I just removed that part of my post. The news on this thing not getting any better. I'm really concerned about it.

[mungkiman]

I did the same thing yesterday. One report I watched was using barrels, and another was using gallons. The "gallons" report was an update, so I immediately thought the situation had gotten much worse. It was a BP rep using barrels, and reporters/newscasters using gallons. Go figure.

[Saturn5]

Additionally, they believe this was deliberate in order to convince the president to reverse his decision to increase domestic drilling in the gulf region.

I've read that Obama has put a moratorium on new off shore oil leases.

Other updates have said they've lost the well head, and that's not something they've had to deal with before. Normally, this type of disaster wouldn't have been a big deal - from an oil spill perspective. We lot many platforms when Katrina and Rita hit, but no major spills because the well heads did their job and shut off the flow.

Now they're saying if it reaches the Gulf Stream, it could wind it's way around to the East Coast. I think this is going to end up making Valez look like a drop in the bucket before it's over.

[seti]

Sad.

[picky]

Agreed. This is going to be (already is) an environmental disaster of epic proportions. - Glenn

[JL Sargent]

Hans has some interesting thoughts about this spill:

"Hans Graber, executive director of the
university’s Center for

Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing, said Saturday that

the spill is moving faster and expanding much quicker than

estimated.

Graber says the size of the slick was about 1,150 square miles

on Thursday. By the end of Friday, he says it had tripled to about

3,850 square miles.

Graber says estimates of only 1,000 barrels spilling a day seem

to be more public relations than anything accurate."

[oldtimer]

Drill baby drill. Except regulate the way the rest of the world does and this would not have happened. Oh wait I forgot, get big government out of our lives, unless an oil spill is headed our way, or illegal immigrants are crossing our borders. Otherwise, just oppose anything that makes sense, unless of course there is a crisis.

[rockhound]

If you want to know what happened listen to this. Being an oilfield worker myself the event is tragic but mother nature sometimes puts us in our place from time to time.

http://www.marklevinshow.com/article.asp?id=1790422

[JL Sargent]

We now have a 100 ton big box headed towards the gushing 5000 ft deep well head. Is this gonna work?

[mungkiman]

I hope so, but my guess is NO.

As long as they don't shear off the wellhead, and exacerbate the problem, it's worth a try...

[JL Sargent]

In todays news:

"COVINGTON, La. (AP) — The dire impact of the
massive Gulf spill was apparent Sunday on oil-soaked islands where
pelicans nest as several of the birds splashed in the water and preened
themselves, apparently trying to clean crude from their feet and wings.

Pelican eggs were glazed with rust-colored gunk
in the bird colony, with thick globs floating on top of the water."

This thing continues to gush thousands of gallons of oil into the gulf every day. What a tragedy!

[JJkizak]

BP is a relatively inert company meaning you have to sqeeze them by the you know whats to get them to do anything. The safety procedures were ignored to get the job done quicker. The blow-out preventer was inoperative caused by a previous seal roach due to pulling the drilling pipe through the seal when it was activated. One side of the hydraulic system on the blow out preventer was inoperative. What the hell guys go go go go go go faster faster faster. Oh what the hell is a little oil spill anyway.

JJK

[Islander]

Here in Canada, a relief well is required before oil extraction can commence, but BP has asked if they could be allowed to drill the relief well a year later, since it's really expensive to drill two wells in the same short season in the Arctic. So far, our government says, "Nice try, follow the rules like everybody else."

Adding to it is that the Arctic Ocean would take much longer to recover from a spill than the warm waters of the Caribbean, probably several times longer.

[JohnA]

The pressure at 5000 feet deep is 2230 psi. The pressure in the oil pocket exceeds that by a large margin to flow that fast.

[Boxx]

I never thought that I would agree with James Carville, but I do regarding this mess...

[CECAA850]

I've just read where BP's reporting that they've stopped the flow of oil. I hope that's true. Let the cleanup and the litigation begin!

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/default.aspx?feat=1762595

[Islander]

CBC science host explains some details of the "top kill" effort:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?category=News&zone=world&site=cbc.news.ca&clipid=1505151952

CBC video with brief "top kill" animation:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?category=News&zone=world&site=cbc.news.ca&clipid=1505144961

Live video feed from one of the ROVs:
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

[JL Sargent]

Thanks for those Islander. It seems that the gulf has already suffered immeasureable damage. Any good news at this point is surely tempered.

[Islander]

UPDATE: there's some action on the feed. The ROV is moving around and you can see some gauges and other hardware. Now I see a manipulator arm. Looks like progress.