The oil spill

I think the one that blew was a little bigger.....

Geez Don that is a scary picture!!! 

Brent, there are tons of oil-wells out in that area, and as Don's picture shows the one that blew was HUGE!!!!!!!!

I think it was a pretty new well too...I haven't been offshore since 2008 so doubt it was even up last time I was out there....

The box is on its way down so fingers crossed it will work!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100507/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Sincerely,

Jim

My friend was telling me that the really big floaters out there are just gigantic.  They maintain position by using GPS and "thrusters" to keep position.  The one that blew up started drilling at 5,000 feet below the water, had to drill another 10,000 feet and had to hit a cavity the size of three square feet. 

Jim,
The cobia were fun to hunt.  They gave us one pass and if you weren't ready then chances are all you got was a mental picture.  They have notoriously hard heads and our aim was to shoot them at an angle from behind so our shafts wouldn't have to penetrate the thick skull. 

Ya, my friend from there has shot tuna up to 200lbs and wahoo up to 100lbs.  Friends of his have shot even bigger.  They tell of dives where they are in the middle of a tornado of tuna. 

WTF??? Holy crap, thats a scary pic!

such a F"ing mess!

How did it explode?

How did it explode?

Lots of theories, including " Conspiracies theories..."  From Eco Terrorism, North Korea and Iran,  and of of Course Obama...  Got ta Love Fox News.....   

But the More logical explanation is they Hit a Huge gas pocket of methan gas... I mean beyond our imagination...  see this thread of a story of a pleasure PB who was by the Rig when it went...  gave a pre explosion experince of a Huge Rush of Methane Gas Blowing by them that gave them enough to run like a Bat out of Hell away fromt he Rig just before it exploded.....

http://www.mudinmyblood.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6104

There is also something to do with pouring cement, which is just unbelievable the technology of what they do on these rigs, but it's complicated and easy for something to go wrong. Could explain as to why they can't shut these valves....

No, I'm not any expert, but I have joined the Bayou kayakfishing club and these guys are,,,,

 

There is no really simple way to explain the driling process, unfortunately. But here goes:

Once a well is successfully drilled and the pipe, which lines the hole drilled, is in place, they basically put a cement cap on it with a pressure shut off valve (kinda opposite a pressure release valve on an air compressor with a tank. Instead of letting gas out, this valve is made to shut off when pressure reaches a certain level.) And just like cement poured on a driveway, that underwater cement cap needed time to cure to be as strong as it should be.

Supposedly, either while the concrete cap was curing (drying) or shortly after when they re-opened the well, a huge gas bubble burped up from the pocket of oil down below the well head. These gases are typically methane and natural gas, which are highly explosive. It is typical for some gases to escape and some pressure to be relieved from the wells while extracting the oil. Think of it as a controlled burp. That's one reason why rigs are often noisy and sometimes flare off those gases, like what you'd see at plants from Shell or Exxon, Chevron, etc. at night. As long as it's done in a controlled way, everything is fine. The guy said sometimes the pressure is just too big. Even the best made pressure valves could fail. The gas pushed out the mud that was supposed to help hold it down or at least help control its release. Then seawater began to shoot up the well pipes and out the top of rig.


I didn't listen to the second part yet, but I can break it down for you, too, if need be.

I hope this helps.

   

Jim,
The cobia were fun to hunt.  They gave us one pass and if you weren't ready then chances are all you got was a mental picture.  They have notoriously hard heads and our aim was to shoot them at an angle from behind so our shafts wouldn't have to penetrate the thick skull.    

I remember that they were often in pairs, smaller male and bigger female. If you hooked one and kept it in the water next to the boat, the partner would often come around and then you could cast to it...also, if you saw them and cast to them and missed or spooked them we would take a paddle and slap the water and that seemed to attract them back around to give you another chance!!!

Also seen a LOT of sharks out there, from BlackTips to HammerHeads to Makos...you all have any close encounters??

I remember that they were often in pairs, smaller male and bigger female. If you hooked one and kept it in the water next to the boat, the partner would often come around and then you could cast to it...also, if you saw them and cast to them and missed or spooked them we would take a paddle and slap the water and that seemed to attract them back around to give you another chance!!!

Also seen a LOT of sharks out there, from BlackTips to HammerHeads to Makos...you all have any close encounters??

Yup, the sightings I had of cobia they were always paired up. 

I didn't see any sharks on that trip.  Which is a good thing because the surface vis was so bad.  Seeing a shark in those waters would really raise the heart rate. 

But out in the bluewater the sharks can get numerous.  Here's a pic that my buddy took with some other guys. 

DUDE!!!!!!!

Too many teeth in that pic for me!!!!!!
 

The Nightmare Continues.....  

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/09rig.html?pagewanted=1

The Box, Dome... Whatever, Failed.... Hydrates ( crystals ) plugged the area where the oil was to be sucked out... Froze it... Now it's a " Anybody got a idea that might work?..)

 Mean while, winds and currents have shiftted to include Most of Louisiana all the way to the Florida panhandle with no end in sight...

Oh.. and the leak will most likely grow go from 5000 Barrels a day to 60,000 to maybe 4.5 Million gallons of Oil a Day....

 Guess Congress Might Get the Point when Oil washes up on the Potomac Beaches...

  Very Grim Indeed....

Their still Thinking about many Ideas...

 280 Vessels on Scene and over 8000 people,
               
             and more on the way from All Over The World...

This is going to be around for a while.......  

Very Sad.....  

That is  no F#####ing bueno!!I pray for  an  outcome thats  timely and minimal  in  damage.I feel for  those  folks and Mother Earth,Gabe

Very sad indeed. Wish there was something we could all do to help.
Pretty hopeless feeling sitting back and watching as that thing keeps gushing.
Sad and frustrating.

Pretty hopeless feeling sitting back and watching as that thing keeps gushing.
Sad and frustrating.

That's about how they Feel on The Gulf Coast.....

There now saying that this was only the first attempt, and they have dealt with this problem at 3500', but not 5000'...

 Lots of ideas, lets Hope something works....

BP caves to pressure, releases first video of oil gushing into Gulf

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_sc2031

Disturbing to watch that crude just gush freely into the water.

Makes me sick looking at that....

 

  Well, they obviously have the technology to locate the oil, and drill for it.  However, they obviously don't have technology available yet to deal with any possible issues that might arise at these depth, and until these oil companies drilling so deep have suitable technology for dealing with emergencies such as this gush, then THEY SHOULDN'T BE DRILLING AT THESE DEPTHS until they do have something in place to deal with it!  Solution simple.  Don't fucking do it, if you can't fix it!
  I know some one within BP has probably though "What if this happens" and brought his/her concers to someone else, and was probably shut down by his/her superiors for that thinking.  That person probably feels pretty lousy about now.