Another oil rig explosion in the gulf

[easycougar]

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=13089364

[Jordan]

Just about to post this. Crazy. Two in four months. :-/

[Elwar]

aww crap

:(

[Elwar]

Coast Guard officials said they do not yet know if there is any type of leak associated with this explosion.

They said it was not actively producing product, but they will investigate whether there is any type of environmental impact.


---

[GunnyFreedom]

gee, thanks Mr. President. Now aren't you SOOOOO glad you mandated that companies in the Gulf drill in MUCH deeper water than was permitted by the Louisiana Governor? :mad:

[lynnf]

at least no one killed in THIS one......

lynn

[Cowlesy]

at least no one killed in THIS one......

lynn

Yep --- hope the one rigger they medevac'd is okay. At least this rig, at least from the map, looks to be drilling in much shallower waters, and the article notes that the rig was not currently running production.

[Jim Casey]

Could this be like when a second plane hit a second tower, and it could no longer be considered an accident, but rather something else?

[Cowlesy]

Could this be like when a second plane hit a second tower, and it could no longer be considered an accident, but rather something else?

It could be.

Or the thirteen guys floating in the water waiting to be rescued may be able to tell us precisely why the accident occurred as opposed to us theorizing it was a North Korean Submarine, or the Russians, or the Israelis.

[Jim Casey]

It could be.

Or the thirteen guys floating in the water waiting to be rescued may be able to tell us precisely why the accident occurred as opposed to us theorizing it was a North Korean Submarine, or the Russians, or the Israelis.
My guess would be the oil companies engineered both of these things to make Obama look bad. The Volt is gonna cut into their profits.

[Slutter McGee]

Could this be like when a second plane hit a second tower, and it could no longer be considered an accident, but rather something else?

I once fell while rock climbing and broke my arm. Not two weeks later I got hit by a car and broke my other arm.

It became clear to me that because this happened within two weeks, it could no longer be considered an accident. Somebody was after me.

Seriously, take a logic class.

Sincerley,

Slutter McGee

[YumYum]

I once fell while rock climbing and broke my arm. Not two weeks later I got hit by a car and broke my other arm.

It became clear to me that because this happened within two weeks, it could no longer be considered an accident. Somebody was after me.

Seriously, take a logic class.

Sincerley,

Slutter McGee

Why do you attack the guy? He is a new poster making an observation.

[Jim Casey]

I once fell while rock climbing and broke my arm. Not two weeks later I got hit by a car and broke my other arm.

It became clear to me that because this happened within two weeks, it could no longer be considered an accident. Somebody was after me.

Seriously, take a logic class.

Sincerley,

Slutter McGee
I know enough about psychology to know that there are no accidents. There was someone after you. It was you.

[Cowlesy]

My guess would be the oil companies engineered both of these things to make Obama look bad. The Volt is gonna cut into their profits.

Wow. Guess the joke is on BP given the crash of its stock price from the 60's/sh to the 30's/sh.

[Jim Casey]

Wow. Guess the joke is on BP given the crash of its stock price from the 60's/sh to the 30's/sh.
If enough oil company stocks crash far enough, it just might justify a bailout.

[Cowlesy]

If enough oil company stocks crash far enough, it just might justify a bailout.

You're going to love the Hot Topics section of the forum.

[ItsTime]

There have been a lot more than 2 explosions in the last year or so.

http://www.google.com/search?q=gas+refinery+explosion

[Jim Casey]

You're going to love the Hot Topics section of the forum.
Not really. I like it when my posts get picked up by google.

[YumYum]

If enough oil company stocks crash far enough, it just might justify a bailout.

I personally think that if there is a conspiracy behind this, it would more likely be a group who wants us to remain dependent on foreign oil. Obama (and I give him credit for this) is trying to get us to be less dependent on foreign oil.

[Anti Federalist]

There's no conspiracy here.

It's nothing more than increased media attention.

These things happen on a surprisingly regular basis.

I'd guess a lightening strike may have caused this.

I've seen more than couple caused by lightening, quite a show.

And I'm guessing that everybody will be OK, the water where this rig was is almost shallow enough to walk to shore.

[Jim Casey]

I personally think that if there is a conspiracy behind this, it would more likely be a group who wants us to remain dependent on foreign oil. Obama (and I give him credit for this) is trying to get us to be less dependent on foreign oil.
h ttp://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/02/mariner-oil-obama/

One Day Before Its Gulf Oil Rig Exploded, Mariner Energy Said Obama ‘Is Trying To Break Us’ With Moratorium

[YumYum]

h ttp://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/02/mariner-oil-obama/

There is a lively discussion on that link you provided. Here are two comments that people might find offensive:

evangenital says:
________________________________________
Have they blamed Clinton yet?

Seriously, these corporate thieves and their little teabagger catamites seem to feel that everything should be for the benefit of the off-shore corporate entities, most of which pay no income tax at all.

September 2nd, 2010 at 12:40 pm


• Invictus Corruptus says:
________________________________________
Is it just a coincidence that after eight years of deregulation under Bush that we have seen two oil rig explosions in the Gulf within five months? Is more to come? Just how lax were the regulators? Just how far reaching are these potential environment disasters in waiting?

Next we will here about the MMS and how they were bought off and bribed, the government went get all the blame while Mariner Energy will get off scott free from any accountability.

September 2nd, 2010 at 12:42 pm
________________________________________

[Cowlesy]

There's no conspiracy here.

It's nothing more than increased media attention.

These things happen on a surprisingly regular basis.

I'd guess a lightening strike may have caused this.

I've seen more than couple caused by lightening, quite a show.

And I'm guessing that everybody will be OK, the water where this rig was is almost shallow enough to walk to shore.

Lightning.....generated by HAARP?????????

:p

[Anti Federalist]

Lightning.....generated by HAARP?????????

:p

Har har har.

Let me put Mrs. AF on, she'll take that comment on. :D

[tangent4ronpaul]

Not really. I like it when my posts get picked up by google.

Google can't see hot topics. That's why things get moved there.

-t

[Kotin]

whoever says the oil companies did this to make obama look bad is not seeing big picture..


you know that BP and other major oil companies are for Cap and Trade right?? because these companies would not even be in business, yet alone huge top tier corporations in their fields if it was not for the Government in the first place.. so that assumption does not add up..

[Zippyjuan]

gee, thanks Mr. President. Now aren't you SOOOOO glad you mandated that companies in the Gulf drill in MUCH deeper water than was permitted by the Louisiana Governor? :mad:

Mandated or allowed? Which conservatives have been begging for for decades to allow crying that we need to permit drilling on all lands and off all shores to reduce our dependence on imported oil as a national security matter. If he DIDN'T allow ofshore drilling, people would be on him for that. A no- win situation.

[Jim Casey]

Got a photo.
http://www.yourindustrynews.com/upload_images/gulf-explosion.jpg

[Anti Federalist]

Mandated or allowed? Which conservatives have been begging for for decades to allow crying that we need to permit drilling on all lands and off all shores to reduce our dependence on imported oil as a national security matter. If he DIDN'T allow ofshore drilling, people would be on him for that. A no- win situation.

Deepwater is the future of offshore oil drilling.

The Tiber field that Deepwater Horizon drilled just last year is one of the biggest finds, ever, anywhere, onshore or off.

2/3 of the planet is ocean and that has barely been explored for oil.

[GunnyFreedom]

Mandated or allowed? Which conservatives have been begging for for decades to allow crying that we need to permit drilling on all lands and off all shores to reduce our dependence on imported oil as a national security matter. If he DIDN'T allow ofshore drilling, people would be on him for that. A no- win situation.

Mandated. The rig from original BP spill was mandated by fed.gov to be in much much deeper water than state.gov had allowed, and BP had wanted. It turns out, per AntiFed, that this one was in much shallower water, so clearly whatever damage there may be will be extremely limited.

Also, I agree that deepwater is the future of future of oil drilling. I'm just saying the market needs to get there naturally, and not through government force and mandates.

[tangent4ronpaul]

saw a report saying it's in 340' of water.

-t

[Jim Casey]

whoever says the oil companies did this to make obama look bad is not seeing big picture..


you know that BP and other major oil companies are for Cap and Trade right?? because these companies would not even be in business, yet alone huge top tier corporations in their fields if it was not for the Government in the first place.. so that assumption does not add up..
BP pulled out of Cap and Trade before their explosion.
h ttp://www.globalwarming.org/2010/02/17/cap-and-trade-is-dead-lets-hear-it-for-bp-conoco-and-caterpillar/

Cap and Trade is Dead: Let’s Hear It for BP, Conoco, and Caterpillar
by Myron Ebell

February 17, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
...
They pulled out when it became clear that they were not going to get rich off the backs of American consumers if the cap-and-trade bill enacted is anything like the specific bills being considered in Congress.
...

Mariner Energy was looking pretty shabby lately.
h ttp://barchart.com/headlines/story.php?id=465270

Mariner Energy's 2Q net income drops by 90 percent
AP - Thu Aug 05, 5:29PM CDT
Related Stocks
ME - Mariner Energy Inc.

HOUSTON (AP) — Mariner Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company focused in the Gulf of Mexico, said Thursday that its second-quarter net income tumbled 90 percent from a year earlier, missing Wall Street's expectations.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Anti Federalist]

saw a report saying it's in 340' of water.

-t

The OP's report had a chart showing it in Vermilion Bay, which would be 8-10 feet.

If it is Vermilion Block 380 in the offshore waters, yeah, it'd be about 350 feet deep there.

[Anti Federalist]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/02/129602743/offshore-oil-rig-on-fire-off-the-coast-of-louisiana-u-s-coast-guard-reports?ft=1&f=1003

An offshore production platform is on fire, some 90 miles south of Vermilion Bay, below Marsh Island, Louisiana. It is owned by Mariner Energy, Inc.

UPDATE at 1:03 p.m. ET: Mariner Energy has released a statement, confirming "a fire has occurred at a production platform located on Vermilion Block 380, approximately 100 miles from the Louisiana coast."

All 13 members of the crew have been evacuated and safely accounted for. No injuries have been reported. In an initial flyover, no hydrocarbon spill was reported.

Mariner has notified and is working with regulatory authorities in response to this incident. The cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken. During the last week of August 2010, production from this facility averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate.

UPDATE at 12:54 p.m. ET: David Reed, a paramedic on a neighboring rig, some 14 miles away from the platform that exploded, told CNN that he and his coworkers "started hearing chatter over all the radio frequencies, and they were calling for all boats to come and assist in the rescue."

We did not know many people were in the water. It was probably about 20 or 30 minutes later that they reported there were 13 people in the water.



UPDATE at 12:41 p.m. ET: In a statement, the Coast Guard issued this statement: "We continue to gather information as we respond with full force, and have oil spill response assets ready for immediate deployment should we receive any reports of pollution."

At his daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the platform was inactive, positioned 340 feet above the sea floor.

"Vermillion 380 is a fixed, manned production platform," the New Orleans Times- Picayune reports. "It's not a well being drilled for oil, like BP's Macondo well and it's not a floating rig like the Deepwater Horizon."

At approximately 10:30 a.m. ET, the Coast Guard received a report of an explosion at the site, Petty Officer Bill Colclough told CNN.

There were 13 people aboard the rig. All of them have been accounted for, Colclough said. Twelve of the employees were reportedly in immersion suits.

UPDATE at 12:37 p.m. ET: The Coast Guard reports all 13 people are aboard a commercial rescue vessel.

They will be taken to Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, Louisiana, for medical treatment.

At least seven Coast Guard rescue helicopters and two airplanes have been dispatched to the rig location from Houston and New Orleans. In addition, three Coast Guard cutters — USCGC Decisive, Manta and Skipjack — are en route, along with four civilian vessels.

No information about the cause of the explosion and fire is available. An investigation is in progress, the Coat Guard spokesman said.

As of last year, Mariner Energy, which is headquartered in Houston, "had interests approximately 240 blocks on the continental shelf and 100 blocks in deepwater," and "net interests in more than 185,000 acres, primarily in the Permian Basin and Gulf Coast."

About 85 percent of the company’s production comes from offshore, with a growing share of that coming from deepwater developments such as Geauxpher, Bass Lite and Northwest Nansen.

We'll update this post as the story develops.

[Anti Federalist]

Frustrating, yet again, the government this and the Coast Guard that...

USCG has no assets to deal with this whatsoever.

Just like MC252, it'll be real people, doing their jobs, that will shut this platform in, not government hut hutting about and making a PITA of itself.

[LibertyEagle]

My guess would be the oil companies engineered both of these things to make Obama look bad. The Volt is gonna cut into their profits.

Uh, I don't think so.

[LibertyEagle]

you know that BP and other major oil companies are for Cap and Trade right?? because these companies would not even be in business, yet alone huge top tier corporations in their fields if it was not for the Government in the first place.. so that assumption does not add up..

Where on earth are you getting this from? Yes, they'd be in business. Last time I checked, there was one hell of a demand for oil.

[Jim Casey]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/02/129602743/offshore-oil-rig-on-fire-off-the-coast-of-louisiana-u-s-coast-guard-reports?ft=1&f=1003
...
At his daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the platform was inactive, positioned 340 feet above the sea floor.
...
"Vermillion 380 is a fixed, manned production platform," the New Orleans Times- Picayune reports. "It's not a well being drilled for oil, like BP's Macondo well and it's not a floating rig like the Deepwater Horizon."
I wonder how an inactive platform explodes.

[Anti Federalist]

I wonder how an inactive platform explodes.

It wasn't, it was a producing platform with multiple well tie ins.


During the last week of August 2010, production from this facility averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate.

[Zippyjuan]

Mandated. The rig from original BP spill was mandated by fed.gov to be in much much deeper water than state.gov had allowed, and BP had wanted. It turns out, per AntiFed, that this one was in much shallower water, so clearly whatever damage there may be will be extremely limited.

Also, I agree that deepwater is the future of future of oil drilling. I'm just saying the market needs to get there naturally, and not through government force and mandates.

The companies get to bid on leases and choose where in available leases they want to drill. If BP did not wish to drill where they did, they were not forced to. Mandated sounds like the government ordered them to drill there which is not true.

Deep water drilling is very expensive. Three years ago Brazil announced a big find- an estimated nine to fifteen billion barrels recoverable. It is nearly four miles down (I think that was like one mile to the sea floor and another three miles down from there) and 200 miles from the nearest shore. But now they are having troubles getting the money they need to be able to tap and use the source. They estimate that they need about $224 billion over the next five years which at the high yield end would be some $15 for each barrel of oil- over $20 at the low end just to set up the infrastructure to extract the oil. I believe just the test well cost about a billion dollars. Petrobras already has a 34% debt load even without these costs. You don't drill someplace because you are mandated to- you drill someplace because you expect to be able to get your costs back and hopefully a profit too.

[GunnyFreedom]

The companies get to bid on leases and choose where in available leases they want to drill. If BP did not wish to drill where they did, they were not forced to. Mandated sounds like the government ordered them to drill there which is not true.

Deep water drilling is very expensive. Three years ago Brazil announced a big find- an estimated nine to fifteen billion barrels recoverable. It is nearly four miles down (I think that was like one mile to the sea floor and another three miles down from there) and 200 miles from the nearest shore. But now they are having troubles getting the money they need to be able to tap and use the source. They estimate that they need about $224 billion over the next five years which at the high yield end would be some $15 for each barrel of oil- over $20 at the low end just to set up the infrastructure to extract the oil. I believe just the test well cost about a billion dollars. Petrobras already has a 34% debt load even without these costs. You don't drill someplace because you are mandated to- you drill someplace because you expect to be able to get your costs back and hopefully a profit too.

o.O

OK let me try and simplify it a little.

BP says "Hey, Louisiana, I want to drill off your coast! We found a perfect spot right over he horizon here in about 75' of water."

LA says, "Sure BP , Come on down! That's a perfect spot."

BP - invest invest invest invest invest

Obama says, "Now just wait a dam minute BP, I don't want you drilling over here, You are going to have to drill over there."

BP says, "We've already invested a ton, and we don't want to drill out there, we have the perfect spot right here."

Obama says, "You will either drill way out there, go to jail, or lose your investment. Your choice."

BP says, "OK I'll drill way out there."

BOOM.

Now I don't know if you speak a different flavor of English than I do, I mean, it's sure possible, but it seems apparent to me that Obama mandated that BP drill in the deeper, unstable region that they did not want to drill in.

Would you have felt better if I said that Obama "countermanded" the LA Gov's permission? Or maybe that Obama "demanded" that BP not be allowed to drill over here, and "allowed" them to drill over there?



Definition of MANDATE - an authoritative command; especially : a formal order from a superior court or official to an inferior one
"By order of the President of the United States, you cannot drill in 75' foot of water, if you drill, you will drill in over 500' of water."

Sounds like "an authoritative command" to me... :confused:

[Jim Casey]

It wasn't, it was a producing platform with multiple well tie ins.
It wasn't producing today.
h ttp://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Mariner+Energy+explodes+Gulf+Mexico/3473948/story.html

The platform was undergoing maintenance and was not in active production, the U.S. Interior Department said. The platform was authorized to produce oil and natural gas.
I wonder what kind of maintenance results in an explosion.

[Anti Federalist]

I wonder what kind of maintenance results in an explosion.

Quite a bit of it, actually.

Water separators, injection pumps, gas dehydrators, sand filters, and all the valves, pipelines and pumps that serve those things and more need regular maintenance and, if not gas freed properly, could result in an explosion.

[Cowlesy]

Quite a bit of it, actually.

Water separators, injection pumps, gas dehydrators, sand filters, and all the valves, pipelines and pumps that serve those things and more need regular maintenance and, if not gas freed properly, could result in an explosion.

I was just looking at one of our management's presentations, and they had a basic outline of one of their rigs. The thing has 12 well heads, 38'' bundled carrier flowpipe, towheads, crossover manifolds, production block manifolds, water injection manifolds, service water pipes, cooling spools, etc etc..and that's a few of the items below the water.

[tangent4ronpaul]

The companies get to bid on leases and choose where in available leases they want to drill. If BP did not wish to drill where they did, they were not forced to. Mandated sounds like the government ordered them to drill there which is not true.

If they want work, it's a mandate. You are right about the bidding process, but the government only put up 14 lots for bid. I believe they were all in deep water due to the brain dead logic that, you know if there was a spill the oil would be so close to shore that it would come in and devastate the wet lands, but if it was way out there then that's a nice buffer to catch it before it hits shore.

Thing is that shallow wells are a lot easier to cap and deep ones can be a bitch.

Brainfart!

-t

[ClayTrainor]

Where on earth are you getting this from? Yes, they'd be in business. Last time I checked, there was one hell of a demand for oil.

I don't think he's saying the business for oil would disappear. I think what he means (I could be wrong) is that the Players in that market would change drastically, if the state didn't have grant them near immunity from liability, through corporatism.

We all know that Big Oil and Big Government are very much in bed together.

[Zippyjuan]

Shallower wells can be hard to cap too. In 1979, a Mexican oil company had a rig blowout and spill millions of gallons (final estimate was 3 million barrels of oil at 42 gallons per). The blowout happend on June 3rd and was not shut down until March 23rd, 1980- ten months later. Two relief wells were drilled to try to stop it. This happened in 160 ft of water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill It was the largest spill ever prior to the most recent one.

There are thousands of leases which have been issued in the Gulf- some of which have not even been developed so there were other options available. As of May 18 of this year, there are 6,643 leases covering almost 36 million acres. Map: http://www.gomr.boemre.gov/homepg/lsesale/mau_gom_pa.pdfb The more available area for leases is in places farther from shore, true.

[Jim Casey]

We have seen the sheen.
h ttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_rig_explosion

ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer – 14 mins ago
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Another oil rig exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, spreading a mile-long oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico west of the site of BP's massive spill.

[Slutter McGee]

I know enough about psychology to know that there are no accidents. There was someone after you. It was you.

Yes....because I walked accross the street at crosswalk when I had the signal because I subconciously wanted to get hit by a car.

Brilliant use of pyschology. Absolutely brilliant.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

[Anti Federalist]

I was just looking at one of our management's presentations, and they had a basic outline of one of their rigs. The thing has 12 well heads, 38'' bundled carrier flowpipe, towheads, crossover manifolds, production block manifolds, water injection manifolds, service water pipes, cooling spools, etc etc..and that's a few of the items below the water.

It's a hell of an operation, even on an older, smaller platform.

Thunderhorse is incredibly complex, I've worked this facility many times:

http://www.finfacts.ie/artman/uploads/2/thunder_horse_platform_Gulf_mexico_Mar032009.jpg