Showing posts with label British Petroleum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Petroleum. Show all posts

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Oil Spill Sunday

...in an otherwise fine article about the financial troubles of British Petroleum, this statement

BP has being very aggressive about addressing the latest catastrophe, spending as much as US$930-billion, including claims and federal costs, on the spill, according to an estimate from the company in Friday.

...proves to be on the high side by a factor of 1,000.

Meanwhile, if you want to know what the news will be 24 to 48 hours from now re the Great Gulf Oil Spill of 2010, read The Oil Drum (also good for Peak Oil stuff and material on how the energy sector and the environment interact, usually to the detriment of the latter). Seriously, "Top-Kill" failed on Thursday; the lamestream reported that on Saturday, even when BP was already readying LMRP on Friday. Mind you, they're mostly oil industry and engineering types writing and commenting over there, and they do nothing to dispel the stereotype of engineer as arrogant dick.

This guy has also been following events with a sharp eye. And that explosion noted the other day does indeed seem to have been an explosion type thingy rather than dirt kicked up the ROV (BP's submersible) moving around.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Boom! Part II

Video of explosion and possible rupture at BP's oil-spill cleanup site:


From here.

Note: Some specualtion as to whether what we're seeing here is the result of the robot camera backing away and panning up, with the debris falling from the camera itself. Possible, but towards the end of the vid you see the debris moving fairly decisively towards and past the camera lens (a bit like a tv space-ship moving through an asteroid field), which suggests its being propelled from the leak.

PS. The best explanation of why this may not be an explosion/rupture is here. And, oh, by the way, BP's 2nd attempt to plug the well has officially failed.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

"Top-Kill" Has Failed

BP is moving along to "Junkshots" and other more desperate measures. They're saying this at The Oil Drum, and NYT has picked it up here. If its true, and junkshot fails (very likely at this point) then every couple of days = one Exxon Valdez, for the next 90 days, until they drill a relief well, if they get the relief well right the first time.

They're talking about deliberately torching the Louisiana Coastline to burn off oil that's washed ashore. Can't find the link right now, but they are.

Planning to go South this year? B.C. is a nice alternative.