Posted on 04/23/2010 10:05:06 AM PDT by Hunton Peck
NEW ORLEANS – No oil appeared to be leaking after a drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said Friday, though officials were trying to contain what spilled from the blast and prevent any threat to the coast's fragile ecosystem.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
obligatory "fragile"...
Well that by far is the best news to come out of this catastrophe.
Good news. Looks like some automatic shutoff devices worked.
But it was reported that billions of deciliters were spilled! (/sarcasm)
The best news is that it wasn’t “Mars” that asploded .. we’d have $4 gas by now with that news.
I heard a couple of boneheaded Ken and Barbie news “anchors” yesterday declare this an “environmental catastrophe”. They sure are going to be disappointed.
the libterds are probably cursing under their breath that we avoided another oil spill. What a missed opportunity for them!
This is really going to disappoint the envirowackos.
I hope this is a real eye opener for some people.
Some good news from a very tragic situation.
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=280471
Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O’Berry told The Associated Press that according to their internal reports, the first blast was reported at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Three hours later, the rig sent an emergency signal that’s “like a panic button,” he said.
At the same time, a nearby rig called to report the Deepwater Horizon was engulfed in flames, O’Berry said. The rig did not ask for help during the initial call, but the Coast Guard sent crews after the emergency signal came.
This was a drilling platform, not production. One report said it had millions of gallons of diesel fuel onboard, my guess is for station-keeping. A report said it was pumping about 8000 barrels a day out of a well it was drilling.
So I don’t think there was ever a question of an OIL spill. It was the diesel fuel from the rig, and apparently they now know the fuel isn’t leaking, which is good news.
The news articles were very poorly written, so I could be wrong, but this is what I gleaned from reading multiple stories and connecting the dots.
I believe it is nearly impossible to get an oil leak from a derrick offshore, because they have connectors at the bottom of the shaft that will close down the flow if contact is lost. (again, this is what I gleen from stories I’ve read on the internet).
Meanwhile Transocean Ltd. is out about $1B (estimate, since the article neglects to quote how much the oil rig costs.) Wonder who the insurance underwriter is? That's got to leave a mark on the bottomline.
Seems the Democrat vultures are already circling.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson called for a congressional investigation of safety practices at offshore oil rigs. Nelson, a Democrat who has led opposition to offshore drilling, said he asked the U.S. Interior Department to investigate and provide a comprehensive report on all U.S. drilling accidents over at least the last decade.
"The tragedy off the coast of Louisiana shows we need to be asking a lot more tough questions of big oil," Nelson said. "I think we need to look back over 10 years or so to see if the record denies the industry's claims about safety and technology."
I pray for the families of those injured and lost.
The well was leaking oil. The Blowout Preventers did not work as they should have immediately.
U.S. Coast Guard: Oil Flows Successfully Halted
http://rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=91526
The U.S. Coast Guard reported Friday that oil no longer appears to be flowing from the Macondo well head in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where the Deepwater Horizon sank in approximately 5,000 feet of water on April 22.
Following the rig’s collapse, a one-mile by five-mile slick had settled on the surface, according to the Coast Guard’s update Thursday. There reportedly were 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of diesel fuel onboard the massive rig.
“From what we have observed yesterday and through the night, we are not seeing any signs of release of crude in the subsurface area. However we remain in a ‘ready to respond’ mode and are working in a collaborative effort with BP, the responsible party, to prepare for a worst-case scenario,” Rear Admiral Mary Landry, commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District, stated early Friday morning.
The Coast Guard continues to search for the 11 missing crewmembers; since the search began, the Coast Guard has surveyed more than 3,402 square miles. Seventeen workers were injured in the explosion, which occurred late Tuesday.
“Our deepest prayers and sympathy go out to the families of the 11 missing workers as we continue in this phase of the Search and Rescue case. While 115 workers have been successfully saved, our focus is on the 11 missing workers and we realize that with every hour that passes the chance of survivability decreases. At this time we continue to actively search for survivors, prepare to respond to potential pollution, assess potential salvage options for the MODU Deepwater Horizon, and continue with our marine casualty investigation,” Landry said Friday.
According to BP, the company launched an extensive oil spill response at the location following the subsequent sinking of the drilling rig. The British oil major has been assessing the well site and subsea blow out preventer utilizing remotely operated vehicles.
Additionally, the GSF Development Driller III or the Discoverer Enterprise, both currently under contract to BP, could be used to drill a relief well should it be necessary.
Specifically, BP mobilized 32 spill response vessels, including a large storage barge, as well as deployed resources comprising skimming capacity of more than 171,000 barrels per day, offshore storage capacity of 122,000 barrels with an additional 175,000 barrels on standby, supplies of more than 100,000 gallons of dispersants and four aircraft to carry out the dispersant operations.
“We are determined to do everything in our power to contain this oil spill and resolve the situation as rapidly, safely and effectively as possible,” said Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward. “We have assembled and are now deploying world-class facilities, resources and expertise, and can call on more if needed. There should be no doubt of our resolve to limit the escape of oil and protect the marine and coastal environments from its effects.”
All of BP’s environmental response plans were approved by the U.S. Coast Guard. BP’s Incident Management Team is continuing to make every effort to respond to any environmental hazard in coordination with Transocean, the USCG, and the Minerals Management Service.
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