Oil Slick Animation

[tierk]

Animations showing the progress of the oil spill /leak off the coast of the USA

Animation: Gulf of Mexico oil spill growth and movement | al.com

A brief out line of the story so far incase some of you have some how missed this one

But what seems to have happened is ...

Deep Horizon was, as the name implied, seeking a deep oil field. The well head is 5000 feet down in the Gulf of Mexico. The well itself drilled down another 30,000 feet, for a total depth of almost 7 miles. That is the current limit of drilling and pumping technology.

The drill appears to have hit a very high pressure deposit of oil and gas. It's like the old joke of a mosquito that hits an artery and explodes. In the case of Deepwater Horizon, it appears that high pressure natural gas flowed back up the drill pipe, and being gas rather than oil, arrived back at the well head at high pressure, more than was expected, and blew out the control valves. Gas escaped above the oil rig and the first spark set it off. Attempts to close the "pinchers" have failed so far, and yesterday a classified NOAA report was leaked reporting that there are three distinct points of leakage, suggesting that the cement well cover built by Halliburton may have failed.

Already there are indications of inadequate safety precautions. Records are missing.

Estimates of how much oil is leaking vary wildly from the media reports of 5000 barrels a day up to 200,000 barrels a day. From the above animation it appears that the rate of flow is increasing.

The situation 5000 feet down at the well head is that of ruptured pipes, cracked concrete well cover, and the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon sitting on top of it all, making access to the wellhead all but impossible.

Frankly, I doubt even a nuclear bomb could close off this vent, and we may be on our way to seeing the oil underneath the Gulf of Mexico, become the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil companies are facing their own Chernobyl disaster. But they will never admit responsibility, nor will the US politicians who shirked their duty to take care of the US infrastructure, especially in an election year.

 

[Jeros]

Jesus, this is like one of those situations they talk about in my lectures as a "worst case" theory but has never happened......until now.

RIP to those killed

 

[cHodAX]

I am just sad that B.P. are going to take a massive hit for this, the board/managment oil scumbags but they employ alot of British people and sadly they are the ones who will really suffer.

 

[Cerb]

This oil crisis, attempted car bomb in time square, 2 million people in Boston without water and now they are saying Obama is a cheater. Great country im moving to this summer