Breaking: BP Claims Well Shut Off During Test

And MSNBC brings on senile quack Matt Simmons on to spread more rumors, aaaiiieee (4.00 / 7)

..... somebody has spaghetti for brains !!!!!

Matt Simmons has been completely debunked and Dylan Ratigan is treating him seriously !!!!   He's the kook saying the well is leaking miles away !!!!
Shut up !!!   There is no underground giant spill miles away !!!   Aiieeeeee !!!!

Great, now Sen Merkley gets to debunk him instead of talking about anything else.  Ratigan =  idiot.  

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 20:06:29 PM UTC

Truthfully (4.00 / 8)

The only "debunking" of Matt Simmons I've ever seen is lots of people yelling "Simmons has been DEBUNKED!!!!". But I guess in blogmania that counts as fact, kinda sorta. ;-)

Great that it's been capped though. I've always had the utmost confidence in BP. And in Hayward especially.

Is there any video feed now of all the leaking cracks in the seabed all around it or coming up through the seabed from the damaged well bore below the seabed, that should be pumping it out faster than they were so far, now that the pressure is increased with that cap on top of the BOP?

Or are they keeping the cameras aimed away from the surrounding seabed, that looked like this a few weeks ago?

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by: Edger @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 21:26:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Seriously???...Have we learned nothing? (4.00 / 6)

Do you believe BP?
The Federal Guvment right now?
Thad Allen?

I'll believe its capped when there are multiple sources outside of BP and the Federal gov't telling me so and also showing me in as clear and stark terms as possible.

Until then I'm waiting for a greater clusterfuck to unfold.

I've been battling comments that, surely, this component has a "safety allowance" well above its rating. Boomers, this is pure horseshit. When you're pressuring up against metal with hydrocarbons, the "maximum" in "maximum working pressure" fucking means MAXIMUM. Purposefully exceeding MWP is, in fact, criminally actionable. MWP is enforced in the Oil & Gas industry with perfect vigor. There is no tolerance for exceeding MWP. None. Never. Ever.

You. Don't. Fucking. Do. It.

BP is PLANNING on doing it! They would not and could not do it without the U.S. Government taking full responsibility, in the name of Thad Allen, for the consequences of over-pressuring the FlexJoint.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

'The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.' Hemingway

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by: PrometheusUnbound @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 22:04:18 PM UTC

What happens when (4.00 / 4)

the pressure inside a pressure cooker gets too high for the seal?

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by: Edger @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 22:35:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

. . . . (4.00 / 4)

A pressure cooker must let off steam or it blows up.  

I think the first capping caused the other leaks because of the tremendous pressure of the gusher.  When something has that kind of force, it will found an outlet!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 22:40:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

In other words (4.00 / 4)

it has to be allowed to leak, or the problem gets explosive, and completely, irretrievably out of control...

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by: Edger @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 22:48:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Speaking of leaks, etc. (4.00 / 3)

-- you know, the ones that caused the humongous plumes -- have those leaks been stopped?  Going by memory here, but didn't they put a riser on top of the riser that's already in place to surround it, or some such?  Could this latest effort cause a rupture somewhere else in the sea floor?  

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 23:42:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There were at least 3 leaks (4.00 / 3)

from the top of the bop and from kinks in the riser pipe, if I recall correctly.

Then there are the leaks in the seabed and from the damaged well bore below the seabed.

But I'm old. There could be more. ;-)

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by: Edger @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 23:51:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There is one leak (4.00 / 4)

that 21" hole into hell, it just happened to have a pipe that had multiple fractures.

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
    - Arthur C. Clarke

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by: CatfishBlues @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 05:06:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well, yes, sort of (4.00 / 2)

But there are leaks sideways under the seabed coming sideways through damaged well bore and working their way up to the surface around the well.

It could be looked at as one leak with multiple exit wounds, I guess.

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by: Edger @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 16:55:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

. . . . . (4.00 / 4)

it's getting harder and harder to keep the "leaks" straight . . .  !

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 00:17:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Seriously, I did a Timeline search (4.00 / 3)

and weirdly enough, amongst the various "timelines" offered, couldn't seem to find anything about "further" leaks, though, we know that there were more than from the initial "leak" == gusher!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:15:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

here you go... (4.00 / 3)

One of the early graphics from late April, early May sometime from NOLA.com

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by: Edger @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:05:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

And just think, if that MF, Cheney, (4.00 / 4)

the head of the Energy Task Force, had not told BP to forget about the "acoustical remote control" shut-off device, at a cost of $500,000, this may never, ever have happened period.  That is correct -- Cheney told BP NOT to spend the $500,000.00 for an acoustical remote control shut-off device.  All of the Nordic countries have THAT system built-in to their operations, but NOT BP, in England, or the U.S.  

Just think, a measly $500,000.00 might have saved us all from this heart-breaking, environmentally catastrophic event.  $500,000!!!!!   You might know that Cheney has had his hands into everything you can think of, even OUT of government.

But, you have to understand, we were ALL subject to these disastrous oil companies and so many of our governmental officials -- and so, here we are today, suffering horrendous consequences, because OIL is the love of oil companies, many in government, the reason for our wars (and, don't forget BP supplies most all of the oil for the "wars."

Deference, IMHO, has been shown BP, right down the line, for the explanations I've stated above.    

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 03:55:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

LOL and when I post the satellite pics showing the true extent of the spill (4.00 / 5)

.... on the surface extends far beyond what the "official" government oil trajectory is (which, btw, they stopped making )  I get people accusing me of making that up, too.  

Hey, if you want to argue with somebody, go back to Orangeland and have at it with the thousands of "experts" there who are making comments just for the sake of .... making comments.    

I won't school you in reading comprehension, but I've already documented, read, written, kept a series of screenshots,  and linked to enough on the topic that you should know I didn't claim the BP Deepwater Horizon Macondo well was permanently sealed, capped, cured, neutered, plugged, stopped, repaired, fixed,  or raptured to the Great Oil Well Afterlife in a Black Hole in space somewhere.  

I said they stopped the flow from coming out of all the apparatus that is on top of the well head on the sea floor, at that moment in time.  That includes the old BOP, the new sealing cap, the spool, and stack ram assembly on top.

I never said it wasn't dangerous.

It is not capped. It is shut off.  For now, during a pressure test. At least that is what the ROV cameras and the "official government website" and the media and the blogs and the observers seem to be all agreeing on.

And I never said I believed what the government says, or what the purpose of their various deceits has been.  In fact, in the last major diary I did, I outlined exactly why the Senate is in a hurry to take up their POS "energy bill."   With which I have some serious disagreements with.   It's all about the bank investments and the Senate wants their donations for the upcoming election.  

But I'm not wasting much time anymore arguing with the Beltway Insiders, the state government staffers, the anonymous DC staffers, the lobbyists, the political party hacks, the Republicans masquerading as Dems,  and the stock market speculators, the authoritarians, and others who are really wanting me to say things to make the establishment look good and the challengers to the status quo look bad.

IF you had been following what I have written on this, my ongoing skepticism with what the government has been saying on this has been obvious from the first day.  Unlike a lot of people, I am not going to wildly speculate, exaggerate,  or make up crap like Matt Simmons (what the hell is wrong with him lately, anyway? ) to manipulate the stock market so that BP goes under even faster.

I don't feel like I have enough formal training, experience,  nor access to all the data and experts to have been able to say "yes" or "no" on whether or not they should have done this, and obviously they don't care whether or not I even have any sort of opinion.  To do so, I would have to go back to school and get another degree and get my knowledge base updated further, and get certified.   I can't even tell you what the probability of that "greater clusterfuck" is.  I can tell you that Stephen Chu, his team of so called "experts," and engineering people and the bean counter decision maker CEO's at BP are calculating that this particular test had a very low probability of catastrophic failure before they tried it.  Whether or not they are "correct" in their assumptions, we will see as the hours go by.  Are politics influencing their decision making process ? Yes.

Does this make me nervous ?  Yes.

If there is a weakness in any of the components, you know what happens next, usually when you least expected it.

Now, do I have an opinion on how this entire deal has gone down ?  Oh, hell yeah.  Everybody's surprised.  Nobody knew they were doing this today. Nobody knows what they're going to do next.

Are you worried I'm not mad enough or skeptical at the government or at those psychopaths at BP to be trustworthy ?  

Don't make me laugh.  

   

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 23:25:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ha ... (4.00 / 4)

... worth repeating:

... I didn't claim the BP Deepwater Horizon Macondo well was permanently sealed, capped, cured, neutered, plugged, stopped, repaired, fixed,  or raptured to the Great Oil Well Afterlife in a Black Hole in space somewhere.  

Whew!

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by: Nightprowlkitty @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 00:34:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good, NPK! (4.00 / 3)

His comment was great and I loved, too, what you pointed out!  

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:05:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I shoulda' (4.00 / 3)

told ARC straightout, "meself."  Thanks for doing it!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:36:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

i'm saying don't feed me the 'breaking' and then (4.00 / 2)

BP's and the gov't's hand fed line of 'everything is fixed' bullshit arc. nothing more, nothing less. instead i think it is clear there are very real dangers and until it is clear those dangers are completely resolved i'm not buying any of it.

it is also clear from previous rants i also do not buy the orange spew but there are those at o satan that are believable and those that are not. fishgrease has proven to be credible on several levels.

end of story

'The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.' Hemingway

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by: PrometheusUnbound @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:22:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cute. You're coming over here with a dailyorange link and telling me not to (4.00 / 1)

.... use "breaking" in my title for a piece of news that just broke. Because you've got the low down skinny on The Truth™ at the GOS.

precious.

I noticed this was also over in the discussion thread at the Oil Drum yesterday.  Where I read it already.

If fishgrease wants me to read what he wrote, he can post it at other sources, but I doubt he wants me to actually read what he wrote.   If you want me to read what you wrote, you can post it here, but I doubt you actually want me to read what you wrote, since you're still thinking it's so important I should go to the OFA/DNC weblog and read it there so I can pick up some more of that great, negative energy vibe of the universe.  

If the Fed govt, the President, and BP and the media all issue stories and video simultaneously indicating the well is being shut off with the new cap and stack for now, during a pressure test, before they start resuming shipping oil to the surface with the Q4000 and the Helix P later,  and I've been watching the webcams,  if I start claiming that it really isn't happening,  I would be starting a great conspiracy theory, wouldn't I ?

Just looked at the webcams again. Looks like nothing blew yet.

And we all know what happens to people who do that CT stuff.  

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 04:30:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well, ARC! (4.00 / 7)

It may turn out good, but, right now, it's pretty damned scary.  We have every reason to be skeptical, the weaknesses of the riser, itself, the faulty flooring, a cap creating great pressure -- just plain scary.  I mean, what if it won't simply escape elsewhere, where we cannot see it escaping?  On the other hand, somewhere I read (and I don't know if it's really so) that BP is now operating at the instruction of some experts from other countries.  If true, it gives me a little hope.

Here's a video from the AP:  BP Says no more oil going into the Gulf

. . . . President Barack Obama called it a positive sign, but cautioned: "We're still in the testing phase."

The stoppage came 85 days, 16 hours and 25 minutes after the first report April 20 of an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

The skepticism comes after a string of failed attempts by BP to contain the leak, including the use of a giant concrete-and-steel box that became clogged with ice-like crystals; a colossal stopper and siphon tube that trapped very little oil; and an effort to jam the well by pumping in mud and shredded rubber.

Wells said the oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT after engineers gradually dialed back the amount of crude escaping through the last of three vents in the cap, an 18-foot-high metal stack of pipes and valves . . . .

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 22:38:18 PM UTC

I don't trust the Associated Press veal pen stenographers any farther than I could (4.00 / 6)

.... shoot them thru a riser pipe with a 5 horsepower pump.

Glad to see Prez saying "it's a testing phase," at least.  

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 23:32:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I agree, they kinda' (4.00 / 4)

do a lot of shifting, but the video gives a good clear picture and I threw in some of the language, mainly because of the length of time this gusher has endured to the minute, all on the same thread!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 23:47:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But, also, (4.00 / 2)

that which I posted is NOT "untrue."  

ARC . . . . . I know we're all filled with . . . . and, then some!  

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

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by: tahoebasha3 @ Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 02:54:37 AM UTC

[ Parent ]