/ Oil Spills

• Natural Oil Seep Causes White House Panic

  Officials had worried that the seep — usually a flow of hydrocarbons from the seafloor — could have been evidence that oil, gas or both were escaping from the well up to the seafloor, forcing the government to order BP to remove the cap and resume oil collection. But seeps also occur naturally, and in a briefing for reporters Monday afternoon, BP said that government and company scientists were coming to the conclusion that the seep was probably of natural origin and unrelated to the well. _NYT BP's Kent Wells reports that pressures at the well head continue to rise…

• BP Considers a New Way to Seal the Well: The Static Kill

  In Kent Wells' 19July evening press briefing, he announced the possibility that BP would attempt a new way to kill the well from the top called "static kill." It is called "static kill" because the well is currently shut in, with no flow. In this situation, there is no need for ultra-high speed pumping of the kill mud, as in the failed top kill. Instead, heavy mud can be pumped into the top of the shut-in well through the choke and kill lines, in a relatively leisurely manner, under close monitoring. More from Kent Wells below diagram: In terms of…

• Schlumberger Denies Having Deepwater Horizon Mud Logs

  On July 7, 2010, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) reported: "Oil drilling industry inside sources have reported to WMR that 'smoking gun' documents, including what are known as "mud logs" are being kept at the Tulsa, Oklahoma headquarters of Schlumberger Oilfield Services. Mud logging entails the detailed analysis of rocky material and sediment from a borehole for signs and pressure levels  and types of gas being encountered during the drilling process. Mud logging is always carried out by a third-party and in the case of the Deepwater Horizon, this function was performed by Schlumberger." The web site, www.OklahomaWatchdog.org in Oklahoma…

• Global Oil Industry Forms Response Group to Study Gulf Spill

  International oil producers are forming a special group to respond to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and research ways to prevent such an event occurring again. “We remain driven to provide – safely and sustainably – the oil and gas that people the world over will need for decades to come,” said Michael Engell-Jensen, executive director of the London-based International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP). “As part of that effort, OGP will work with all relevant stakeholders with a view to regaining public confidence in our industry.” OGP, which represents major oil companies and trade associations, said…

• BP Committing Ecocide on Islands in Gulf

  From environmentalists and wildlife specialists to fisherman and businessmen along the Gulf Coast the message is the same: BP is not only strangling the news of what is actually occurring in the Gulf of Mexico with the oil disaster but has co-opted key federal regulatory and oversight agencies to advance its agenda and that of its oil partners, including Halliburton, Anadarko, and Transocean. The logistics of the oil clean-up is being criticized because of the over-dependence on deepwater oil skimmer boats. No procedures are in place for using skimmers that can operate in shallower waters of 1 1/2 to 2 feet.…

• An Update on BP’s Efforts to stop the Gulf Oil Spill

  1. New cap over the blowout preventer (BOP) to allow more efficient oil recovery: BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) told the U.S. Coast Guard late Friday that it would start work on a new containment Saturday instead of waiting until it has hooked up a third vessel to handle oil recovered from its leaking deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to Ret. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, BP projected it could finish the new-cap operation in five days if is doesn't encounter any unexpected hurdles. Its contingency plan puts the finish time nine days from now. The…

• Killing the Well and Tales of a Whale

  The leading relief well is now at 17,000 feet, and slowly closing in on the Macondo bore. Meanwhile, on the surface, testing continues on the giant, 21 million gallon a day tanker-skimmer, named "A Whale." The latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish's plan to block the slick has been rejected by federal officials. A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed "A Whale" began Saturday and was to continue through Sunday. TMT Shipping created what is billed as the…

• Was There a 700 Million Gallon Oil Spill off Saudi Arabia in 1993?

  A mishap during the loading of an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia in 1993 initiated a cascading disaster, resulting in what was the largest offshore oil spill ever, but the oil was mostly recovered by deploying supertankers to vacuum up the spill. This is the story told by a former Saudi Aramco engineer in concert with his efforts to convince BP and the U.S. Coast Guard to consider this approach for cleaning up the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While the possibility of a spill-tested but presently ignored solution to the unfolding environmental mess is very intriguing,…

• Research Reports on the Economic and Environmental Impact of Oil Spills

  Every area of science or of business has its own area of research, literature,  resentations and conferences. Since people in the field tend to read the same literature, this defines the "group think" of the field--whether right or wrong. I can only barely scratch the surface of oil spill literature, but I thought I would point out a few things I found. On April 30, 2010, the US Congressional Research Service issued a report called Oil Spills in U.S. Coastal Waters: Background, Governance, and Issues for Congress. An important graph in the report is this one: The rather clear indication…

• Capitol Hill Backlash to Gulf Oil Spill Provokes Flurry of Activity

  Capitol Hill lawmakers reached a new pitch of activity in reaction to the Gulf oil spill, floating a number of new restrictions and rules and acting to remove the cap on oil company liability. Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat, even took a page from the legislation sponsored by his father, former Sen. Paul Sarbanes, in the wake of the Enron collapse, suggesting that oil company chief executives should personally certify oil spill plans. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires CEOs to certify that measures have been taken to ensure the accuracy of their accounting. The oil spill plans submitted by the…