BP Will Open Capped Wellhead Sunday

[DCBob]

Source: CBS/AP

The federal government announced Saturday that BP will open up its capped wellhead on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and pipe oil into ships on the surface. The collection will begin after a testing period for the cap ends, which was extended to Sunday.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the crisis, decided Saturday that after the testing was complete, the cap will be hooked up through pipes to ships on the surface that will collect the oil. Allen said BP will continue to monitor the cap.

The decision to collect the oil likely means releasing crude back into the water temporarily to relieve pressure. It still would not be gushing at the rate it had been before BP's latest fix.

Read more: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/bp-will-open-capped-wellhead-sunday/906701/Jul-17-2010_10-01-pm/

---

I wonder why they dont just leave the thing closed until the relief well plugs it?

[Junkdrawer]

1. "why they don't just leave the thing closed?" Because pressure readings....

indicate a high likelihood of well damage that would be exacerbated if the cap were kept closed.

[annabanana]

2. Or they just want the opportunity to bring some of that sweet sweet crude

to market.

[Junkdrawer]

3. I was going to pooh-pooh your statement, but....

If they can produce 60 - 80 thousand bbl/day with very little VISIBLE leakage, the motivation to complete bottom-kill (aka relief wells) does become questionable. They might want to get within a day or two of completion and hold, keeping bottom kill as an emergency Plan B.

[kirby]

7. Regardless...

All oil proceeds collected goes to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

[DCBob]

17. Many DUers prefer the conspiracy angle..

Anger often begets poor judgment.

[scentopine]

22. When is anger OK ? Rape or murder? Please I want to know...

when is it OK ? Is it OK to get angry at an escalation in war that has killed nearly a million people and displaced twice that many? Blown off limbs and dead bodies stacked up like cord wood - trillions wasted - is it OK to get angry even though you aren't an impoverished human in Iraq or Afghanistan who hasn't had their legs blown off?

When black people get lynched? Is it OK then to get angry? Is it OK to get angry even if you or your family hasn't been lynched?

Is it OK when a reckless Obama administration leaves MMS intact despite the well documented evidence of massive corruption? Not only keeps the organization in tact, rewards their behavior by letting them manage the new policy called "drill baby drill" Along the eastern seaboard? An MMS so de3lighted that even as oil gushed into the Gulf they celebrated with oil company execs and had a cake made with "drill baby drill" on it.

Is it OK to get angry at that? Is it OK to get angry at protecting torturers and bankers and health insurance CEOs even as millions of Americans suffer at the hands of their misdeeds? Is it OK to get angry at that?

When is it OK?

We are so fucking angry at this that we would happily toss calm and cool collected amateur pop psychologists into the oily piss that is now the gulf of mexico. And they try to tell us that it tastes just like chocolate.

We are fucking angry. Get used to it. If you aren't angry, perhaps the problem is yours alone.

So sick of the democratic apologists and physiologists who think there is never a time and place to get angry (unless it is a republican doing the same shit).

Just because your life isn't materially affected by this bullshit don't tell me I shouldn't be angry.

Every time a DLC happy face pisses on us, more previously democratic voters stay home from the polls. Is that what you want?

We aren't stupid. There is a time and place for anger and it is now.

[DCBob]

23. Sorry, I didnt mean to imply we shouldnt be angry.. clearly there is alot to be angry about.. but..

we also need to keep things into perspective and not over react and not rush to judgment. I think some have on the issue.. and are screaming bloody murder over something that is completely inaccurate.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

25. what's the thing that's completely inaccurate?

please tell.

[kirby]

28. I will answer this..

All the people saying that BP has a secret plan to not kill the well because they can make money off of the oil.

As I repeated many times and many people have ignored, "All oil proceeds collected goes to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation."

It is fine for people to be angry but at least be angry based on the facts and not made up stuff.

When I point out about the proceeds going to the NFWF, someone else responded 'that must be why they are burning all of the oil'. Again that is not true, they are burning the oil that exceeds their current storage capability, but the amount of storage capability has been increasing as more ships reach the area. Lets deal with facts when we know them.

[Iowa]

24. Thanks scentopine. This is the best post I have seen in a long time. You nailed it.

[northernlights]

12. I doubt that

they weren't planning to empty this well at this time. And having ships collecting oil is a very temporary fix -- they'd have to shut that down every time there was a hurricane.

I'm starting to feel like the government is *finally* calling the shots here. There is serious concern about the integrity of the well bore. They need it to hold together until bottom kill is done, or bottom kill will fail and the catastrophe could get much, much bigger and harder to fix.

They don't know for sure why the pressure levels never got as high as they expected. They are too borderline...

[slackmaster]

18. If doing that helps them offset their losses from this fiasco, why not?

:shrug:

[DCBob]

4. Perhaps.. but now it seems yet another risk as they switch this over..

to pumping it out. Seems to me its one of those "leave well enough alone" situations.. no pun intended.

[Junkdrawer]

5. I think the big cover up of this incident is just how damaged that well is...

and exactly when and how that occurred.

[DCBob]

6. You may be right.. we will probably never know the real truth about that..

I am just thrilled to have this gusher under control. We can deal with BP later.

[marions ghost]

29. under control...?

:eyes:

you wish

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Since none of us are petroleum engineers ...

... none of us really know.

I'm not saying this to defend the company or to tweak our noses. I want to make a point that I think gets overlooked --

Our cynicism is in such a state of anxiety-driven excess that it has become impossible for most of us to think straight about these matters. Not only don't we know WTF is really going on, we end up feeding our own anxiety even more. And it's making us crazy.

It's true about most topics for which we can't get accurate information -- the wars, the financial disaster and recession, "scary science" (vaccinations and nuclear reactors and life on Mars, oh my!), and everything that can be put into a conspiracy theory.

Producing the well will reduce the pressure until a bottom-kill can be done -- that is probably the rationale.

But not being a petroleum engineer. I don't really know.

--d!

[rhett o rick]

9. You cant wonder why we dont trust CorpAmerica or even our government.

A lot of the time our worst fears are realized. How many lies after lies has this corporation and our government spewed over this incident? Only reasonable to assume they are continuing to lie.

BP needs the corporate death penalty.

[DCBob]

10. Sure, but its surprising they dont explain these things better.. it seems like a logical question..

Maybe they will later today.

[dipsydoodle]

13. Not only

are few if any of us petroleum engineers many of the posts which reiterate blogs are from writers who also are not petroleum engineers.

When one us who is from industry posted and pointed out that the BOP which was rated at 20.000 lbs / sq inch could not possibly have coped with the original blowout, which far exceeded that, he was largely ignored.

[slackmaster]

19. As a Systems Admin I get all kinds of great technical advice from end users

Really, I'm serious.

:sarcasm:

[another saigon]

11. Here is Kindra Arnesen's latest interview

The media is conveniently forgetting about the continuing horrors on shore.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=115447

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Get up to Date on Gulf Disaster with Kindra Arnesen on Hardtail News Radio, Full Interview
Kindra Arnesen, outspoken critic of BP from Venice, Louisiana and advocate for the fishermen of the Gulf Coast and their families, indeed for all families in trouble from the oil catastrophe in the Gulf, was interviewed live on Hard Tail News of Freedomizer Radio by regular host "Doc" on July 15th. The topics include the new cap, BP coverups and double-crosses, toxic rain, oil plumes and hurricane impacts on the oil disaster.

Here is her hour interview with Doc in five parts:

PART 1:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQN6bo8zbP8&feature=player_embedded


Even just listening to part one is a shocker. :(

[DCBob]

15. No doubt the worst effects of the spill are yet to be determined..

I think I am most concerned about this massive "oil cloud" under the surface. This thing no doubt is adversely effecting living organisms in the deep waters and eventually some of it will make it to the surface and who knows how bad that will be... but clearly if the gusher is stopped, that is a huge positive develpment.

[lunatica]

14. This oil gusher story reminds me of the iceberg that hit the Titanic

It's probably a stretch to think we're hearing even a 10th of the story. The entire message has been too controlled from the beginning. My fine hairs tell me we're hearing the most positive spin they can put on it. And as bad as that is, the parts we aren't hearing about must be much worse.

http://cstars.rsmas.miami.edu/Media/photo-gallery?func=viewcategory&catid=6

edited to add link

[DCBob]

16. I think you are right.. and they are hoping the oil will just go away, out of sight out of mind...

somehow I dont think it will.

[DCBob]

20. Breaking update: BP now says it plans to keep gulf oil well capped permanently..

Good!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (no link, just a breaking headline)

[backscatter712]

21. That's what I kept hearing.

Looks like the wellhead's holding, so they might as well leave it shut if things are holding steady.

[dipsydoodle]

26. Well I sure hope they do open it again

otherwise all those here who maintained BP's only motive was to get the oil flowing again so's they could sell it are going to look almost as stupid as they did when they said it.

[Spazito]

27. LOL, that's why I want them to keep it closed,...

putting aside the serious reasons, but, have you heard the latest? They have capped it and are keeping it closed because....wait for it...

keeping it capped instead of bringing it up to the ships hides the TRUE amount that was flowing into the ocean!

The tin-foil industry need not worry about their sales it seems.

:rofl: