Pocket of methane gas caused the BP Oil Rig Explosion

[KissMy]

Bubble of methane triggered rig blast

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.

 

[RadiomanATL]

Sorry 'bout that y'all.

I had Taco Bell for lunch that day. Send me the bill.

 

[Avatar4321]

So someone farted. Fabulous.

 

[Jos]

Pull my Finger

 

[California Girl]

At the end of the article, it says this:

Blowouts are infrequent, because well holes are blocked by piping and pumped-in materials like synthetic mud, cement and even sea water. The pipes are plugged with cement, so fluid and gas can't typically push up inside the pipes.
Instead, a typical blowout surges up a channel around the piping. The narrow space between the well walls and the piping is usually filled with cement, so there is no pathway for a blowout. But if the cement or broken piping leaves enough space, a surge can rise to the surface.
There, at the wellhead of exploratory wells, sits the massive steel contraption known as a blowout preventer. It can snuff a blowout by squeezing rubber seals tightly around the pipes with up to 1 million pounds of force. If the seals fail, the blowout preventer deploys a last line of defense: a set of rams that can slice right through the pipes and cap the blowout.
Deepwater Horizon was also equipped with an automated backup system called a Deadman. It should have activated the blowout preventer even if workers could not.
Based on the interviews with rig workers, none of those safeguards worked.

Until we have the information from the full investigation, it seems a tad premature to assign 'blame' to BP, if there was a sequence of safety feature failures then maybe it's more of a 'shit happens' than a 'BP cut corners'.

 

[KissMy]

U.S. Minerals Management Service peeled-back testing requirement in 1998 under the Clinton Administration

In 1999, right after that rule change, an MMS-commissioned report by a research group identified 117 blowout preventer failures at deepwater rigs within the previous year. These breakdowns created 3,638 hours of lost time — a 4 percent chunk of drilling time.

In 2004, an engineering study for federal regulators said only 3 of 14 new devices could shear pipe, as sometimes required to check leaks, at maximum rated depths. Only half of operators accepting a newly built device tested this function during commissioning or acceptance, according to the report.

"This grim snapshot illustrates the lack of preparedness in the industry to shear and seal a well with the last line of defense against a blowout," the report warned.

Two years later, a trade journal's article still noted that shearing preventers "may also have difficulty cutting today's high-strength, high toughness drill pipe" at deep wells.

 

[JBeukema]

Based on the interviews with rig workers, none of those safeguards worked.

Until we have the information from the full investigation, it seems a tad premature to assign 'blame' to BP, if there was a sequence of safety feature failures then maybe it's more of a 'shit happens' than a 'BP cut corners'.

Right... a platform with a history of violations for disabling safety devices and alarms to cut corners blows up because the safety devices failed, therefore it can't be because they were cutting corners

Of course you side with the corporation - if people didn't want exploding wells, they'd vote with their wallets for safer companies. Where does the Constitution give the Fed authority to intervene anyway...

 

[asaratis]

'James" knows of what he speaks.




Mark Levin

 

[Lost Soul]

Based on the interviews with rig workers, none of those safeguards worked.

Until we have the information from the full investigation, it seems a tad premature to assign 'blame' to BP, if there was a sequence of safety feature failures then maybe it's more of a 'shit happens' than a 'BP cut corners'.

Right... a platform with a history of violations for disabling safety devices and alarms to cut corners blows up because the safety devices failed, therefore it can't be because they were cutting corners

Of course you side with the corporation - if people didn't want exploding wells, they'd vote with their wallets for safer companies. Where does the Constitution give the Fed authority to intervene anyway...

Funny after the liberals blame it on Bush while on Obamay watch, then after blaming Bush for not spending 500K we find out its was natural causes and the libtards still want to blame BP........LOL you guys are laughable and predictable at best.

 

[KissMy]

Here is a great diagram of the BP Oil Well Blow-Out problems

Drilling safety fluid was removed before the placement of the second / final cement plug. Who made that decision? Who gave the order?

Safety fluid was removed before oil rig exploded in Gulf

BP declined to answer questions about exactly how far along they were in the process of closing the well head 5,000 feet below the Deepwater Horizon rig when the explosion occurred.

But Halliburton said in a statement that it had completed pouring cement that lines the well 20 hours before the blowout. After that cement lining is done, the federal Minerals Management Service requires at least two prefabricated cement plugs to be placed at the bottom of the well and farther up, with mud packed in between. Halliburton's official statement shows there was still one more cement plug to be inserted.

"Well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well, consistent with normal oilfield practice," the Halliburton statement said.

Lawsuit disputes Halliburton statement
But Bickford's client, who was working immediately next to the drill floor at the time of the explosion, claims the rig operators had already started pumping mud out of the riser. Bickford said his client, whose identity he wants to protect for now, will allege human error in the decision to start removing the mud barrier before the well was totally capped.

Bickford said his client is the survivor of the rig explosions who called into the April 29 "Mark Levin Show," a nationally syndicated talk show out of WABC in New York, and gave perhaps the most detailed witness description available so far of what was taking place at the time. He used the assumed name "James" on the show.

The bottom of the damaged and leaking marine riser sits atop the failed blowout preventer on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. The main tube of the riser guides the drill pipe into the well, while the other pipes carry hydraulic fluid to operate the blowout preventer. "We had set the bottom cement plug," the caller said. "At that point the BOP stack, the blowout preventer, was tested. I don't know the results of that test. However, it must have passed because at that point they elected to displace the marine riser from the vessel to the sea floor. They displaced all the mud out to the riser preparing to unlatch from the well two days later. So they displaced it with sea water."

Bickford's client went on to say that the crew opened a valve on the well head, allowing a huge kick of gas to push the seawater out the top of the marine riser and all the way to the top of the rig tower, 240 feet in the air. The resulting explosion probably instantly killed his colleagues who were in the path of the gas, "James" said.

 

[JBeukema]

Based on the interviews with rig workers, none of those safeguards worked.

Until we have the information from the full investigation, it seems a tad premature to assign 'blame' to BP, if there was a sequence of safety feature failures then maybe it's more of a 'shit happens' than a 'BP cut corners'.

Right... a platform with a history of violations for disabling safety devices and alarms to cut corners blows up because the safety devices failed, therefore it can't be because they were cutting corners

Of course you side with the corporation - if people didn't want exploding wells, they'd vote with their wallets for safer companies. Where does the Constitution give the Fed authority to intervene anyway...

Funny after the liberals blame it on Bush while on Obamay watch, then after blaming Bush for not spending 500K we find out its was natural causes and the libtards still want to blame BP........LOL you guys are laughable and predictable at best.

Since when of lack of maintenance and cutting corners 'natural causes'?

And I'm not a Liberal. Thanks for playing, but you fail it.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

At the end of the article, it says this:

Blowouts are infrequent, because well holes are blocked by piping and pumped-in materials like synthetic mud, cement and even sea water. The pipes are plugged with cement, so fluid and gas can't typically push up inside the pipes.
Instead, a typical blowout surges up a channel around the piping. The narrow space between the well walls and the piping is usually filled with cement, so there is no pathway for a blowout. But if the cement or broken piping leaves enough space, a surge can rise to the surface.
There, at the wellhead of exploratory wells, sits the massive steel contraption known as a blowout preventer. It can snuff a blowout by squeezing rubber seals tightly around the pipes with up to 1 million pounds of force. If the seals fail, the blowout preventer deploys a last line of defense: a set of rams that can slice right through the pipes and cap the blowout.
Deepwater Horizon was also equipped with an automated backup system called a Deadman. It should have activated the blowout preventer even if workers could not.
Based on the interviews with rig workers, none of those safeguards worked.

Until we have the information from the full investigation, it seems a tad premature to assign 'blame' to BP, if there was a sequence of safety feature failures then maybe it's more of a 'shit happens' than a 'BP cut corners'.

I'm sure its a cause without an effect. "Shit" just happens apparently. You're incredibility stupid.

 

[LuckyDan]

Live in a teepee and ride a bike. Or shut the fuck up.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Why?

 

[LuckyDan]

Why?

What?

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Why do I have to live in a tepee or shut up?

 

[gslack]

How many of these topics about the same subject from the same asinine little juvenile are we going to have to tolerate?

 

[LuckyDan]

Why do I have to live in a tepee or shut up?

Teepee. Bike. Rubbing sticks together. See where I'm headed?

You want to lead a life that requires pertoleum? You need oil rigs. Lots of them. This shit will happen now and then. And if you think about it, it happens rarely.

It was an accident. We'll survive. So will earth.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Why do I have to live in a tepee or shut up?

Teepee. Bike. Rubbing sticks together. See where I'm headed?

You want to lead a life that requires pertoleum? You need oil rigs. Lots of them.

I don't need leaking oil rigs. Can you not comprehend that oil which washes up on our shores actually does us no good - indeed, does us only harm? Or do you think oil is good all the time? If that's the case I'd recommend drinking a quart before you go to bed.

We'll survive.

What do you mean "we"? What do you have to lose in this spill? I'm betting nothing at all but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[LuckyDan]

Why do I have to live in a tepee or shut up?

Teepee. Bike. Rubbing sticks together. See where I'm headed?

You want to lead a life that requires pertoleum? You need oil rigs. Lots of them.

I don't need leaking oil rigs. Can you not comprehend that oil which washes up on our shores actually does us no good - indeed, does us only harm? Or do you think oil is good all the time? If that's the case I'd recommend drinking a quart before you go to bed.

We'll survive.

What do you mean "we"? What do you have to lose in this spill? I'm betting nothing at all but correct me if I'm wrong.

My vacation!