Former Shell Oil Chief, Engineer: Supertankers Could Save the Gulf, So Why Won't BP Listen?

The Sean Hannity Show ^ | 6/4/2010 | Ariel Schwartz

[GVnana]

John Hofmeister and Nick Pozzi tell Fast Company how a possible solution to the Gulf Oil spill is sitting under BP's nose.

Underwater robots, containment domes, top hats, hot taps, junk shots ... the potential fixes to the Gulf Oil Spill sound like they come straight from a cringeworthy disaster flick (or a PR think tank). But what if the solution is right under our noses? What if it's already sitting in the Gulf? John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell Oil, and Nick Pozzi, a former pipeline engineering and operations project manager for Saudi Aramco, think it might be.

According to Hofmeister, oil supertankers could be used to suck up massive amounts of oil--possibly millions of barrels at a time.

In an interview with FastCompany.com, Hofmeister explained that a little-known Saudi oil spill from an offshore platform in the early 1990s dumped more crude into the sea than any spill in U.S. history (think hundreds of millions of gallons). But the government and local press kept it quiet. And that's why one of the big fixes in the Saudi oil spill--the oil-skimming supertanker--hasn't been publicized.

"[They] figured out how to deploy supertankers that had the ability to both intake and discharge liquids in vast quantities with huge pumps," Hofmeister explained. "The supertankers could simply suck in seawater and oil simultaneously--they can hold millions of barrels--and when full, they could discharge oil at a port into tanks where they could separate oil from water. The idea is novel in that you can get massive of oil amounts quickly." Once the supertankers make it to to the port, water can be treated and discharged, and oil can either be used or destroyed.

[maine-iac7]

see post #60

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

I'm nothing but a little ignorant housewife but I have thought from the get-go that if they would stop dispersing this stuff and tell people that anyone who wants to go get the oil can have it, maybe the problem could be solved.

Keep it contained rather than disperse it and use it. Maybe it's impossible, but I have great faith in the ingenuity of people when a profit motive is involved and government gets out of the way.

[AFreeBird]

At this point, anything is better than nothing. I don’t care if it’s a couple of guys in a rowboat with a bucket and a cup. Deploy everything in the arsenal and then deploy everything that isn’t.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Zero plans to destroy the country financially in any way possible; this is another great way to destroy several states at once while Congress sits on their collective thumbs.

[org.whodat]

Sick, it is not conspiracy, it is my opinion, the only reason they did not use the dome was because of ice preventing them from capturing the flow of oil. They have tried nothing to shut down the whole thing that was not designed to eventually allow them capture of the oil. And if the pressure is so great then all future deep wells should be stopped until it is a safe thing to do.

[rodguy911]

It's here:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05gulf-oil-spill-countries-offer-assistance.htr

If you are a cynic,and I am, after reading the piece you get the feeling that ozero refused the help from the other 15 countries since it actually might have speeded things up. He does not want that obviously.

My link does not work but i assure you its there.

[rodguy911]

listenhillary/ maine-iac7—you guys are much faster than I and much more accurate in posting your links thanks.

[Irish Eyes]

Thanks, I knew I saw it somewhere.

Interesting that the link no longer works.

[Army Air Corps]

Yes. Shell is the deepwater expert.

[rodguy911]

Larry Kudlow just today on WABC radio said that it was BP in cahoots with Iran.

[rodguy911]

The story is still there but you are right the link you guys did does not work. They make you work a lot harder to get to it.

Since it's ABC I'm not surprised. They go that extra step to protect the "one"/dear leader.

[rodguy911]

You might wanna tear em both up after reading this:

http://frontpagemag.com/2010/06/03/bps-other-oil-crisis/

[null and void]

Omoslem proves, every day, that he has 2 goals:

#1 Hurt the USA
#2 Help moslems

Everything 0bama has done has:

A. weakened America
B. strengthened islam
C. attacked Israel

...or some combination of the above.

Can you cite something -anything- of substance that he’s done that doesn’t fit A, B and/or C?

I've been asking since mid-November. So far no takers.