More oil gushing into Gulf after problem with cap

[superconnected]

Source: Yahoo News

NEW ORLEANS – Hundreds of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system and forced BP to remove a cap that had been containing some of the crude.

When the robot bumped the system, gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

The cap was removed and crews were checking to see if crystals had formed before putting it back on. Allen did not say how long that might take.

"There's more coming up than there had been, but it's not a totally unconstrained discharge," Allen said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100623/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. More oil gushing into Gulf after problem with cap

Source: Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Tens of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system, forcing BP to remove the cap that had been containing some of the crude.

It was yet another setback in the nine-week effort to stop the gusher, and it came as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida and the Obama administration tried to figure out how to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

When the robot bumped the system just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

Crews were checking to see if crystals had formed before putting it back on. BP spokesman Bill Salvin could not say how long that might take.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9GH4BFG0

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Just what the Gulf needed.

K&R

[EndElectoral]

3. Oh boy. I'm a solid Dem, but if GW was PRez during this, this site would be bat sh*t!

[1955doubledie]

16. You're hoping this site would be bat sh*t now?

:shrug:

[1776Forever]

4. Accident triggers removal of containment cap on oil geyser

Source: Washington Post email

News Alert: Adm. Thad Allen -- Accident triggers removal of containment cap on oil geyser
12:28 PM EDT Wednesday, June 23, 2010
--------------------

Adm. Thad Allen said Wednesday that an accident triggered the removal of a containment cap on the oil geyser. Officials are examining the cap to look for hydrate formation and hope to replace it on the gushing well.

Separately, Allen said two people related to the spill response have been killed, one in a swimming pool accident and another on a vessel conducting oil skimming. He had no further details of the deaths.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/23/AR2010062302595.html?hpid=topnews

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Well, Let us use a nuke on it because

Accidents don't happen with nukes disturbing the substratum or other unforeseen things

[alfredo]

22. Imagine all that burning methane released at once.

[alfredo]

23. They've taken the cap off several times and are placing it

over the gusher now.

[florida08]

6. Good grief

Can they do anything right?

[bdamomma]

8. it is truly disgusting man kind??? is destroying the environment.

big time.

[florida08]

11. it sure is

and so demoralizing as we watch it grow worse every day. We've seem to have lost the our values and our minds.

[superconnected]

7. Meanwhile drilling ban still lifted. Interesting two people related to the spill dead...

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Oh my God! We let the genie out of the fucking bottle!

[golddigger]

10. Two weeks into this gusher

I've been telling my family and friends, "We're fucked."

[tazme]

12. You ain't seen fucked until the BOP crashes to the ocean floor

Its just a matter of time until this 48 ton "valve" loses all support due to erosion downhole, where the well casing is likely compromised. Once that happens, its really going to be tough to watch.

[Poll_Blind]

13. +1 What Tazme said. There's a pretty good chance that's going to happen I think.

When that happens there will be an open channel between the bottom-most part of the well and the surface of the sea floor.

Once that happens not God or all the goodwill of mankind will be able to stop it. It will be like trying to contain a volcano when everything you use to cap it melts.

PB

[saigon68]

14. Disgusting Criminals

[eowyn_of_rohan]

18. I have a feeling erosion or deterioration is what caused this today

despite their story about the robot "bumping" into it...

[tazme]

21. They are doing all they can to reduce pressure on that well casing

No effort what ever is being made to cap/plug/restrict/reduce flow of this well. Its all about not increasing down hole pressure.
Kind of like if you had a hole in a hose...if you close the nozzle, the leak will increase in flow. That's the last thing they want.
The best they can do is recover what they can and hope there is a chance to intersect (new well) the compromised casing and kill it from below before that BOP topples. What a goddamn mess!

[Psephos]

25. dougr, is that you?

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967

[totodeinhere]

15. Oh Lord. I was afraid that something like this would happen.

The "drill baby drill" crowd should be satisfied with itself. Many progressives have long called for a halt to offshore drilling and they were regularly panned by the right wing.

[flyarm]

17. and may I add the right wing of the dem party! eom

[katty]

19. god! the gulf turning into a parking lot

[glinda]

20. Ironic that it happened during MMS being canned and a change in Military.

Or is it?...hmmmmmmmmm

[alfredo]

24. They keep putting the cap on, then they take it right off.

It seems to be a problem with a rubber hose.