BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well-so far, so good?

[babylonsister]

BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well
AP

By JEFFREY COLLINS and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press
Associated Press Writers – 7 mins ago


HAMMOND, La. – In a major step toward containing a massive Gulf of Mexico oil leak, BP said a mile-long tube was funneling crude Sunday from a blown well to a tanker ship after three days of wrestling to get the stopgap measure into place on the seafloor.

The contraption was hooked up successfully and sucking oil from a pipe at the blown well Sunday afternoon after being hindered by several setbacks. Engineers remotely guiding robot submersibles had worked since Friday to place the tube into a 21-inch pipe nearly a mile below the sea.

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president for exploration and production, said during a news conference that the amount being drawn was gradually increasing, and it would take several days to measure it. Company spokesman Mark Proegler at the joint spill command center in Louisiana had initially said the tube was containing most of the oil coming from the pipe, which is contributing an estimated 85 percent of the crude in the spill.

Previous attempts to use emergency valves and a 100-ton container had failed to stop the leak that has spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, threatening sea life, commercial fishing and the coastal tourist industry from Louisiana to Florida. BP PLC has also been burning small amounts of floating oil and spraying chemical dispersants above and below the surface.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100516/ap_on_hi_te/us_gulf_oil_spill

[Desertrose]

1. BP is gonna need to sell a LOT of oil to pay for the "mess" they made....

if the cap on damages comes off that is. :eyes:

[rrneck]

2. Thanks for some good news for a change.

:thumbsup:

[elifino]

3. Good news, but what if there is a hurracane before it can be stopped

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. How can a 6" tube stuck into a geyser 21" wide be capturing '85%'?

[malaise]

7. If it's BP speaking

It's BS.

[Codeine]

9. I think the article was saying

that the main broken wellhead leak was contributing 85% of the oil involved with the gusher, or that's how I read it. Perhaps there are other, smaller leaks in the riser? :shrug:

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. Good point. Could be.

We do know that there is at least one additional leak that has not been addressed of the original 3.

[Junkdrawer]

10. In PR land, anything is possible....n/t

[bbinacan]

12. 6" pipe?

I haven't seen a reference to the size. Where did you hear this? Thanks.

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. I want to say NYT, but it was a few days ago.

It just stuck in my head that it sounded like they were trying to stop a firehose with a drinking straw.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. There is a link to this in post #16 referencing the 6" pipe

Its from the BBC via dipsydoodle.

I'll try to find the NYT article as well.

[bbinacan]

23. Thanks for the info.

I'm certainly not an engineer but I wonder if the 6" pipe is sealed within the larger pipe, just how much could be brought up to the tanker.

[Ruby the Liberal]

25. No clue. I keep thinking that the 21" gusher would blow out a 6" pipe

but what do I know, right?

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Glad to hear it's working, maybe working

[nosmokes]

6. this just doesn't have the ring of truth and I'm not inclined to believe BP

just another bunch of lying thieves.

[lonestarnot]

8. I would not believe a word of it.

[damntexdem]

11. Well, there's at least one truth here: BP sucks.

"Containing most of the oil" -- so "only" 35k or less barrels of oil per day are now leaking into the Gulf? Wow, that would mean that it would take 8 or more days to equal another Exxon Valdez disasters -- each eight-or-more-days time period that passed until a relief well might possibly stop the flow.

[Karenina]

13. This thread is useless wothout pics!

;-)

[marmar]

14. But this is BPspeak, so don't get too excited.....

nt

[Feron]

15. Here's some more information:

Only some of the oil leaking from the riser pipe is being captured, and BP doesn't yet have "any idea" how much, according to Kent Wells, the company's senior executive vice president.

"It's a positive move, but let's keep it in context. We're not shutting off the flow of oil from this well, and we will do that when we do the top kill procedure," Wells said.

The "top-kill procedure" involves shooting thousands of barrels of mud at the leaking well, which Wells said could stop the leak permanently. BP expects to try that method within a week to 10 days, Wells said, much sooner than the previous long-term solution discussed by BP: the drilling of relief wells.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/bp_uncertain_how_much_oil_bein.html

In an odd twist, the possible fix would use the blowout preventer that may have failed April 20 when a sudden burst of high-pressure hydrocarbons apparently blew out from the well and up to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, triggering a fire and explosion that killed 11 workers. The method has been used before to seal wells after blowouts on land, but has not been tried at the depths of the Macondo well on which the Deepwater Horizon was working.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-ceo-says-theyll-try-anything-including-untested-top-kill-method-2010-5

Fasten your seatbelts....

And BP is shorthand for lying sack of shit. They know damn well how much oil they are collecting and how much is flowing out of the pipe.

[robdogbucky]

17. Just a tad too coincidental

that this yet another piece of apparently promising news comes on the heels of the reports of the underwater plume being discovered to be much larger than anyone has yet observed. Any reason to think BP's PR department has changed horses in midstream?

Any bets on this working effectively?

Nothing else has.

Where do we go from here?

Kevin Costner's brother? Ship full of Head and Shoulders? Nuke the Gulf?



Just sayin

[Feron]

22. I have more faith in Kevin Costner's brother than I do in BP.

This latest development was delayed because two robots taking pictures crashed into each other and dislodged the pipe.

I'm dubious that the amount of oil collected will be significant. BP made a big production about how a significant amount of oil was being skimmed and burned and then it turned out to be not much at all.

I'd love for this to be successful, but I'm also wise enough not to take BP at their word.

On another blog, one person predicted that BP will do a theater of trying things they know won't work just to look like they are doing something until the relief wells are finished. So far that prediction seems to bear out.

[marions ghost]

24. yes we're watching

"the theatre of trying things."

:puke:

[dipsydoodle]

16. BBC News link

BP's 6in-wide (15cm) tube could capture more than three-quarters of the leak; a smaller spill nearby also has to be contained.

The tool became dislodged after it was first inserted a mile beneath the surface on Saturday night.

But it was now back in place, senior executive vice-president Mr Wells said on Sunday at the firm's US headquarters in Houston, Texas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8685368.stm

[Bigmack]

18. "So far ... so good"....

That's what the guy who fell off the 40 story building said.... as he passed the 20th story.