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To: maceng2 who wrote (73527)	5/16/2010 3:55:21 PM
From: Maurice Winn	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

I have a good friend in the oil exploration and production business [who spent decades doing it, now retired a year or so ago]. He wrote [a day ago so it's current] <Yes, I certainly would not want to be BP's lead man sitting in the white hot crisis mgmt seat over there - I have played that role here in crisis mgmt exercises for Todd Energy and it can be stressful, even when only an exercise! Hence I have some real sympathies for the BP mgmt team, as in reality the drilling contractor Transocean and its staff were probably at the forefront of losing well control. It goes to show that the power of the oil & gas reservoir to kick your butt big time cannot be underestimated, and I reckon many of the newer generation people working on oil rigs these days have yet to learn that! > Well, as you can see, they practise what to do in crisis situations and they are well aware that wells need to be kept under control and that people need to be well trained for well management so that all's well that ends well. I haven't thought of it before, but having observed him in minor operations functions in daily life, I can see that he would be the sort of person they'd want in charge of platforms, drilling and production. No sloppy work for him. Contractors controlled and no detail over-looked. I see there is talk that the well is producing far more than the 5000 barrels a day which is the official number with the "missing oil" being broken up into little drops by dispersants injected under the ocean. Perhaps so. <Dr. Joye said the findings about declining oxygen levels were especially worrisome, since oxygen is so slow to move from the surface of the ocean to the bottom. She suspects that oil-eating bacteria are consuming the oxygen at a feverish clip as they work to break down the plumes. > One of the problems with oil is to keep water out of it and to stop bacteria and fungi eating it. The situation is perfect for such microbes - a huge supply of food, nice warm water and a constant stream of fresh oxygen [as the drops of oil float through the surrounding water]. While it's not an ideal situation, the overall response is hysterically overwrought. If you asked a lot of people, "Which is worse, the war in Afghanistan or the oil spill", a lot of people would say the oil spill. It looks as though everyone wants to show of how concerned they are and rant about how terrible BP is, and get their photo in the paper and on tv complaining about BP and claim they are losing $millions a day in shrimp harvests and that all the beaches are coated with oil [though all I have seen are three pieces of sandy dog poop] and the Florida Everglades are nearly dead and the world is coming to an end. In reality, it looks like a bit of oil in an ocean which, if you didn't know where to look you wouldn't be able to find [even if told it was in the Gulf of Mexico]. No doubt legions of lawyers and claimants and politicians will be crowding to get to the head of the queue to make hay while the sun shines. "An English company - terrible - remember we fought them for our freedom to own slaves in the American revolution" "An English company - terrible - they were the evil doers in wonderful Kenya where the President of the USA has family who had a good business selling slaves until the English took over. Now it's idyllic again without all those silly English laws" "A multinational - terrible - they take our jobs and don't think they owe us a living" "An oil company - terrible - we have to pay lots of money to buy gasoline and it should be free or a tenth of the price and the oil is OUR oil and those Saudis and Arabs shouldn't be selling it to China. Big Oil is evil." "BP has lots of money - terrible - I'm envious and nobody should have that much money. Too bad if it's mostly owned by pensioners and regular people who have invested in various funds." "BP wants to destroy the environment - terrible - they shouldn't hate the environment and rape it and destroy it to get money. They should love it like I do. Heck, I even recycle my soft drink cans. Well sometimes. " "BP isn't a word anyway. And it's foreign. Terrible. I hate it." etc... The news media and politicians must love the situation. Mqurice