Oil rig sinks after explosion off the Louisiana coast

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I can tell you that many public service vehicles in Colombia use gas instead of gasoline and the savings are substantial, although according to the driver of one of those vehicles they actually tend to wear out the engine and should be used alternated with gasoline to avoid problems (1 tank of gasoline for each 8 from gas). The usage is more common in the cities at sea level because the power output is lower and in the mountains with less O₂ there is already a hit with regular gasoline. The cabbie telling me this said that despite a shortened life of the engine (about 20%) it made perfect economic sense.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Odd, I'd always heard that natgas engines lasted longer-- much longer than gasoline ones.

I suppose the lack of lubricating chemicals is the culprit, here.  But I'd like to see some actual studies comparing the two.

[Swatopluk]

The US military is looking for alternatives to petroleum derived oil too. Currently they are testing F18s with biofuels (it was on Rachel Maddow this week).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Odd, I'd always heard that natgas engines lasted longer-- much longer than gasoline ones.

I suppose the lack of lubricating chemicals is the culprit, here.  But I'd like to see some actual studies comparing the two.

Perhaps if the engine is designed for natgas? All the cars in Colombia using it are converted gasoline engines, so that may account for lubrication and residuals in the cylinders.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Double post to get back on topic:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/24/oil-rig-deepwater-horizon_0_n_550849.html

The rig is leaking 1000 barrels a day now.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Double post to get back on topic:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/24/oil-rig-deepwater-horizon_0_n_550849.html

The rig is leaking 1000 barrels a day now.

That's..... not good.  Not good at all-- it was a deepwater well, as far as I know, and it'll be nearly impossible to cap that sucker... really, really specialists will be required, I'm afraid.

[pieces o nine]

[untaddy] We had a thread some time back about what to do with [evil] public figures who profit so handsomely from their actions. Perhaps *they* could be used to cap this disaster? [/untaddy]

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

[untaddy] We had a thread some time back about what to do with [evil] public figures who profit so handsomely from their actions. Perhaps *they* could be used to cap this disaster? [/untaddy]

Whereas I agree with your sentiment?  Lacking a backbone or other solid internal structures, such public figures would likely melt as soon as they were brought into contact with water.  Never forget the lesson of Oz.

[Aggie]

1000 bbl/day is certainly not good, but actually not as bad as I might have feared.  At least any brine should disperse reasonably well (says the guy cleaning up a much more modest salt & oil spill ATM - salts are worse and more persistent in soils than crude), although it still may play merry hell with any life on the sea floor in the area.

I have a pretty good idea of what 1000 bbl looks like - it's a big freakin' tank of oil.

[Swatopluk]

It will be especially difficult to even get to the hole because all the wreckage of the oil rig is likely to lie on top of it.

[Opsa]

I watched a story about the spill on NBC last night. Sadly, the mess is headed for good ol' New Orleans (as well as several other coastal states- it's HUJE) and may wipe out all ready threatened gulf wildlife as well as the fishermen who depend on the shrimp and other fish for a living. It's really bad news.

[ivor]

Drill here!  Drill now!

That's such BS.  They closed down a bunch of wells in Oklahoma because it just wasn't profitable.  In other words they're just waiting for the price to go high enough to reopen later.

That oil should wash up on the beaches that have $40,000,000 homes behind them.  That would be poetic justice.

[Aggie]

From a PDF that was forwarded to me (hence the muddled formatting):

The rig belongs to Transocean, the world's biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to
BP and was working on BP's Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract. The full
drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of
drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.

The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is
not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating
structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station
within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning.

The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the
well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the
work necessary to bring the well into production.
It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action.

With a
floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the
seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or 'BOP's" as they're
called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig. In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit,
and even fail-safe Deadman systems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them
were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface. The flames were visible up to about
35 miles away. Not the glow – the flames. They were 200 – 300 ft high.

All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this
marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.
The well still is apparently flowing oil, which is appearing at the surface as a slick. They have been working with remotely operated
vehicles, or ROV's which are essentially tethered miniature submarines with manipulator arms and other equipment that can perform work
underwater while the operator sits on a vessel. These are what were used to explore the Titanic, among other things. Every floating rig
has one on board and they are in constant use. In this case, they are deploying ROV's from dedicated service vessels. They have been
trying to close the well in using a specialized port on the BOP's and a pumping arrangement on their ROV's. They have been unsuccessful
so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up.

In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will
use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – with a target radius
of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation's pressure, thus
causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last. It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available
technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

So... we're screwed? 

[ivor]

Na, there gonna fix it but they're gonna have to burn the oil off.