Oil Spill - Source Plume & Blowout Mitigation Updates, Deep Horizon Blowout

[ricki]

This and other full sized charts are available at: http://tinyurl.com/2787tcv


"BP Says One Oil Leak of Three Is Shut Off
BATON ROUGE, La. —For the first time since an explosion on a drilling rig 15 days ago left an undersea well spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, engineers succeeded in shutting off one of the three leaks from the damaged well late Tuesday night, a spokesman for BP said on Wednesday morning.
Though by itself the move was not expected to reduce the amount of oil being released — estimated at 210,000 gallons a day — it “does enable to us to make progress, to winnow down the focus from three leaks to two,” said the spokesman, John Curry."
Continued at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us...ef=global-home

"Amount of Spill Could Escalate, Company Admits
This article is by John M. Broder, Campbell Robertson and Clifford Krauss.
WASHINGTON — In a closed-door briefing for members of Congress, a senior BP executive conceded Tuesday that the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could conceivably spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day of oil, more than 10 times the estimate of the current flow."
Continued at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/us...ll.html?ref=us


Important daily updates worth checking regularly at:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

Including posting of "Shoreline Countermeasures Manual" for tropical coastal environments. It dates from 1993, hopefully needed updates learned since then will be provided although the current document entails a good deal of useful information. This document describes different types of shorelines, sand, rock structures, tidal flats, mangroves, etc. discussion of cleanup and countermeasures. For folks contemplating cleanup, it is a good thing to review. Spill response particularly once it interacts with shorelines and estuaries can be incredibly labor intensive. Lots of necessary work to go around. Authorities and designated contractors will likely provide oversight of most of these efforts.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse....c/2931/539351/


"BP pursues at least five ways to stop spill
By BRETT CLANTON, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, May 3, 2010, 10:18PM

BP says it is working on at least five possible approaches for halting the spew of oil from a damaged well deep in the Gulf of Mexico that is feeding one of the worst spills in U.S. history.
The company says all of the plans are moving forward simultaneously, even though some may turn out to be unnecessary or unsuccessful. But several of the ideas, once considered backup solutions, have begun to figure more prominently into the sweeping effort, including work on a subsea collection system for leaking oil and the drilling of a relief well to stop the flow from the damaged one."
Continued at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6988333.html


"Subsea oil recovery, relief well under way
Published: May 4, 2010, Offshore staff
ROBERT, Louisiana -- Work is under way to deploy a device on the seafloor to recover the leaking oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident, according to the Joint Information Center.
BP and Transocean are using Discoverer Enterprise to recover up to 125,000 b/d of oil with a purpose-built dome-like and connection system which is expected to be deployed on the seafloor by next week. The recovery system reportedly could collect up to 85% of the leak.
Meanwhile, Transocean’s Development Driller III is permitted to drill a relief well on Mississippi Canyon block 252 in 5,159 ft of water. The well is designed to intersect the existing wellbore and pump heavy fluids and cement in to stop the leaking oil. "
http://www.offshore-mag.com/index/de...pill-2010.html


Illustrations of efforts to stop discharge of oil under "Stopping The Oil Leaks"
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/intera...ill/index.html


ONE computer model of many under evaluation from USF that considers plume movement vs. currents (including the Loop Current). Other models are at the same site. CLICK IMAGE to access.

http://ocg6.marine.usf.edu/

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[ricki]

From Miami Herald, Claim HOTLINE FOR RELATED LOSSES:

"Florida opens oil spill hot line for businesses
A hot line is available to help Florida business owners affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, announced the hot line on Wednesday.
``Florida businesses can take steps now to help expedite delivering their claim to BP, as well as help themselves be ready to take advantage of federal and state aid that may become available for recovery,'' Sink said.
Business owners can call 1-877-My-FL-CFO or 1-877-693-5236 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Information is also on the website myfloridacfo.com.
The specialists on the hot line will be able to answer questions about filing insurance claims, but the office said claims of damages and lost income must be filed with BP at 1-800-440-0858."
From: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/0...#ixzz0n6vOWsgy


Information on the containment dome, pending placement attempt and controlled burn today. It was stated a similar approach was used for a release in Mexico about 20 years ago in only 200 ft. of water. This has never been attempted at a water depth remotely close to 5000 ft.




Short overview of release and solutions being pursued to stopping the leakage.




Potential cause explored on NPR:
"Cementing Becomes One Focus In Gulf Oil Probe, by ELIZABETH SHOGREN

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning on April 21 in the Gulf of Mexico. Federal investigators have turned their attention to the cementing process that occurred on the oil rig before the explosion.
A cementing job done by a Halliburton crew just hours before the oil accident in the Gulf of Mexico has emerged as a central focus of the investigation.
Bad cementing work has triggered leaks in the past, and some experts say it's hard to imagine a scenario where it was not part of the problem at the Deepwater Horizon well, too."
Continued at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=126536457


Business Week - Some potential financial impacts of the release - May 5, 2010

"May 3 (Bloomberg) -- The growing oil slick fed by an underwater leak in a BP Plc well in the Gulf of Mexico may threaten production, shipping and refining of oil and natural gas in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
Those three states account for 19 percent of U.S. refining capacity as of 2009, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.
“Traders are nervous about how fast the slick could grow,” and whether it could have a significant effect on oil and natural-gas production, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston."
"Oil in the water could ignite another fire and the slick could emit dangerous fumes, putting offshore workers at risk, said Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for BP and the multiagency Joint Information Center coordinating the federal response.
Ships face the same potential hazards, and have the additional risk of interfering with clean-up efforts or tracking oil on their hulls into the Mississippi River, he said. So far, the Coast Guard hasn’t restricted commercial traffic, Rinehart said in a telephone interview today.
Three natural gas platforms have been affected by the explosion. One has been evacuated and production shut, another has been shut-in without being evacuated and the third was evacuated without being shut-in, he said. Rinehart wouldn’t identify the companies involved." Continued at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-update2-.html






Photos from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889869@N07/

[Unimog Bob]

Thanks for all the links and info, Rick.

I found this article interesting.

http://blogs.reuters.com/environment...-valdez-spill/