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  • Current Events & Politics Moderators: deficiT | tryptakid | Foreigner

Disaster looms as oil slick reaches US coast

^^I've only heard about them in the main stream media and on some of these internet news sites. I can't find anything "official" either. However, considering what seems to me to be a full on media blackout, I wouldn't expect to find any said reports. What's going on down there is all very murky..pun intended.
 
What's more plausible: Matt Simmons (or someone close to him) misunderstanding or mishearing something? Then the 24 hour news cycle picking up his misunderstanding and never verifying that it came from NOAA?

Or NOAA reporting on a fissure releasing oil 5-7 miles away, no reporter or news outlet is paying attention to NOAA or any reports of the oil spill, except for Matt Simmons, who reports it, and it's repeated verbatim? Then an uberelite squad of government cyber ninjas come along, and wipe out all traces of the article from the interweb tubes and search engines?

Yah, I'm going to have to go with Occam's razor here.

I'm guessing that someone screwed up reports about natural fissures that release oil, or perhaps a leak 5-7 meters (not miles) away from the wellhead, or something like that.
 
isn't the end of this year when the relief wells will finally be done?

that's what i'm hedging my bet on - because the relief wells are probably the only thing that will for sure do anything major to stop the leak.
 
Something fishy is going on though I think. That cap they just put on to temporarily stop the leak is running into all kinds of problems related to the relief well being so close.

A) How could they not have foreseen the potential problems?

B) Why even bother with this cap that was obviously going to cause more problems when the relief well is so close to its target?

They've been pretty tight-lipped about the cap and its issues for the past few days which makes me think something else might be going on.
 
now this is just ridiculous guys

U.S. Senators renewed efforts Tuesday to begin an investigation into whether BP Plc (BP) played a role in the release of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

The lawmakers question whether BP encouraged al-Megrahi's release to help seal a deal with the Libyan government in terms of securing an oil contract in 2007.

Al-Megrahi was the only man convicted for taking part in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on December 21, 1988. He was released by the Scottish government in August 2009 as a compassionate gesture given his failing health. The bombing killed 270 people, including 189 Americans.

"Reports have surfaced indicating that a 2007 oil agreement may have influenced the U.K. and Scottish governments' positions concerning Mr. Megrahi's release in 2009," Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said in a letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and Ranking Member Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
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link
 
Jamshyd said:
Corporate capitalism tends to lack foresight. Sustainability is compromised at the glimmer of immediate wealth.
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True. In this case though I think the only thing they're concerned about is getting the leak stopped and managing public expectations of when that will happen. I can't believe they'd rush into anything or overlook anything at this point in time.
 
They're starting the integrity test on the cap right now by completely closing all the hatches. We'll know within the next 6 to 48 hours if it's strong enough to contain 100% of the spill until the relief well gets to it.
 
Source

Oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from a leaking well, BP PLC said Thursday afternoon, as the company closed off valves in a new cap.

The process was part of a test to determine whether the cap can stem the flow of oil into the sea. The test will last at least six hours and could last up to two days, BP said, before it can be sure that the cap will successfully hold in the oil.


"Even if no oil is released during the test, this will not be an indication that oil and gas flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped," BP said.

The test began Thursday afternoon after a delay Wednesday night while the company fixed a leak in a choke line, a piece of tubing that was attached to the cap, which was placed on the well in the last week, Senior Vice President Kent Wells said.



The new cap is designed to either entirely shut in the well or at least increase the amount of oil that can be captured from the well.

However, before BP can decide whether or not it can use the cap to seal the well, it must perform an integrity test.

As the test starts, engineers and scientists will closely watch the pressure levels inside the cap. If in the first three hours, results show low pressure readings the tests will stop, said retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is leading the federal response effort. BP would then be forced to put in place a system of four different lines that would funnel oil and natural gas up to four different ships on the surface of the sea,

If the cap shows high pressure readings for up to 48 hours, spill responders would then perform seismic testing to check the integrity of the well test before deciding whether the cap can shut in the well, he said.

The company and government are ultimately relying on the completion of a relief well, which has been delayed a "couple of days," by the tests, Mr. Wells said. BP has said the relief well could be finished by the end of July, while the government estimates it will be completed in August.

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No matter the determination on the well's fitness, BP said the cap's installation was an important step for spill responders working to prepare for an expected busy hurricane season. The new cap can allow containment vessels to more quickly disconnect from the system and flee a storm.

For the past several weeks, a more loosely fitting cap and the Q4000 system have managed to keep up to about 25,000 barrels of oil a day out of the Gulf.

The new sealing cap system, plus additional measures, could allow the recovery of 60,000 barrels to 80,000 barrels by the end of the month, BP has said.

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Meanwhile, the Obama administration said Thursday that BP must pay royalties on oil and gas collected from the broken well, and will also be liable for royalties on lost or wasted oil if it is determined that negligence or regulatory violations contributed to the spill.

Michael Bromwich, the new head of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement notified BP of its liability in a July 15 letter. The letter was described in a statement distributed by the Interior Department.

BP couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Also on Thursday, the manager of a $20 billion fund that BP has created to pay for losses caused by the spill said the fund would start making payments in early August.

Ken Feinberg, who is in charge of paying individuals and businesses for lost income, told a meeting of government officials in Louisiana on Thursday that he expected a seamless transition from BP management to his administration.

—Siobhan Hughes and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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