Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
Gulf Oil Spill
-
03-06-2010 7:15pm#1
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
This on our own doorstep last week. It seems there was a 300 sq mile slick,but not to worry it was all out to sea. I was reading of this on a Danish to English site. How come it was not news worthy at the time in Ireland?
From The Intel Hub.......
Gas build-up threatens North Sea oil rig; Another Deepwater Horizon?
May 29, 2010 by NotForSale2NWO
Filed under Featured, Health & Environment, International news
Leave a Comment
Oil rig in the North Sea faces disaster
Workers evacuated as Norwegian engineers pump cement into offshore well to prevent explosion as Deepwater crisis highlights environmental dangers of drilling
Ninety oil workers have been evacuated from a North Sea rig as engineers fight to control a huge build up of pressure in a well which critics say has the potential to blow-up the platform and cause a major environmental problem.
The Norwegian company Statoil has been pumping cement into an offshore well on the Gullfaks field in an operation similar to the one being attempted today by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.
The equivalent of around 70,000 barrels of oil a day of production from the Gullfaks C, Tordis and Gimle platforms has been shut down and more than 90 staff evacuated from the area, which lies in Norwegian waters.
The country’s industry regulator said it was the third well control incident on Gullfaks in the past six months.
Jake Molloy, offshore organiser of the RMT union in Aberdeen, said the case also highlighted the continuing dangers of oil extraction off Britain’s coast. He added: “The huge gas bubble under the Gullfaks has the potential to threaten the platform.”
However, Statoil said today that the well was being brought under control. “We had a build-up in pressure and the barriers (through the blowout preventer) worked as they should. We are now pumping cement into the well and the pressure is starting to fall,” said Kai Neilsen, a spokesman for the oil group in London.
Nelson said the previous incidents on Gullfaks had not been serious but Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), said a well “kick”, reported in December, was serious. A further incident on 30 April this year – also a gas kick caused by high pressure – was brought under control quickly.
Anda said the authority was having daily meetings with Statoil until the latest problem was resolved. More…0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
This thread is getting very heavy on images and very light on discussion. Andypando, could we have a little more opinion from you please?
Point taken.. As it happens I had a plan of sorts which would have ended with this last post.
(May 27) -- The Gulf oil spill's toll on the environment remains difficult to quantify at this time, but a new video of a journey into the dark heart of the spill taken by Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of legendary undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, reveals a "nightmarish" scene.
Cousteau was investigating whether Corexit, the environmentally-tenuous chemical dispersant that BP has been spraying into the Atlantic since the spill began is "breaking down the oil or if the byproduct they are forming is causing more damage to sea life." ABC Good Morning America reporter Sam Champion, who was along for the ride, was shocked and appalled at what he found.
"The entire water column is thick with this oil and chemical dispersant mix and it's absolutely disgusting," said Champion, "I think that this has got to be one of the most horrible things I've ever seen underwater."
The display, Cousteau said, was but "a snapshot of what's happening in the Gulf. This is a nightmare, this is nightmare."
Cousteau also told Champion that what frightened him the most was that volume of the oil spill dispersant mix was unprecedented, thus it is impossible to predict its side effects.
Nalco, the company that manufactures Corexit, today released additional technical information about the product, saying it "is a simple blend of six well-established, safe ingredients that biodegrade, do not bioaccumulate and are commonly found in popular household products," according to Marketwatch.
...........................................................
My reason for this being the last post on this issue for a time is.....
I have been reading of this spill for some time now, and I have come across all sorts of notions as to its cause, the workings of oil company s, and conspiracy.
Being a reader and not necessarily a believer of conspiracy, this Cousteau video leads me to believe this spill is much more than we are being told.
Those dispersant s being used are a two fold problem I think. The oil being dispersed is floating below the surface, and some scientists say it is several feet thick. The dispersant is also going to kill a lot of marine life not only in the US, but around the whole world.
My last thought for now is...
Why are we not paying more attention to this from the Ireland point of view. We should not fail to realize we in this country are living on a large rock in the middle of this potential soup. We should be hearing and seeing more of this on our radio and TV I believe0 -
Case in point Corexit. I looked this chemical up and found all sorts of oddities. This I read on Daily Herald. It seems this chemical is banned in any number of places, and yet it is used with careless abandon in the Gulf of Mexico.
Naperville-based Nalco Holding Co. said Friday that an older and a newer version of its dispersant being used in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill recovery are both safe for the environment and for workers, despite a government order that BP seek less toxic alternatives.
Nalco said it would continue to provide the chemcial and London-based BP, with operations in Naperville, said it would continue to use it.
BP on Friday sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, responding to its May 19 directive on dispersants, said local BP spokesman Scott Dean.
"The letter outlines our findings that none of the alternative products on the EPA's National Contingency Plan Product Schedule list meets all three criteria specified in (Thursday's) directive for availability, toxicity and effectiveness," said Dean.
Nalco's Corexit brand of dispersant is an EPA preapproved, effective, low-toxicity dispersant that is readily available "and we continue to use it," Dean said.
Two versions of Corexit were provided in the Gulf emergency. The newest version is called 9500, which has a different mix of chemicals than the previous version, called 9527. Each has a very long shelf life, said Nalco spokesman Charlie Pajor.
"They are safe and effective," said Pajor. "Corexit 9527 is still stocked by various responders in various locations around the world. When the spill occurred, the Gulf response team brought in Corexit dispersants from the various stockpiles, some included 9527, some included 9500."
Whether the government agencies involved in the clean up have reservations about one version over the other isn't clear. But the overall effort was still a responsible thing to do, said Richard Eastman, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. in Milwaukee.
"BP is in crisis mode and has a comfort level with Nalco and with Corexit," said Eastman. "So Nalco had to scrambled to deliver huge quantizes of that product that BP has asked for. They've never had to deal with that kind of volume before."
Eastman estimates that Nalco has so far sold about $40 million worth of Corexit to BP for the recovery mission. Government agencies, that are part of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, estimate about 670,000 gallons of the product have been used there since late April.
Nalco, a global company that provides water processing solutions, first had access to Corexit in the 1990s, when it had a joint venture with its energy solutions business with Exxon Mobil. By 2001, the joint venture was dissolved and Nalco continued with Corexit, Pajor said.
The product is often shipped in bulk by tank trucks or by planes. It is then sprayed at the oil spill site from airplanes or boats. The product then acts like a dish soap to separate the oil from the water. It then forms small bits that sink down into the water and are eaten by microorganisms.
While Corexit has been used by various companies worldwide, nothing compares to its current usage for perhaps Nalco's biggest project to date. It had to ramp up production at its facilities in Texas and Louisiana, Pajor said.
"This has been most unusual," Pajor said about the demand.0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement