AP: BP says so far, Gulf well plug isn't working

[1776Forever]

Source: AP

BEN NUCKOLS
Published: 8 minutes ago

COVINGTON, La. (AP) - A risky procedure is failing to stop the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, and BP said Saturday it is considering scrapping it in favor of yet another method to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The comments from BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles came amid increasing skepticism that the "top kill" operation - which involves pumping heavy drilling mud into a crippled well 5,000 feet underwater - would halt the leak. It's the latest in a series of proposed solutions BP has tried - including a gigantic box placed over the leak and a tube inserted to siphon the oil away. Both of those ultimately failed.

The top kill began Wednesday, and "to date it hasn't yet stopped the flow," Suttles told reporters at Port Fourchon. "What I don't know is whether it ultimately will or not."


Read more: http://www.apnews.com/ap/db_45593/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=1EtRiTZH&src=cat&dbid=45593&dbname=Headlines&detailindex=0

---

........

Check out the live cam - does not look like it has stopped from the video. Sad!

http://www.livestream.com/wkrg_oil_spill

[Trillo]

1. I'm glad that Chu is working on this as well. n/t

[aquart]

2. So BP hasn't a clue and we let them keep doing whatever they want.

So glad I don't live there..........how long till that loop current hits Long Island? The Bahamas? Cuba? Where is this endless oil going? We need to know. Every damn inch of coast NEEDS TO KNOW NOW.

[BelgianMadCow]

10. "Where is this endless oil going?" - unfortunately, the dispersant trick

has surely given rise to several plumes like the 3 reported, at several depths and in several directions - so what's gonna come up where could reasonably only be predicted to some degree if the plumes had been monitored from the day they started direct dispersion at the seafloor. What you could "hope" is that the dispersion clouds stay down - in which case they mereley kill marine life and not get to beaches.

:(

[MidwestTransplant]

3. I saw a big eel swim by earlier today.

[Oregone]

5. No worries

That little guy wont pose a problem anymore. He is dead

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. My response:

[Rozlee]

6. That area of the Coast is already called Cancer Alley. Not to mention that it leads the country in

miscarriages. There was always speculation that it was due to refineries as well as oil and gas
by-products that many citizens were certain oil companies were illegally dumping in the water. Scratch that. They do illegally dump it in the Coast waters. My daughter's in the Coast Guard Reserves. When she was active duty and used to board ships, she gave out fines like candy to some of those ships. Some, like Halliburton, just turned around and whined to their bought congressperson and the fine was dropped. She's pregnant now and can't be activated until after my grandchild is born to assist in the oil spill, but none of the Coasties are surprised by any of this. They used to give out fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars continuously, but those bastards rarely ever paid them. So, what's going to change now? I'm willing to bet nothing will.

[Earth_First]

7. Back to the drawing board for 3 or 4 more days...?

At this rate of failure; you would think that they would have a staff of engineers working around the clock for the next solution...

:shrug:

[marshall]

85. On a holiday weekend?

At least the press could quit pounding the vacation meme.

[joanmj]

8. Shit!

I had a feeling....BP I hate you...:mad: :puke: :argh:

[pipoman]

9. Unless they are using the giant plug...

followed by the big blue tapered thing, they are wasting their time''

[Yeahyeah]

11. OK,now we promise them that we will chop the heads off of their top 15 executives

in 7 days if they do not stop the oil volcano.

[BelgianMadCow]

12. I suggested a different kind of top kill myself

;-)

it would involve cement as well

[scentopine]

88. Agree -the best market incentive I've heard.

[lovuian]

13. somebody shut that stupid idiot Admiral of the Coast Guard Up

Please...he is the one to announce to everybody it was working

He needs to be taken out of his position
He is a IDIOT

that said BP is clueless ...

[BelgianMadCow]

14. It was a much longer shot than 60-70% - and has been going downhill for days

just waiting till tomorrow evening after the talk shows and before the holiday to declare it a total failure, mark my words

I don't think it was wrong to try - and neither do I blame the people actually trying this. So many of them will understand much better what BP BS is being peddled at times and are probably as concerned as we are.

edit: + 3 recs atm, wtf?

[underpants]

15. I would expect the data dump tomorrow in the middle of the afternoon

when no one is watching and by Tuesday no one will mention it (so no one will care)

[BelgianMadCow]

16. apparently, they come clean earlier this time - BP presser "and that has failed"

BP Presser:
According to Suttles, top kill was the least risky option and that has failed, so it's onward to even more risky dog tricks and pony shows. He also said their objective is to cement this well shut. Admiral Landry is all smiley and upbeat and said everyone understands the need to keep a steady hand at the till.

From post at theoildrum - haven't found direct link to press conference transcript yet.

[Arrowhead2k1]

17. 'Top kill' has failed, BP says

Source: CNN

BP says "top kill" has failed to stop flow of oil from well and it is "time to move on" to another approach.

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- BP's "top kill" attempt to stop the flow of oil from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico failed, the company's chief operating officer said Saturday.

The oil giant has tried for days to stop the the largest oil spill in U.S. history by pumping heavy, mudlike drilling fluid into a ruptured oil well, a method known as "top kill."

The next option is to place a custom-built cap known as the "lower marine riser package" over the leak, the company's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles said. BP crews were working Saturday to ready the materials for that option should it become necessary, he said.

"We've been prepping that all along in case we need to move to that option," he said. "People want to know which technique is going to work, and I don't know."

And if "lower marine riser package" were to fail, he said, BP engineers would try placing a second blowout preventer on top of the first, which failed to cut of the oil flow after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. The failed blowout preventer is a 48-foot-tall, 450-ton apparatus that sits atop the well 5,000 feet underwater.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/29/us.gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

[elleng]

18. Ditto, NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30spill.html?hp

[roguevalley]

75. I almost swallowed my tongue opening this thread. This is killing

me, this stupid shit.

[elleng]

80. CURSE: May you live in interesting times!

[elleng]

19. Dupe

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. So if this was their 60-70% option (yeah right), how much further down the food chain are these

options?

(Or was it a matter of least cost = first try...)

[tranche]

30. They started drilling the relief wells weeks ago. That is the only real option.

Everything else in the meantime would be a temporary solution and having a very low chance of success.

[BelgianMadCow]

36. top kill and junk shot stemmed spill speed at Ixtoc - and I don't think the order is cost based

more like based on time constraints and risk of aggravating things. I do have PR isn't part of the ordering reason (it sure is part of the "next up good chance looking good lost a wing crash lookie next act)

I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge the other options down the line - I read theoildrum for that, especially the OPs.

[underpants]

21. Imagine if they got someone in there that had a clue as to what they were doing

just imagine

[Arrowhead2k1]

22. I doubt that anyone on this earth has a clue on how to fix this.

There should have been more done to prevent this in the first place, but now that the damage is done, the only thing that will stop this leak will be the relief well in 2-3 months.

[flyarm]

28. oh but of course we ran away all the world offers of help!!..from many other countries.

but those little facts should remain behind closed doors shouldn't they?

Golf anyone?? or a weekend away in Chicago perhaps??????????

[tranche]

32. Do you have any specifics of what the world was offering? Was it anything new?

I'm not hearing any solutions besides the drilling of the relief wells as having any real chance of success. If you know otherwise, you should share it.

[BelgianMadCow]

25. It's not because the CEO lies his head off saying 60-70%

that the people actually doing the work agree with this, and it's not because it doesn't work that the people working at it don't know what they're doing.

What they have been trying is complex and unprecedented (yes, it shouldn't have been uncharted territory) and they knew it was a very long shot. All insiders at theoildrum said as much from the get-go.

just saying, I'm sure we agree about the entire catastrophy. Just don't shoot the mud carriers (which you didn't explicitly do, I know).

[patrice]

26. Agreed.

[elocs]

37. There is not one single person here at DU who "knows" what to do to guarantee success.

Not one. If they did they could simply call up Obama and BP and enlighten them just as what to do. Of course it is much easier to criticize everyone who is trying to stop the disaster as simply being idiots or stupid. May as well hold hands with the GOP and the freepers on this one and sing "Kumbaya".

BP makes about $49 million a day in profits. From what I have heard they are spending about $22 million a day on this Gulf disaster. Why on earth anyone would believe they would not want to stop it as soon as possible is beyond my comprehension.

[pengillian101]

71. The United States Coast Guard

could solve it if they had the authority. But, NO, it's left up to British Petroleum (BP) who caused it.

Stupid beyond reason. Have the polluter fix it. How fucking stupid is that.

[elocs]

86. No, the United States Coast Guard can not solve this.

It is simply silly (I won't say fucking stupid) to believe that. I've not even heard Republicans suggest that.

[scentopine]

73. What you said is so wrong and insulting it is difficult to know where to begin,...

There can be disasters so horrible and large in scope that the response absolutely must transcend market shareholder pressure for market "incentives" and political strategy.

God damn it if I hear one more MBA lecture us about the "profit" incentive that guarantees BP and the government are doing the best possible job I am going to call bullshit every time I see it. BP has much more incentive to downplay and obfuscate ALL information about this spill because of the damage to brand reputation. What if the fuck are you talking about??? They could spend 100 million a day and it wouldn't fucking matter, they just have to uncork another well. Exxon is still fighting against Valdez compensation in the courts.

BP has the worst record of any operator in the USA. They have a history of recklessness around the Gulf and in Alaska. They have deliberately restricted the public from public property. They have lied about the flow rate and they have refused to release information about the chemical composition used in the dispersant.

FROM A SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE PERSPECTIVE IT IS A LEVEL FIELD, MANY OPERATORS ARE EQUALLY QUALIFIED TO MANAGE THIS RESPONSE.
BP is a general contractor. They manage pay and manage contractors. They have no more or less inherent knowledge about how to handle this spill then any operator in the Houston area. But what isn't equal is their motives and incentives that led to this catastrophe in the first place. That should disqualify them from making the being in charge and making decisions. They demonstrated reckless behavior that caused this disaster and they are engaging in reckless behavior in their response. Even local operators in Houston and industry associations are starting to ask what the hell is BP doing?

Finally - there are many essential steps to problem solving. Good engineering is not being practiced here.

1. GET AS MUCH DATA AS YOU CAN INTO THE HANDS OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS. Maybe we don't have solutions BECAUSE THE DATA IS BEING KEPT SECRET. Right now the entire scientific and engineering community is contemplating war with the whitehouse over the lack of data from spill. Its going on two months and the Whitehouse is still spew lies about 5000 barrels a day for christs sake. Even the most conservative unofficial estimates are 25,000 barrels a day. This massive amount means there could be another source of the leak than a single 21" diameter pipe.

2. GET THE BEST PEOPLE ON THE JOB. BP is not the best people. Past performance IS and indicator of future success.

3. LET THE PRESS DOCUMENT THE SPILL. Censoring the media and keeping the press away is fucking unbelievable. How any democrat can sit back and high-five Obama over this is fucking unbelievable. He has to say one thing "let the press have access". He won't. He knows the press is being controlled by BP and he agrees with this. He is duty bound to protect the constitution. But executive power seems to trample this under Obama just as it was trampled under Bush. You want change? Let the press do its job.; You want BP groomed PR? Keep things the same. (The irony is that the mainstream press will treat them as royalty because 1. they are rich, 2. they buy airtime. Its the independent media that scares the shit out of BPs dickheaded chairman).

Bhopal killed 8000 to 10,000. Do you think market incentives made a rat's ass of difference? How about Exxon and Valdez? Yeah - the magic of the free market.

AIG should be out of business, Goldman should be shut down, GM, Chrysler, on and on and on. Enron and the first S&L left Govt. with 150 billion debt. Wall Street bailout estimate is in trillions for all associated costs to Govt.

God Damn all the free marketeers who come here and lecture us about the magic of free market incentives guaranteeing that the white house and BP are doing the right things.

They obfuscated the facts about the Iraq war. They obfuscated facts about wiretapping. They obfuscated facts about Katrina. They obfuscated facts about torture. They are obfuscating the facts about this disaster. Up til this very day it has been an exercise in preserving Obama's and BP's brand reputation.

Both Bush and Obama know that if you control the press you control the message. If you control the press and message you can say what ever the fuck you want and people will believe it. BP spends millions and millions on campaign contributions. If they didn't, they'd have their ass in jail by now. Justice is blind all right.

Tell you what - how about you go out in the Gulf with a few thousand barrels of oil and accidentally dump them into the gulf. Then, you tell the government to go fuck themselves, you are managing the clean up and hire the coast guard as body guards and see if you can get away with it.

This BP chairman is an oily piece of shit. BP should be removed from office. The senators and politicians protecting BP are oily pieces of shit. They should also be removed from office.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/bp-is-big-and-important-b_n_589675.html

The Gulf of Mexico is too big to fail. BP is not.

[elocs]

84. Please, if you know the answer, then tell the President and BP and then they will take care of it.

The are lots of critics here, but no one of them has the answer. Only speculation.

[scentopine]

87. Please, if you don't know the answer, don't assume that others don't know.

I gave you my answer. Just like when the president asked for all solutions to health care he made a political decision to exclude experts in single payer. THE EXACT strategy is being used here. He put the criminal in charge of the investigation and they are not going to allow critics of their performance to make decisions.

He asked for answers, I gave them. Remove BP from being in charge.

This isn't 1+1 = 2. The solution to this problems starts with the right people with the right motivations and demonstrated aptitude and success at problem solving.

BP has a history of bad engineering and decision making. What is it that Obama's and BP's defenders don't understand about that fact?

You rent a house to a tenant. The tenant trashes your house. Now the government comes in and puts the tenant in charge of fixing your house. Along the way you are not allowed to view the work in progress and the work is dragging on. Research shows this tenant has trashed lots of houses in the past. Along the way you discover that he is using lead paint. You tell him to stop. He says he is not going to comply because the damage is so bad, only lead paint can fix it. You decide to drive over and take a look. The local police have been instructed by the tenant to close the road to the owner and general public.

Just because BP and Obama partnership can't get this under control, don't assume others can't. Obama and the neo-dems have a lot at stake. They have rewritten the rules of government giving Fortune 500 a more than equal share at the table. There is too much conflict interest keeping BP in charge.

[austin78704]

39. That is disrespectful

to the people doing the actual work. It's easy to caricature the heads on TV, but don't forget that the people actually out there, working on it and at risk, are doing a very hard and thankless thing. If it fails, they get blamed for failure, if it succeeds, they get blamed for taking so long, and very few, if any of them, contributed to the failure in the first place.

Be careful that you don't lose perspective.

[CreekDog]

43. they should replace all those fancy engineers with you

Or at least have you hire the right people.

Because clearly the problem is not that fixing it is a complex, almost impossible task.

No the problem is that they don't have any good people working on this.

That is your considered opinion.

What an arrogant way to look at things.

[verges]

65. Got any suggestions?

[Number_Six]

23. BP's new motto....

"We can fuck up a wet dream!"

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lib2DaBone]

24. They could stop at the local hardware store and get a stopper?

.. no wait, they can't. The whole government and BP went on vacation last Thursday... they wont be back until sometime next week.

These are the same people who make 6 figure salaries and call unemployed people "Lazy".

[flyarm]

27. OH LET ME FEIGN SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!! oh i do believe i feel surprise coming on ..

I even feel a little warm and fuzzy ..

[tranche]

33. These failures are going to happen again over the next 2 months. You're lame act will get old.

The relief wells are the only option and those don't even carry a very comfortable probability of success. They will most likely try a few other things until then and those will most likely fail. I think it's pretty weird that you're taking some sort of joy or "i told you so" attitude towards something that just about everyone most likely expected. It's odd and during a crisis it's the most undesirable type of human behavior there is.

[flyarm]

76. i FEEL NO JOY OVER THIS AT ALL, perhaps you have missed most of my posts on this matter

The Gulf is my backyard.

I was being sarcastic , i guess i should have put the font on my post.

And I had no doubt whatsoever that this would fail as well as all the other attempts by the criminals that have destroyed the gulf and will most likely destroy my backyard and the precious wild life and sea life I love and adore.

I have been maligned by many here on DU because i do care so much..that is the reasoning behind my post!

[patrice]

29. Oh, God . . .

no words.

[nolabear]

31. I. Just. Want. to. Scream.

[revolution breeze]

51. I am past screaming.

I am just so numb, like a boxer who has taken one too many punches. Now I just sit here and wonder what's next. I am sure I will get angry and be ready to fight again later, but right now, it is just too much. The sight of all the dean fish and dolphins and birds, not to mention the human suffering!

[dipsydoodle]

35. Such a shame

.

[bdamomma]

48. sickening just sickening destroying the livelihoods of so many people and wildlife

[DCBob]

38. I find this hard to believe they cannot plug this hole.. There has to be a way..

They need to let other scientists and engineers get involved. The answer is out there somewhere.

[liberation]

47. It could be done if cost was not an issue

Alas, for some reason us humans have deemed imaginary metrics to measure imaginary concepts such as "wealth" to be more important than reality, almost to the point of totally overriding it.

[Bragi]

40. So the Gulf is likely totally fucked

Not sure how this could be much worse at this point.

This hole will keep spewing up to and throughout the upcoming hurricane season. Maybe longer. Motherfucker.

Am I wrong here, or is this not a catastrophe of truly biblical proportions?

[Flatulo]

45. Actually, it could be much worse than that...

The Gulf 'loop current' could carry the mess around Florida and all the way up the Eastern seaboard.

[bdamomma]

49. BP must pay and be held accountable. just really sucks, greed sucks

[kevink077]

63. BP will be punished alright....

They will simply fold and restart as another company. Fresh start for all and leave government to clean up their mess. Pure evil and greed (cutting corners) that caused this, nothing else.

[revolution breeze]

82. No the entire United States is fucked

The seafood prices in Indiana and Illinois are going to go up, the price of gasoline in Michigan and Massachusetts is going to go up, Florida and the East Coast will get oil once it is in the loop current. Yes, this will affect each and everyone of you, as well as us Gulf Coast residents. We are just feeling the pain sooner and will suffer the longest.

[jackmccrack]

41. man why am I not suprised

[CLANG]

42. big duh from me

[cbdo2007]

44. Have they tried silly putty?

Seriously, take a gigantic ball of Silly Putty (tm) and shove it down in that hole!

come on, just keep trying stuff people!!!!

[Dave Caputo]

46. Top kill, what a name, to think we're sad it failed

I wrote an article about this on my blog: Top Kill Failed

This stuff is really sick. Think we're finally gonna get serious about alternative energy? "Drill baby drill", indeed. Now at least that philosophy is in remission. Too bad the cost, eh?

[Mr. Sparkle]

50. I'm gutted. It looks like only the relief well is going to work, and thats months away.

:-(

[obxhead]

52. Shocked I tell you, just shocked.....

and only one relief well currently being drilled. Yeah that's gonna do it. Why do I find that so hard to believe, maybe the current track record is the best indicator.

Enough of the song, dance and pony show already.

To BP, fuck you and your dramatic, failing, pathetic, and outdated attempts at stopping this volcano of oil and your refusal to admit the reality of how bad this disaster you caused is.

To the Obama admin, fuck you too for not stepping in, telling the truth, and forcing more to be done. Both in the current disaster and in future prevention.

[airforceone88888888]

60. i'm just hoping

I'm just hoping beyond hope that Obama makes them start drilling that second relief well again. God forbid that first relief well should fail. It would be ANOTHER three months if it did! That second relief well is our insurance that this thing will at least end once and for all in August!!

Please Mr. President! Don't let BP stop drilling that second relief well!!!!!!

[obxhead]

68. That's another part of the one well problem

failure of it would be another long delay, but I think more importantly that if it fails to pull enough pressure off of the current hole it will be another 3 or 4 months of excuses and failed 'attempts' while they do what they should be doing now.

I'm sick and tired of the excuses on this situation. IMO whatever effort they think it will really take to solve this, they should triple, just to be sure. Failure, regardless of cost, is not an option we should be willing to accept.

[jimlup]

53. Those who followed closely have known it was in trouble since the start...

Sources I trust kept saying it was unlikely that it would work. Now I wonder about the success of the next step.

This is truly a horrible situation.

[juajen]

56. T. Boone Pickens said on Larry King last night that it would fail. NT

[flyarm]

78. indeed ..those who have folllowed this closely knew this was just another bogus attempt and another

lie!

[pengillian101]

54. Obama needs to send in the Coast Guard!

They know how to fix shit. After the last catastrophe, they cleaned it up.

[mopinko]

59. the coast guard is there. they were called up on day one. nt

[pengillian101]

62. Well then they need to be in charge, don't you think?

BP is failing! Send in the Coast Guard and have them be in charge, not BP.

[mopinko]

64. i think that my president has a lot more information than us peons.

and i trust his judgement. to the best of my knowledge the coast guard has neither the equipment nor the human capital to stop the leak. i am sure they would have mentioned it to the president if they did.

[pengillian101]

69. i think that my president has a lot more information than us peons

I hope you are correct, but it's been 40 days of oil still spewing into the Gulf.

And he has not got control of the situation.

The Coast Guard has their hands tied. Because our President put British Petroleum (BP) in charge of waters off OUR USA shoreline.

The US Coast Guard needs to take over! They know what to do.

[NickB79]

70. What do you think the Coast Guard could do to stop the oil? NT

[onecent]

55. What other countries have experienced damaged beaches, etc?

That has been on my mind for days now. Which other countries have EVER experienced damage to their shores such as America has
AND IS going to experience?????????????? That bothers me!

[harun]

57. It won't be fixed till August.

[JCMach1]

58. That is IF they hit the mark

:(

[pengillian101]

72. This will not be fixed in August.

Think about it. This is a huge oil spill that will have effects for years and years.

All that fish and wildlife.

[AtheistCrusader]

81. It won't be 'fixed' because they won't have 'control' but the LMRP has a good chance of

keeping most of it from spilling, if they can pump it in fast enough. It doesn't form a pressure seal that will let them turn it 'off', but it'll keep the oil from mixing with seawater, so they can hoover it up into tankers.

Better than nothing I guess.

[kevink077]

61. Republican Hypocrisy

It is funny how republicans are screaming for "Big" government to get involved. What happened to the theory that business and the free market know best? Guess when it is only convenient for them eh?

[Chef Eric]

66. Welcome to DU, kevink077.

[RoccoR5955]

67. They need to get supertankers in there ASAP to suck up all the oil

They were given a proposal that worked in Saudi Arabia, in which super tankers were used to suck up the oil BEFORE it hit the beaches. WTF is wrong with these people. They just throw more tech at the problem that is unproven, where there are low tech solutions. What a bunch of idiots running BP!

Here's a link to the article: http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/could-cleanup-fix-for-gulf-oil-spill-lie-in-secret-saudi-disaster/19476863

[kestrel91316]

74. It's obvious that BP and the oil industry do NOT know how to deal adequately and

expeditiously with problems like this deep in the ocean. We need to prohibit them from drilling this deep anymore.

Let the chips fall where they may. It's time to take a stand against recklessness and rape.

[pengillian101]

77. Indeed!

Send in the United States Coast Guard. And let them be in charge, instead of the British

[DemoTex]

79. Confiscate/Nationalize BP immediately.

Fuck the bastards.

[dipsydoodle]

83. Hmm.

Here's the balance sheet for plc. Not sure how much relates to BP America which is the only part you could nationlise. Good luck with that venture.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=BP&annual

[wordpix]

89. maybe a few more golf balls and shredded tires will do the trick and why not add

some plastic bags and water bottles why they're at it? :sarcasm: