Environment Giant box close to being over oil-spewing well

[The Helper]

AP) -- A mission to the bottom of the sea to try to avert a wider environmental disaster progressed early Friday as crews said a 100-ton concrete-and-steel box was close to being placed over a blown-out well on the Gulf floor in an unprecedented attempt to capture gushing oil.

Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that brought the box to the site, confirmed a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that said the device would be in position over the well soon.

The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the 40-foot box.

A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker. Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours.

A steel pipe will be installed between the top of the box and tanker. If all goes well, the whole structure could be operating by Sunday.

Giant box close to being over oil-spewing well

(AP) -- A mission to the bottom of the sea to try to avert a wider environmental disaster progressed early Friday as crews said a 100-ton concrete-and-steel box was close to being placed over a blown-out well on the Gulf floor in an unprecedented attempt to capture gushing oil.

phys.org

 

[The Helper]

Bubble of methane triggered rig blast

The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.

While the cause of the explosion is still under investigation, the sequence of events described in the interviews provides the most detailed account of the April 20 blast that killed 11 workers and touched off the underwater gusher that has poured more than 3 million gallons of crude into the Gulf.

Portions of the interviews, two written and one taped, were described in detail to an Associated Press reporter by Robert Bea, a University of California Berkeley engineering professor who serves on a National Academy of Engineering panel on oil pipeline safety and worked for BP PLC (BP) as a risk assessment consultant during the 1990s. He received them from industry friends seeking his expert opinion.

Read the news here.

 

[Whitesock]

Yeah I just saw in the news that the box failed. =/

 

[The Helper]

The box sucks!

 

[The Helper]

Problem for Containment Dome in Gulf

Officials for BP on Saturday encountered a significant setback in their efforts to attach a containment dome over a leaking well on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, forcing them to move the dome aside while they find another method to cap the crude oil flowing into the Gulf since April 20.

Officials discovered that gas hydrates, ice-like crystals lighter than water, had built up inside the 100-ton metal container. The hydrates threatened to make the dome buoyant, and they also plugged up the top of the dome, preventing it from being effective.

“I wouldn’t say it has failed yet,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said at a news conference in Robert, La. “What we attempted to do last night hasn’t worked.”

As a consequence, crews had to lift the dome off the well and place it on the seabed.

More.

 

[SineCosine]

Maybe the oil still flows because the box is a lie ._.

“I wouldn’t say it has failed yet,” ...
....“What we attempted to do last night hasn’t worked.”

wad ._.

 

[BlowingKush]

If the box is not used maybe they could put Sarah palin in it and leave it on the ocean floor

 

[NightShade]

^ seriously?

their lack of planning and fore-site is really embarrassing.

I wonder how this will screw up the environment. it's at the bottom of the ocean so the effects could be different. I also wonder how the oil gets released naturally.

 

[Ninva]

I'm kinda surprised that TH.net hasn't talked about the tabloids that Russia is publishing, but I'll keep this to myself.

 

[phyrex1an]

I also wonder how the oil gets released naturally.

Oil wells usually have a higher pressure than the surroundings, once there is a pipe down it will come up by itself. During extraction you also pump down salt water (or other liquid) to keep the pressure high.

I'm kinda surprised that TH.net hasn't talked about the tabloids that Russia is publishing, but I'll keep this to myself.

Perhaps the reason it isn't discussed is because no one has any idea on what it is?

Anyway, some pictures: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html

 

[NightShade]

wow! those pictures are awesome!

how is sticking pipes into the ground to get the oil out natural?

 

[ReVolver]

And this is why, children

we don't need oil.

 

[phyrex1an]

how is sticking pipes into the ground to get the oil out natural?

I thought you asked why there is still oil spewing out now when the oil rig is gone.

 

[phyrex1an]

I wonder how this will screw up the environment. it's at the bottom of the ocean so the effects could be different.

Here is another article that discusses your question: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...Examiner~y2010m5d13-A-volcano-of-oil-erupting
Seems to be rather sensationalistic though.

 

[T.s.e]

I had a feeling the box wouldn't work.

 

[Miz]

We in Florida are not happy. Especially us on the Gulf coast, the oil companies here did just get their rights to offshore drilling closer to shore but since this incident with BP; they are going to be actually restricted from more areas then they were before the new bill. (If the situation gets anyworse, they might be kicked from the entire region all together)

I am really annoying with BP because when they convinced everyone that they were going to do Offshore drilling they told us this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Exactly, quote-unquote this issue would not occur, and if a leak did occur offshore it would be quickly contained.

It just doesn't seem like BP really gives a damn and I guess for their sakes and safety it doesn't hit Louisiana's Wetlands dramatically nor does it the Floridian Gulf Coast.

Oil like that is impossible to get out of the beach sand, and can only be taken out in time. Which doesn't seem like much but people don't go to the beach when the sand isn't nice and white like we brag about. Meaning a lost in tourism and upwards costs into the billions of dollars in losses.

My comments if the Oil does hit our Area in the Gulf:
"Well I guess for the Tampa Bay area, I just hope you're not a BP Worker of any kind or any customer in a BP gas station at the time of the news release. Because your safety can not be guaranteed"

 

[T.s.e]

I feel your pain, Miz. There have been several oil spills here on Norway's west coast, and we're still having trouble with the remaining oil slicks.

 

[SineCosine]

Behold!
The solution!