Where's the oil? Model suggests much may be gone (Rush was right!)

AP ^ | 5/14/2010 | CAIN BURDEAU

[tobyhill]

For a spill now nearly half the size of Exxon Valdez, the oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is pretty hard to pin down.

Satellite images show most of an estimated 4.6 million gallons of oil has pooled in a floating, shape-shifting blob off the Louisiana coast. Some has reached shore as a thin sheen, and gooey bits have washed up as far away as Alabama. But the spill is 23 days old since the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and killed 11 workers, and the thickest stuff hasn't shown up on the coast.

So, where's the oil? Where's it going to end up?

Government scientists and others tracking the spill say much of the oil is lurking just below the surface. But there seems to be no consensus on whether it will arrive in black waves, mostly dissipate into the massive Gulf or gradually settle to the ocean floor, where it could seep into the ecosystem for years.

When it comes to deepwater spills, even top experts rely on some guesswork..............

Of that recovered mixture, at least 10 percent is oil, BP and NOAA said. Smaller amounts of oil also have been collected after washing ashore, and crews have burned a negligible quantity off the surface

[Republic of Texas]

5000 barrels of oil leaks from the floor of the Gulf everyday. Naturally. The ocean will clean this up the way it always does. Naturally. The rest is just posturing by the media.

[cajungirl]

very good picture there. yep, you are right.

[elpadre]

“Instead of blowing the hay out in the gulf, why don’t they have the shrimp boats and other fishing boats set up the hay barriers closer to shore where they can control the oil before it gets inland, especially near the marshes? I would think that would be better than chemicals.”

That is by far the best solution I have read.The only problem with using hay is it is too cheap and available. It sounds like a “good ol boy” idea - I like it!

[elpadre]

“Instead of blowing the hay out in the gulf, why don’t they have the shrimp boats and other fishing boats set up the hay barriers closer to shore where they can control the oil before it gets inland, especially near the marshes? I would think that would be better than chemicals.”

That is by far the best solution I have read.The only problem with using hay is it is too cheap and available. It sounds like a “good ol boy” idea - I like it!

[Red Badger]

Most of the “oil” evaporates at the surface. The larger it spreads, the more surface area it has to evaporate. The sun’s heat helps to facilitate the evaporation process. See #33 for the contents of a barrel of “oil”....................

[Red Badger]

Where are you getting only 10% oil?

Oil Shale?...............

[cajungirl]

Thanks!

These are the threads on FR that I love, when we have somebody who knows something and makes us all see the point..

My son in law was saying the very same thing to me but this is the first time it was illustrated.

Haley Barbour was right

[Red Badger]

After all the evaporation, all that’s left is asphalt and it will sink....................

[dangerdoc]

Fractions of crude float. Other fractions sink. The less dense fractions tend to be more volitile which means after time, the lighter elements evaporate leaving the heavier remnant to sink.

[tobyhill]

“Of that recovered mixture, at least 10 percent is oil”

[cajungirl]

Should make driving along the bottom of the gulf more pleasant!

[Red Badger]

Happy motoring!.......................

[tobyhill]

I wasn’t real clear on my 10% as confused as I am about where is the oil?

I was expecting tidal waves of oil splashing ashore but now all we hear about is the occasional blob.

I remember a few years back at Galveston, I went in the water and I came out with tar like substance on my swimming trunks so now I know were it came from, natural oil seepage.

On this map, where is the oil?

[Freddd]

Yep, the seas leak more oil every year than the ‘spill’ that is happening now..

[Red Badger]

Most of the “oil” evaporates into the air. Gasoline and other fuels and components of “oil” are very volatile. After the evaporation, all that’s left is asphalt and other heavy elements of petroleum and they usually sink. I got a kick out of seeing ignorant reporters from our local TV stations picking up what looked to me like chunks of petroleum coke washed up on shore of Dauphin Island and calling them “tar balls”..................

[Beagle8U]

The local ( southern michigan ) oil we have here comes right out of the well looking exactly like the oil you put in your car.

It's thick, clear, with a greanish color. The guy on the drilling rig said you could run it through a coffee filter and put it in an engine crankcase.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The local ( southern michigan ) oil we have here comes right out of the well looking exactly like the oil you put in your car."

Yeah, that's the "good stuff". Easy to refine. Stuff from California (and Venezuela) has lots of the heavies (asphaltenes), and is much more difficult.

[aruanan]

Yeah, ha ha ha ha.

[thackney]

That is not measured from the leaking well. When the skimmers suck oil of the ocean surface, most of the mixture taken in is sea water. That is the 10% oil mixture, not what is leaking from the well.

[elpadre]

This is pretty amazing ... Some good ole boys have come up with a solution for cleaning up the oil mess that looks like it may really be a great GREEN solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=k5SxX2EntEo