Treaties and Conventions to which USA (contiguous states) (USA) is a Member
http://fishbase.org/Country/CountryTreatyList.php?Country=840
Posted on 04/29/2010 11:52:51 AM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan
On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig.
Much still isn't known about what caused the problems in Deepwater Horizon's well, nearly a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. It went out of control, sending oil surging through pipes to the surface and causing a fire that ultimately sank the rig.
Unmanned submarines that arrived hours after the explosion have been unable to activate the shut-off valve on the seabed, called a blowout preventer.
BP says the Deepwater Horizon did have a "dead man" switch, which should have automatically closed the valve on the seabed in the event of a loss of power or communication from the rig. BP said it can't explain why it didn't shut off the well.
Transocean drillers aboard the rig at the time of the explosion, who should have been in a position to hit the main cutoff switch, are among the dead. It isn't known if they were able to reach the button, which would have been located in the area where the fire is likely to have started.
Tony Hayward, BP's CEO, said finding out why the blowout preventer didn't shut down the well is the key question in the investigation. "This is the failsafe mechanism that clearly has failed," Mr. Hayward said in an interview.
Lars Herbst, regional director of the Minerals Management Service in the Gulf of Mexico, said investigators are focusing on why the blowout preventer failed.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsgroups.derkeiler.com ...
The US jurisdiction goes out 200 miles with the exclusive economic zone.
I do not remember the US Congress passing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which contains this 200 mile limit (exclusive economic zone - EEZ). When did that happen? I thought the bill was still in Congress however not acted upon as yet.
In the Gulf of Mexico I would think many countries would be tripping over each others 200 mile limit. I just don’t see mutual friends in nations battle for exploration rights of the sea bead (for oil/ng) in this EEZ. If it is the in the EEZ why would we allow a British company to drill rather than a US company? Doesn’t make real economic sense, except for an Administration that opposes drilling (for American companies on American territory).
This sounds like another backup switch to the backup switch for the main switch to trigger the BOP. Since they have had submersible ROVs directly trying to fully actuate the BOP since Sat the 18th I doubt it would have helped.
If the main, direct panel does not work, a remote switch that triggers the main panel is not likely to have helped. If the main breaker trips in your house, it doesn’t matter how many light switches you have, the lights are not coming on until the main breaker is fixed.
The rig wreck landed quite a distance from the wellhead. The coast guard web site has pictures, video and drawings of the location of all as well as video of using the BOP control panel afterwards.
Treaties and Conventions to which USA (contiguous states) (USA) is a Member
http://fishbase.org/Country/CountryTreatyList.php?Country=840
Also see:
The Federal Government administers the submerged lands, subsoil, and seabed, lying between the seaward extent of the States’ jurisdiction and the seaward extent of Federal jurisdiction.
http://www.mms.gov/aboutmms/ocsdef.htm
Federal jurisdiction is defined under accepted principles of international law. The seaward limit is defined as the farthest of 200 nautical miles seaward of the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured or, if the continental shelf can be shown to exceed 200 nautical miles, a distance not greater than a line 100 nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath or a line 350 nautical miles from the baseline.
Outer Continental Shelf limits greater than 200 nautical miles but less than either the 2,500 meter isobath plus 100 nautical miles or 350 nautical miles are defined by a line 60 nautical miles seaward of the foot of the continental slope or by a line seaward of the foot of the continental slope connecting points where the sediment thickness divided by the distance to the foot of the slope equals 0.01, whichever is farthest.
BP and their partners bought the rights to this lease at the federal auction. BP is the largest oil and gas producer in the US Gulf of Mexico.
BP is also the largest oil producer in all of the US.
Yeah I saw the CG pictures too, but it is quite possible that the wiring and pipeline connections to the rig tore out the blow out preventer controls, or even other rig debris.
But to have an explosion in the control room, maybe that was designed to prevent the blowout preventer from being deployed. And that would cause a spill, would it not? And don’t you think that would be the intent, cause a spill spectacular that shows up on TV.
And then Obama says he will have to rethink offshore drilling. Just way too convenient as Rush was saying today.
I doubt anyone is going to risk their billion dollar drill rig and not have one of these blowout preventers down there on the well head. Why it didn’t work, may not be be knowable, yet.
Got to keep digging, the stink is rising. You note Homeland Security is to get involved now ... hmmm
These particular units were Camerons.
All lot of suspicion of multiple actions just in case a blowout happened?
Got a link to the CG photos?
Thanks.
Here is what I am talking about
It looks jacked up in operating position ... and early news accounts said the missing were from the control room. The fire looks containable at this point ... But even still, you would think the wellhead safety system would have been already deployed.
That picture is not the Deep Horizon. There are no Jackup Rigs with mile tall legs.
This well blew out because what it hit so much pressure it couldn’t be contained. This is what I get from the more knowledgeable FR posters. How about setting off a tactical nuke to cap it? Sounds better to me than fouling oyster beds and fishing grounds.
The well was not under drilling when the blowout occurred. Drilling had stopped. They had cemented and were nearing completion.
Let me see it was the one taken shortly after the explosion, before the whole rig was engulfed, with only one fire boat there and just the house burning. the likely explosion source ... hmmmm no picture searching videos -- all I can find is this video immediate stop within first few fire frames, look right at the start, one fire boat ... The fire is quite high, on top of the house, it is like the roof is ablaze.
My question was why was the explosion so high up on the rig. You would expect that would be the last place to catch fire from oil. And furthermore, wouldn't you shield the control room from fire? Unless the control room was deemed to not be in the danger zone if the well blew out on them.
It may also provide a clue why the safety gear didn't work. Taking out the controls and controllers pretty well does that.
A high pressure gas flow coming from a blowout seems very likely.
Yeah sorry wrong photo, comparing rig fire photos, read further, I put up the video and explanation of where to look.
If it’s any forgiveness, the website the photo came from labeled it the Deepwater Horizon.
Might be — according to the company they weren’t drilling at the time, they were completing a cementing operation. But if it were gas, why is the control house burning and not the drill platform ... And wouldn’t the gas just be flaring ...
You would think the control house would be protected from this kind of common failure, a blow out, not the first to burn. You lose control you are going to have small problems get big real fast.
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