Sadly the oil disaster is going from bad to worse. Oil is now believed to be pouring out of the open oil well at a rate far beyond 5,000 barrels a day. Below, some of the latest news this sad Sunday morning.
Experts fear the spill could spread to East Coast
By BRIAN SKOLOFF Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press May 1, 2010, 4:14PM
GULFPORT, Miss. — Scientists fear if the oil spill isn't contained and the underwater well continues to spew unstopped, it could grow so large that it may be sucked with the currents around the Florida Keys and up the East Coast.
The gulf's waters come through the Yucatan Strait between Mexico and Cuba, then circulate in what's called the Loop Current, before sweeping south along Florida's west coast. It then moves up the East Coast before ending in the North Atlantic.
Satellite images show the surface area of the gulf oil spill has nearly tripled in size in just a day
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6985211.html
A race against the clock as oil continues to gush
Some experts estimate the Gulf spill has tripled in size
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE HOUSTON CHRONICLE May 1, 2010, 11:49PM
One of history's biggest oil spills showed no signs of abating Saturday as a mile-deep well kept pouring tens of thousands of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico and coastal communities braced for crushing environmental and economic damage.
Some experts estimated the spill had tripled in size in just a day or so, suggesting that the oil is gushing out faster than officials initially estimated.
-----Although some reports have said an oily sheen already has reached shore, Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant who is overseeing the Obama administration's response to the spill, said the spreading oil's leading edge would reach the fragile Louisiana coastline in the next few days.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates 210,000 gallons, or 5,000 barrels, of oil are gushing from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon rig each day. That rate — even if it's conservative — means nearly 2 million gallons of crude have spilled into the Gulf.
But at a news conference on the eve of President Barack Obama's planned tour of the imperiled region, Allen said any estimate of what's flowing from the well is "probably impossible at this time due to the depth of the water."
The oil giant BP, which leased the rig and is responsible for the cleanup, began putting equipment into place Saturday to drill a relief well to halt the flow — a process company officials say could take up to three months.
BP also attempted for the first time to use chemicals at the wellhead to prevent the oil from reaching the surface.
Allen said the experiment appeared to work, but more tests were needed to ensure that the chemicals didn't harm the ecosystem.
The size of the spill was about 1,150 square miles Thursday, but it had tripled to about 3,850 square miles a day later, said Hans Graber, a professor of applied marine physics at the University of Miami, who analyzed satellite images of the slick."The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," Graber told The Associated Press.
-----In an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009, BP said it had the capability to handle a "worst-case scenario" at the Deepwater Horizon site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout — 6.8 million gallons each day.Oil industry experts and officials are reluctant to describe what, exactly, a worst-case scenario would look like. But if the oil gets into the Gulf Stream — the warm-water current that flows from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Atlantic — and is carried to the beaches of Florida, it could become an environmental and economic disaster of epic proportions.
The focus, so far, has been to keep the oil in the Gulf and away from one of the most productive coastal fisheries for shrimp, oysters and crabs, among other species.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/6985127.html
Spill probe puts Halliburton in spotlightLos Angeles Times May 1, 2010, 10:44PM
LOS ANGELES — Investigators delving into the causes of the massive Gulf oil spill are examining the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company that was responsible for cementing the deepwater drill hole, as well as the possible failure of equipment leased to British Petroleum.
Two members of Congress, Reps. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., called on Halliburton on Friday to provide all documents relating to "the possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the status, adequacy, quality, monitoring, and inspection of the cementing work" by May 7.
Halliburton Chief Executive David Lesar is scheduled to testify before Waxman's energy and commerce committee on May 12, along with top executives Lamar McKay of BP America Inc. and Steve Newman of Transocean Ltd., which leased the drilling rig to BP.
In a statement Friday, Halliburton said: "It is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues.... The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications... (and) tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed."
After an exploration well is drilled, cement slurry is pumped through a steel pipe or casing and out through a check valve at the bottom of the casing. It then travels up the outside of the pipe, sheathing the part of the pipe surrounded by the oil and gas zone. When the cement hardens, it is supposed to prevent oil or gas from leaking into adjacent zones along the pipe.
As the cement sets, the check valve at the end of the casing prevents any material from flowing back up the pipe. The zone is thus isolated until the company is ready to start production.
The process is tricky. A 2007 study by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period.
Halliburton has been accused of performing a poor cement job in the case of a major blowout in the Timor Sea off Australia last August. An investigation is under way.
In its statement, the company said: "Halliburton originated oilfield cementing and leads the world in effective, efficient delivery of zonal isolation and engineering for the life of the well, conducting thousands of successful well-cementing jobs each year."
The company had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the Gulf accident, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard. It had completed the final cementing of the well and pipe 20 hours before the blowout April 20.
But at the time of the accident, "well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug, which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well," the Halliburton statement said.
------Joe Leimkuhler, past president of the American Association of Drilling Engineers, said it was difficult to speculate about the role of cementing in the accident. "The process to place the cement in the well is very similar from job to job, but the details that make up the risk and challenges are specific to each well. You really need the details of the well design and the formation characteristics." He added that only the companies involved have that information.
Some speculation has centered on methane pockets frozen into crystallized formations beneath the seabed that could be warmed by the cementing process and become unstable. A 2009 Halliburton presentation to the drilling engineers association described the challenges of methane hydrates, asking: "When do hydrates become unstable?" and "Will cement hydration cause this outcome?" The presentation noted that "gas release is a challenge for safety and economics."A company spokesman declined to comment on whether methane hydrates, warmed by cement curing, may have been a factor in the Gulf explosion.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/6985726.html
Sadly a story that will be with us for quite some time.
GI.
No comments:
Post a Comment