BP oil spill

  • Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #1267895

    For a while I have searched the internet for what seemed to be reliable information about the oil spill. I have also look for a live feed of the well head that really worked. I found several of them but they always said it took a while for the video to start and to wait for it, they never would. CBS always have the video on television so wouldn’t you know it but that is where I accidentally found it.

    Secondly 60 Minutes also has what looks to be a very reliable explanation of what happened to cause the accident. Here is the link to 60 minutes version of what happened that lead up to the disaster.

    It wasn’t one thing that lead to the accident, nor two, nor three. Months seperated all of the accidents and bad decisions that lead to the disaster. I don’t want to go into too many details right now but it all started by drilling too fast and working six weeks on a well that should be done in three weeks, and fracturing the rock around the bottom of the well ruining it. Then having to cap it and drill another one.

    bigpike
    Posts: 6259
    #849476

    Its all Bush’s fault….

    biggill
    East Bethel, MN
    Posts: 11321
    #877681

    Ultimately I have so sympathy for BP. With such a high risk operation is absurd that there was no plan in place to cap this well had something gone wrong.

    No excuse for this.

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #877686

    I was planning a Redfish trip to Venice. Guess that’s not gonna happen. BOYCOTT BP!

    baldwin4
    NE IA
    Posts: 736
    #877689

    Quote:


    I was planning a Redfish trip to Venice. Guess that’s not gonna happen. BOYCOTT BP!


    Just remember that the businesses that sell BP gas are independently owned and you could be hurting them also. Just my .02 cents

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    #877762

    Quote:


    Just remember that the businesses that sell BP gas are independently owned and you could be hurting them also. Just my .02 cents



    You will hurt the owners, not BP. Gas stations don’t make much off gas sales. If I am not mistaken, they can only charge 7 or 8 cents a gallon above cost. I think the only benefit the owners get having a oil companies name like BP or Shell is the free signage, advertising and name recognition.

    BP kind of just ruined the saying, any publicity is good publicity.

    Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #877765

    Quote:


    BP kind of just ruined the saying, any publicity is good publicity.


    The first storm comes in and a lot more than that will be ruined.

    Six billion dollars in profits thus far this year was not enough for them, they had to try to save a few more million dollars with short cuts. Drilling too fast, not fixing a broken valve on the well head, not replacing an important seal on the well head, and not capping the well properly will all bite them in the With estimates of $4300 dollars per barell to clean the area I hope they don’t make a profit for years to come…

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #877787

    Quote:


    Quote:


    Just remember that the businesses that sell BP gas are independently owned and you could be hurting them also. Just my .02 cents



    You will hurt the owners, not BP. Gas stations don’t make much off gas sales. If I am not mistaken, they can only charge 7 or 8 cents a gallon above cost. I think the only benefit the owners get having a oil companies name like BP or Shell is the free signage, advertising and name recognition.

    BP kind of just ruined the saying, any publicity is good publicity.


    If all I buy is gas from them and they don’t make much then a boycott shouldn’t affect them much. If I were an owner of a BP station I would be pulling down the signs and going independent. I won’t knowingly give any money to BP just because a couple of station owners. Station owners are business men, if they are any good they will make some good business decisions.

    big_g
    Isle, MN
    Posts: 22456
    #877792

    I take the exact opposite approach…. I will buy only BP gas now. Think about it. If you drive by 3 pumps, all different brands, and they are all the same price…. which would you buy ??? BP is spending alot more right now, on cleanup crews, equipment.. etc.. etc … etc… & with the other suppliers being the same price, either BP is not passing along the clean up costs, or the others are gouging you. BP is putting thousands to work right now, granted, it is not the kind of employment that is desireable, but it is employment…. boycotting the company at this time, will only hurt us all….think BIG picture… How can they atone for the costs, if they go under ???

    big G

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #877807

    That’s an interesting approach. I can’t say for sure, but I would assume that they had some type of insurance for this. Now that insurance is involved, the lawyers are involved. In the end it will be the taxpayers that will pay for the cleanup.

    Trent W
    Chatfield, MN
    Posts: 186
    #877839

    I side with Big G on this one. One thing is for sure, if BP goes out of business, the US taxpayers will definitely be stuck with the bill. So far BP is holding up to their promises to pay for this spill. They seem to be taking responsibility for their mistakes. The other 2 companies that had a major hand in this (Haliburton and Trans Ocean) seem to be doing more finger pointing and excuse making. I would bet that some of the mistakes and shortcuts that were made on this oil rig were also being made by other oil companies. Hopefully all other companies have taken notice and are working on ways to prevent this from ever happening again.

    James Holst
    Keymaster
    SE Minnesota
    Posts: 18926
    #877852

    This was an accident. Accidents happen. As long as BP does what it takes to make it right I just don’t see any logic in trying to punish the company whatsoever.

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    #877873

    I was upset like many people when I heard they were spending 15M on a PR advertising campaign. However then I thought, if it costs 1 Billion to clean everything up and make right by all the businesses affected and they are spending $15M their own money pulling it from R/D or where ever, then who cares. I’d only be upset that they spent $15M less than the mythical $1 billion.

    I don’t want to make this political, so I will carefully choose my words. But why did the government already announce an investigation and possibly bringing charges when the oil is still flowing? Is it really constructive to publicly go on the offensive against a company that you are supposed to be working with and overseeing the clean up? Then again it may have just been a PR stunt of their own and they gave BP the heads up that they were going to do this.

    I’ll guarantee you that no criminal charges will ever be found and at best they will be fined an amount that they can absorb.

    jon_jordan
    St. Paul, Mn
    Posts: 10908
    #877880

    Current law forces off shore drilling rather than on land. Want change?

    -J.

    chris-tuckner
    Hastings/Isle MN
    Posts: 12318
    #877882

    Quote:


    Current law forces off shore drilling rather than on land. Want change?

    -J.


    I thought the “Deer in the headlights look” over this was change. OK…I will comment no further at the risk I may offend…

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    #877888

    Watching Ice Road Truckers this weekend and I was actually listening to all the stuff that they have to do to protect the environment. It was pretty enlightening an cool. They even have to truck out “dirty” snow and take measures to protect the permafrost so they leave as little of a “foot print” (Gorebal Warming Pun Intended) as possible.

    James Holst
    Keymaster
    SE Minnesota
    Posts: 18926
    #877890

    Quote:


    I was upset like many people when I heard they were spending 15M on a PR advertising campaign. However then I thought, if it costs 1 Billion to clean everything up and make right by all the businesses affected and they are spending $15M their own money pulling it from R/D or where ever, then who cares. I’d only be upset that they spent $15M less than the mythical $1 billion.


    I thought the PR campaign was a solid idea. Many people still didn’t understand that BP was committed to paying for the cleanup and that the tax payers weren’t going to get stuck with the bills. Now the CEO isn’t going to win an academy award for his performance in those commercials but I think it was a very good idea to address some of the widespread fears in place that had people thinking BP was running from their responsibilities with this.

    Quote:


    Then again it may have just been a PR stunt of their own


    BINGO! The feds don’t like criticism and they’ve been getting lambasted over their handling of the situation so how best to deflect criticism? Announce a criminal investigation.

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #877892

    Keep in mind it was costing BP $500,000 per day rent for the platform during drilling. The pressure to get the well capped is was caused the “accident”. Negligence and shortcuts may be proven after the investigation.

    As of last night it was estimated that BP has spent $46 million thus far on clean up. I can only assume thats above the 69 million dollar bill from the government.

    The ONLY available camera’s are owned by BP.

    As you look at the Gulf maps daily just think of the damage that will happen during the fall migrations! Ducks and Geese may perish by the millions.

    I don’t know about you guys but my calculator on my desk will not compute high enough to show what this will cost.

    47 days and counting.

    Mudshark
    LaCrosse WI
    Posts: 2973
    #877904

    I read this the other day….
    Seems like this is not the biggest spill ever in the gulf…Yet..
    79 oil spill article

    chomps
    Sioux City IA
    Posts: 3974
    #877912

    no matter what BP does, things will never in 100 years be “made right” There will be a trickle down effect from our natural resources to the #1 money maker in the State of Florida, (tourism) for many years to come. Not just Florida will be effected, this will hurt many ecosystems. My daughter was in Pensacola all last week, yesterday was the first time after walking the beach that she had oil covering her feet. I don’t blame BP, I blame our reliance on oil and the demand runs the supply.

    DaveB
    Inver Grove Heights MN
    Posts: 4469
    #877931

    I still dont know why they dont blow up the well and close the leak immediately. We have lots of oil, if this well is shut down, no big deal.

    chris-tuckner
    Hastings/Isle MN
    Posts: 12318
    #877940

    Quote:


    I still dont know why they dont blow up the well and close the leak immediately. We have lots of oil, if this well is shut down, no big deal.


    I heard today that they fear doing that would cause oil to come up through the ocean floor in other areas where whey have no chance in controlling it.

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #877984

    And to think this all could have been prevented with an “optional” $1 million dollar valve that is required in other parts of the world.

    Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #878005

    Quote:


    And to think this all could have been prevented with an “optional” $1 million dollar valve that is required in other parts of the world.


    What valve are you talking about? They had a redundant valve on the well head that failed. One of the problems was when they proceeded to complete the work without fixing the valve. That would be like having a flat spare tire.
    Profits seem to be what drove their decision making and caused most of the problems in my estimation. Company profits = bigger bonus

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #878039

    Quote:


    Quote:


    And to think this all could have been prevented with an “optional” $1 million dollar valve that is required in other parts of the world.


    What valve are you talking about? They had a redundant valve on the well head that failed. One of the problems was when they proceeded to complete the work without fixing the valve. That would be like having a flat spare tire.
    Profits seem to be what drove their decision making and caused most of the problems in my estimation. Company profits = bigger bonus


    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html

    Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #878075

    Quote:


    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html


    The article you are referring to is talking about what they call an acoustic switch which sounds like the same thing that Mike Williams talked about in this video. Mike Williams calls it control pod, both items control the pressure asserted on the annular. The annular seals the well head and drill pipe known as the Blow out Preventer.(BOP) On the Deepwater Horizon the well head had two control pods and one of them malfunctioned and only partially worked.

    In this second video all that Mike Williams talks about is affirmed by Dr. Bob Bea.

    I may be wrong in my reading the article that you referenced, they may be talking about having two BOPs, if that is the case then that would be the best possible form of redundancy.

    brad0383
    Farmington, MN
    Posts: 354
    #878138

    Redundancy. EXACTLY! I find it hard to believe that they are not required to have at least triple redundancy and require testing of these systems regularly. I work in the aviation industry and redundancy and regular maintenance is the name of the game. You can’t put a price on safety. Let’s not forget that not only is this an environmental disaster, but lives were lost because of this accident.

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    #878141

    I have a feeling that isn’t as simple a $1M safety device or whatever. If it were only $1M, a drop in the barrel for an oil company so to speak, I have a feeling it was more than that. And what part did the contractors play in these rig requirements is another thing I would like to know.

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #878151

    It was reported on NBC this morning that BP paid a stock dividen of 10.5 BILLION dollars this last QUARTER. I find it hard to believe it was BILLIONS and not Millions but either way…………..tell me again they aren’t gouging.

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