Oil Rig Explosion

Uh... I'm going to put a quaint Italian themed brunch area by our pool in the next couple of years. It will be centered around a nice-sized brick oven. We will make our own cheese, doughs, and sauces. So, can I offer something else besides that for the truce?

Dang, can I come over for dinner?
 
Because putting a cap on in 500 ft of water is 1,000x easier than doing in in 5,000 ft, if something were to happen.

1. I can name you several reasons why it's easier to work in deep water instead of shallow.

It's not the fact that it did happen, it's the fact there wasn't anything they could have done relatively quickly if it did. Now, I'm smart enough to know that this isn't something that happens on a regular basis, so sure there wasn't probably a good plan in place if the worst happened.

2. What do you mean it doesn't happen on a regular basis? Have you forgotten what I do for a living? I DO this stuff on a daily basis and have for 15 years. BP's best fields in the Gulf are in much deeper water then this.

Thing is, it took them how many days to get down to the depth the pipe busted??

3. It takes 45 minutes to get to the depth the pipe busted with an ROV.

So yeah, if it's shallower they can get control MUCH more quickly.

4. Link? Sorry - I couldn't resist... but, really... got a link?

Plus, it's much easier to maintain

5. Cheaper... yes.... easier? I'll disagree. By the way - have you ever seen what the visibility is like on the shelf in the Gulf of Mexico? It's pretty bad and in some cases zero. Please explain to me how that would make it easier to maintan or repair.

What I'm trying to say is that the "newness" has been dramatically misrepresented by all the parties in this mess.

1. Please do so. I can't imagine that 60+ days of this issue is better than capping it quicker.

2. I'm talking about the pipelines doing what they did here. They had NO plan or measures in place to take care of this in a timely fashion. Thus, the ecosystem is trashed for years to come and people are going to be out of work in certain areas of fishing for sometime.

3. Not what I was referencing. I'm talking about the time it took to get it fixed.

4. Smarta$$, IMO. :)

5. Why does it have to be in the Gulf?? Why can't it be a place that's clear and easily accessible?? I'm sure there are many places that are off limits because of the green hippies on the Hill.
 
Dang, can I come over for dinner?

Sure, we'll have a VN party when we get it up and running. I have to warn you though - we have decided that everyone will have to make their own. It'll be part of the ambience... and, well, I'm too lazy to cook for others...

The sad thing is that I'm on a boat with a Norwegian Chief Steaward with two Phillipino head chefs. The food is definitely leaving me wanting for something else... I almost had orgasmic release the other day when I found a stash of hot pockets....
 
1. Please do so. I can't imagine that 60+ days of this issue is better than capping it quicker.

2. I'm talking about the pipelines doing what they did here. They had NO plan or measures in place to take care of this in a timely fashion. Thus, the ecosystem is trashed for years to come and people are going to be out of work in certain areas of fishing for sometime.

3. Not what I was referencing. I'm talking about the time it took to get it fixed.

4. Smarta$$, IMO. :)

5. Why does it have to be in the Gulf?? Why can't it be a place that's clear and easily accessible?? I'm sure there are many places that are off limits because of the green hippies on the Hill.

You need some facts to back this all up, man. You are just bringing conjecture, against a guy in the industry (and involved at this site now, apparently).
 
You need some facts to back this all up, man. You are just bringing conjecture, against a guy in the industry (and involved at this site now, apparently).

Hey, that's great. Educate me to as why the things he says are true, I'm just not going to take a screen name as saying everything is true. I just can't imagine certain things are easier than others and the distance plays a factor.
 
Hey, that's great. Educate me to as why the things he says are true, I'm just not going to take a screen name as saying everything is true. I just can't imagine certain things are easier than others and the distance plays a factor.

are you really acting as if you need proof to draw a conclusion or won't blindly accept something?
 
1. Please do so. I can't imagine that 60+ days of this issue is better than capping it quicker.

2. I'm talking about the pipelines doing what they did here. They had NO plan or measures in place to take care of this in a timely fashion. Thus, the ecosystem is trashed for years to come and people are going to be out of work in certain areas of fishing for sometime.

3. Not what I was referencing. I'm talking about the time it took to get it fixed.

4. Smarta$$, IMO. :)

5. Why does it have to be in the Gulf?? Why can't it be a place that's clear and easily accessible?? I'm sure there are many places that are off limits because of the green hippies on the Hill.

1. Visibility is a huge reason - especially around the mouth of the MS. Another reason is current. There are several layers of current as you go through the water column. Surprisingly, the cummulative effect is almost like having none at all. The worst current you get is near the surface. In shallow water, the surface current is all you get and it has a big impact on projects. Third, ROV's can work for days in water as deep as you can imagine... Diver's are limited to bottom time which gets exponentially shorter the deeper you get. Fourth, the water temp is much higher in shallow water which causes it's own set of problems on boats and other machinery. I can keep going - but, I think this will do for now. I could also list reasons for the other side - but, it doesn't support my argument so I'll leave them out.

2. I'll agree the plan was inadequate for this scenario. But, I'm assuming we'll disagree on the reasons why. I'm also not sold on the degree of long-term environmental impact. One thing I know for sure - there is one hell of a lot of hydrocarbons that leak into the gulf on a daily basis and has for a very long time. The gulf, by it's very design, naturally cleans itself.

3. How long did it take to fix the leaking wells and clean up the destroyed platforms from Katrina and Rita? Oh... wait... they're still working on them now. Some of them are in only 35 feet of water. How's that shallow water working for them? FYI, I was on a few of those jobs and it was brutal work (for a lot of the reasons I listed in #1). By the way - I think part of our disagreement comes from the fact that you think a "cap" fixed this well. If that's all it took - this would have been done on the first day. This blowout was below the seabed. Depth had nothing to do with it.

4. I may have been told that a time or two...

5. California maybe? The shelf doesn't extend very far before the shelf drops away and quickly turns to very deep water. That would put the drill rigs right on the beach. I would think a blowout that close to the beach would be much more devastating compared to what we have now. East Coast? The gulf streams runs through a lot of semi-shallow water. I did an ROV job where we tried to recover a downed Navy plane off of Jacksonville. The current was 13 knots and the temps were so high the Navy boat we were on was overheating. I wouldn't mind doing our crew change out of Miami or the Keys, though....
 
1. Visibility is a huge reason - especially around the mouth of the MS. Another reason is current. There are several layers of current as you go through the water column. Surprisingly, the cummulative effect is almost like having none at all. The worst current you get is near the surface. In shallow water, the surface current is all you get and it has a big impact on projects. Third, ROV's can work for days in water as deep as you can imagine... Diver's are limited to bottom time which gets exponentially shorter the deeper you get. Fourth, the water temp is much higher in shallow water which causes it's own set of problems on boats and other machinery. I can keep going - but, I think this will do for now. I could also list reasons for the other side - but, it doesn't support my argument so I'll leave them out.

2. I'll agree the plan was inadequate for this scenario. But, I'm assuming we'll disagree on the reasons why. I'm also not sold on the degree of long-term environmental impact. One thing I know for sure - there is one hell of a lot of hydrocarbons that leak into the gulf on a daily basis and has for a very long time. The gulf, by it's very design, naturally cleans itself.

3. How long did it take to fix the leaking wells and clean up the destroyed platforms from Katrina and Rita? Oh... wait... they're still working on them now. Some of them are in only 35 feet of water. How's that shallow water working for them? FYI, I was on a few of those jobs and it was brutal work (for a lot of the reasons I listed in #1). By the way - I think part of our disagreement comes from the fact that you think a "cap" fixed this well. If that's all it took - this would have been done on the first day. This blowout was below the seabed. Depth had nothing to do with it.

4. I may have been told that a time or two...

5. California maybe? The shelf doesn't extend very far before the shelf drops away and quickly turns to very deep water. That would put the drill rigs right on the beach. I would think a blowout that close to the beach would be much more devastating compared to what we have now. East Coast? The gulf streams runs through a lot of semi-shallow water. I did an ROV job where we tried to recover a downed Navy plane off of Jacksonville. The current was 13 knots and the temps were so high the Navy boat we were on was overheating. I wouldn't mind doing our crew change out of Miami or the Keys, though....

Fair enough. I get most of that, I just don't see how something that's effecting hundreds of miles of shore like is better than something that might effect 20 miles or so if there is a issue possibly. I'll differ to you though.

Thanks for answering my questions.

:hi:
 
Uh... I'm going to put a quaint Italian themed brunch area by our pool in the next couple of years. It will be centered around a nice-sized brick oven. We will make our own cheese, doughs, and sauces. So, can I offer something else besides that for the truce?

Don't be stingy with the olive oil. :)
 
Uh... I'm going to put a quaint Italian themed brunch area by our pool in the next couple of years. It will be centered around a nice-sized brick oven. We will make our own cheese, doughs, and sauces. So, can I offer something else besides that for the truce?

Yeah, an invitation for some pool side brick oven pizza. I'll bring the Salami Toscano for the pizza. :good!:

Oh wait, I wasn't one of the combatants, was I? :)
 
Fair enough. I get most of that, I just don't see how something that's effecting hundreds of miles of shore like is better than something that might effect 20 miles or so if there is a issue possibly. I'll differ to you though.

Thanks for answering my questions.

:hi:

I'll admit - I haven't been watching much news so I haven't seen video or pictures of the beaches. Is there oil rolling up on them right now? Or, is it still just the tar balls? I do know that a blowout near the beach would saturate it. To think it would stay local and not wash back to sea and then to other beaches would be a little optimistic.

The skimmers and other vessels working this incident now couldn't work any issue that close to shore. So, you'd be limited to boom and manpower.

One thing that could help for the future - reduce the crippling taxes the government imposes on U.S. flagged vessels. It would be nice to have a stanby skimming boat like "A Whale" sitting in Mobile or Galveston. But, what company in their right mind would throw money down the toilet for a boat that may never be needed?
 
I'll admit - I haven't been watching much news so I haven't seen video or pictures of the beaches. Is there oil rolling up on them right now? Or, is it still just the tar balls? I do know that a blowout near the beach would saturate it. To think it would stay local and not wash back to sea and then to other beaches would be a little optimistic.

The skimmers and other vessels working this incident now couldn't work any issue that close to shore. So, you'd be limited to boom and manpower.

One thing that could help for the future - reduce the crippling taxes the government imposes on U.S. flagged vessels. It would be nice to have a stanby skimming boat like "A Whale" sitting in Mobile or Galveston. But, what company in their right mind would throw money down the toilet for a boat that may never be needed?

It has rolled onto some beaches, and it has hit some of the marshes of Louisiana pretty hard.

The wide-scale use of dispersents may be regretted in the future, as there is some question as to whether the damage having oil throughout the water column versus on the surface is better or worse.

It still seems to be a bit early to tell about how long-lasting the impact will be.
 
It'll be the only virgin allowed besides the children...

99 per cent of our extra virgin olive oil is imported, 69 per cent of imported extra virgin olive oil isn't really extra virgin.

I kid you not, I read that in the paper today and we all know you can believe everything you read in a paper. :)

I have no idea how this revelation will impact suicide bombing.
 
One thing that could help for the future - reduce the crippling taxes the government imposes on U.S. flagged vessels. It would be nice to have a stanby skimming boat like "A Whale" sitting in Mobile or Galveston. But, what company in their right mind would throw money down the toilet for a boat that may never be needed?

That is the thing that killed the American merchant marine, instead of paying exobitant fees to the US, companies flag their vessels under Liberian or Panamanian flag and pay practically nothing, then hire Philoppino or Bangladeshi crews who are willing to work for comparitavely peanuts.

I had a friend who could have his pick of a half dozen ships to sign on with daily in his hay day, in the end he could sit around a union hall for three or four months and still not have a job.






A spokesman for the whale called this a lesson for the future, he said the main reason not much oil was recovered was that large amount of dispersants had been used, therefore only a small percentage of the oil surfaced.
 

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