The spill is a big deal. And... there is no difference between BP, Exxon, Chevron, Shell, Union, or the foreign NOCs.
BP is really doing everything they can. You probably missed this. The government cannot do it better. Maybe the government of Saudi Arabia or Russia or Iran, cuz those are national oil companies, but here, in the US of A, ALL the expertise is in the private sector. You might find an army doc who is the greatest brain surgeon in the world, but you won't find anybody who is a deepwater driller.
shelburn on May 15, 2010 - 10:11am
I talked to someone who has been over at the BP offices. He estimated BP had about 250 to 500 people working on at least a dozen different approaches in the BP offices and that most of those people (the majority are specialist subcontractors) was probably backed up by 5 to 10 people in their own offices.
Just for example I know of one company that has a department that specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater equipment for the drilling industry. Within a couple days after the initial incident virtually everyone in that department (over 100 people) was pulled off every project they were working on, split into two 12 hour shift and have been working on this 24/7 ever since. That is only one company working on one aspect of the problem.
Diverdan on May 15, 2010 - 12:50pm
Shelburn: Thanks I used to live a few blocks form that office and many friends from other companies are still there. I do not think people understand the Oil Patch network and the ability of a company like BP who has to deal with hurricanes, to mount a response campaign. I laugh when pol and others think they would not have university and government folks in from the beginning. I would love to be on one of those round the clock teams. Have done that before and it is amazing the work and drive and commitment. Despite the competition at times like this people come together. Aerospace is similar.Some of thee execs were just young bucks when I was working and have moved up. Hate to be in their shoes now. I had heard 165 organizations working the problem.
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ROCKMAN on May 15, 2010 - 12:04pm
THE OIL/NG RECOVERY PROCESS
We might be getting close to seeing the flow funneled to the surface. This is a good time to point out how unprecedented this effort will be and how dangerous. What won’t be known until the very second the flow reaches the surface: how much oil, NG and water will be in the flow and what will the pressure be. Beyond those values a second level of uncertainty: how will those numbers vary over time? Flowing a known volume of oil/NG/water at a known pressure is standard ops for a processing ship. The NG is separated from the liquids and flared or piped away. I sat in a field offshore Africa and watched 25 million cf of NG flared every day. Very impressive and more than a little unnerving if you’re working on the ship. Those hands might live in their fire resistant clothing 24/7 and always have emergency breathing gear on the belt. And this is under very controlled conditions.
Now look at what BP will attempt: as soon as the flow reaches the surface all the NG will have to be separated, trapped and flared. If they don’t the NG will accumulate around the ship until some spark sets off the explosion with the possible loss of the ship and all souls onboard. There is almost nothing more dangerous than NG vented to the atmosphere. The most powerful non-nuclear bomb (fuel/air bomb) in the world is based upon the fact. Here’s the problem in a nut shell: when the flow reaches the surface they have only two options: direct the entire flow into the ship’s separation system or shut the flow off. And if they close some sort of a surface control valve while the oil/NG continues to rise what will happen: increased pressure ruptures the capture system; the system backs up all the way to the sea floor and the oil/NG escapes; and whatever other nightmare scenario we can think of. These are not academic questions: the success of the recovery effort and the life of every hand on board depends on these answers. I assume they’ll have all non-essential personnel off the ship when the flow reaches the surface. That’s SOP when you thinks there’s a fair chance of killing your hands. Like the old saying: Be careful what you wish for (oil/Ng flowing up the funnel) because you might just get it. |
