ABC News – 3 minutes ago
On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security released a letter from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar addressed to BP’s chief executive, Anthony Hayward, calling on the company to state its “true intentions” for compensating those affected by the spill.
“The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill may prove to be one of the most devastating environmental disasters this nation has ever faced,” said the letter, which was dated Friday. “As one of the responsible parties for this event, BP is accountable to the American public for the full clean up of this spill and all the economic loss caused by the spill and related events.”
The letter also asks BP to confirm it will not “seek reimbursement from the American taxpayers, the United States government or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for any amount.”
There was no immediate response from BP.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/16/gulf.oil.spill/
***
***
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill
One tonne of crude oil is roughly equal to 308 US gallons, or 7.33 barrels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
***
Chavez Says Gas Platform Sinks Off Venezuelan Coast (Update4)
May 13, 2010, 3:05 PM EDT
By Daniel Cancel
May 13 (Bloomberg) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that a natural-gas platform sank off the country’s eastern coast because of a faulty floatation system. The incident comes three weeks after a fatal rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil company, said a failure in Aban Pearl’s floatation system caused the rig to sink after a “massive” inflow of water. Technicians avoided a leak by sealing the gas well with a security valve before the platform sank, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. The rig’s 95 workers were safely evacuated, Chavez said earlier today in a message posted on his Twitter account.
“We’re going to open an investigation into the causes behind this with the owners of the platform because this was an incident that happened very quickly,” Oil Minister and PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez said today on state television. “The most important thing is that with the violence of the incident all of our workers are safe.”
(etc.)
Russia, Iran, Qatar
Venezuela, which has Latin America’s largest natural-gas reserves at 170 trillion cubic feet of gas, is certifying reserves and expects to reach 400 trillion cubic feet which would give it the fourth-largest reserves in the world, behind Russia, Iran and Qatar, according to BP data.
Ramirez said the platform, which began to tilt late yesterday, sank at 2:20 a.m. local time and that the last few workers had to jump into the sea.
PDVSA forecast production would reach 600 million cubic feet a day in the offshore area near Trinidad and Tobago where it is drilling for gas.
The PDVSA platform was leased from an Indian company, Aban Offshore Ltd., Ramirez said. Telephone calls seeking comment from Aban’s headquarters in Chennai, India, weren’t answered.
“Fortunately the well poses no environmental risks,” Ramirez said in an e-mailed statement from the Information Ministry.
Gulf Coast Threat
A Gulf oil well failed a pressure test hours before a drilling rig exploded last month, an executive for BP yesterday told the U.S. House Energy Committee that’s investigating the incident. The committee is investigating the explosion that triggered a spill that threatens the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida with more than 3 million gallons of oil.
Chavez said on April 27 that the drilling in the Dragon gas fields, where the rig was located, is “historic” for PDVSA as it was the first offshore project developed by the company without foreign partners. “This is historic, because everything was done by PDVSA on its own,” he said. “We already have pipelines, remote- controlled robots and underwater technology that our PDVSA is doing on its own.”
( . . . )
Ramirez said that the $8.3 billion offshore project known as Mariscal Sucre, which includes the offshore Dragon fields, will proceed on schedule, and that a new platform should arrive within two months.
Venezuela is talking with potential partners including OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas export monopoly, to develop the fields and produce and transport gas to onshore terminals by 2012.
Venezuela imports gas from Colombia to cover a deficit and to supply power and petrochemical plants in Western Venezuela. Chevron ships between 50 million and 200 million cubic feet of gas a day to Venezuela from Colombia, Ali Moshiri, the company’s head of exploration and production for Africa and Latin America, told reporters yesterday in Caracas.
–With assistance from Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York, Joe Carroll in Chicago and David Wethe in Houston. Editors: Robin Saponar, Dale Crofts
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net.
***
My Note –
Wanna watch FoxNews color the news with the bias of the oil industry that it is “Big Ocean – and a little crude oil never hurt nothing?” They are doing it now – even as we speak – or read and write in this case. It is a good chance to watch and see them doing it. To promote the way they want to tell me that I must look at it and how I must think about it – just about pisses me off.
– cricketdiane
***
FOXNews.com – BP Exec: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Relatively ‘Tiny …
May 14, 2010 … The chief executive of BP told a British newspaper that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is relatively “tiny” compared with the “very big …
http://www.foxnews.com/…/bp-exec-gulf-mexico-relatively-tiny-compared-big-ocean/
BBC News – Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in maps and graphics
May 10, 2010 … Maps and satellite images of showing the extent of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and explaining what is being done to tackle it.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8651333.stm
***
My Note –
I noticed that a lot of these charts about oil spills and drilling disasters, oil gushers whether on land or sea – are listed in tonnes, rather than in barrels or gallons. The math I did on the 210,000 gallons equaling 5,000 barrels per day figure, which is wrong – that has been being used by BP experts and the Coast Guard – figures out to 42 gallons to the barrel, not 55.
– cricketdiane
***
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill
One tonne of crude oil is roughly equal to 308 US gallons, or 7.33 barrels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
***
***
Rig owner holds closed-door meeting in Switzerland
The Associated Press – Frank Jordans – 2 days ago
… with shareholders Friday, just days after appearing before the US Congress to explain his company’s involvement in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. ..
***
BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well
The Associated Press – Jeffrey Collins – Jason Dearen – 57 minutes ago
The Associated Press
Oil being sucked from Gulf well – Stuff.co.nz
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010 Breaking News – BP Announcement – CNM News Network
***
Models indicate Gulf spill may be in major current
The Associated Press – Jason Dearen – 27 minutes ago
Western Senators Propose Ban on Pacific Drilling
New York Times – John M. Broder – 2 days ago
Blowout Complicates Plan to Drill in Arctic
Wall Street Journal – Jim Carlton – 1 day ago
Shell Faces Final Hurdles for 2010 Arctic Drilling – ABC News
Canadian legislators grill BP over Arctic drilling – Reuters
Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompts worries about Arctic drilling – Reuters UK (blog)
Newsweek
all 566 news articles »
***
BP responds to US request to clarify liability
Reuters – Chris Baltimore – Eric Walsh – 33 minutes ago
Obama wants BP’s commitment to cleanup in writing – Newsday (subscription)
all 7 news articles »
***
BP’s own probe finds safety issues on Atlantis rig
The Associated Press – Ramit Plushnick-Masti – Noaki Schwartz – 1 day ago
Gap in Rules on Oil Spills From Wells
By KATE GALBRAITH
Published: May 16, 2010
The catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill began off the coast of Louisiana — hundreds of miles from Mexico and far from any other country.
In the event of a spill that affects multiple countries, a number of global conventions devised through the International Maritime Organization govern prevention and clean-up efforts. There are also regional agreements — the United States, for example, maintains agreements with Canada, Mexico, Panama, Russia and the British Virgin Islands, according to the State Department.
But experts say there are large gaps in what the international agreements cover.
“There is a tremendous body of international law addressing oil pollution, dealing with matters including construction and seaworthiness of ships, safety of navigation, pollution response, and liability,” said Tim Stephens, a senior lecturer on the law faculty at the University of Sydney and the co-author of a forthcoming textbook on the law of the sea.
However, the international maritime conventions apply “primarily or exclusively” to accidents involving tankers — the devastating 1999 Erika spill off the coast of Brittany, France, was from a tanker, for example, he said in an e-mail message.
They do not apply to accidents involving oil platforms, like the Deepwater Horizon spill.
(etc.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/business/energy-environment/17green.html?src=busln
***
Estimating the volume of a spill
By observing the thickness of the film of oil and its appearance on the surface of the water, it is possible to estimate the quantity of oil spilled. If the surface area of the spill is also known, the total volume of the oil can be calculated.[20]
| Film thickness | Quantity spread | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearance | in | mm | gal/sq mi | L/ha |
| Barely visible | 0.0000015 | 0.0000380 | 25 | 0.370 |
| Silvery sheen | 0.0000030 | 0.0000760 | 50 | 0.730 |
| First trace of color | 0.0000060 | 0.0001500 | 100 | 1.500 |
| Bright bands of color | 0.0000120 | 0.0003000 | 200 | 2.900 |
| Colors begin to dull | 0.0000400 | 0.0010000 | 666 | 9.700 |
| Colors are much darker | 0.0000800 | 0.0020000 | 1332 | 19.500 |
Oil spill model systems are used by industry and government to assist in planning and emergency decision making. Of critical importance for the skill of the oil spill model prediction is the adequate description of the wind and current fields. There is a worldwide oil spill modelling (WOSM) program.[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spills#Largest_oil_spills
***
My Note –
The chart above is typically used to estimate oil spills – the numbers of depth are in millimeters and inches – this oil slick on and in the Gulf of Mexico has oil plumes that have been measured at 300 feet thick in the water column. The depth on the surface in many areas is 18 ” where some of the news crews have reported about it several days ago.
The picture that I found and placed on the post just above this one whose image shows dolphins swimming in the sea waters of the Gulf mixed with the oil and dispersant – can mean only one thing – they aren’t getting out and going upland to somewhere in Alabama to get away from it.
Gee, wonder why –
– cricketdiane, 05-16-10
I’m still thinking there are some people at the BP decision-making level that ought to have go swimming out there in that part of the Gulf oil spill, especially those who originally said there wasn’t a problem at all and now are taking credit for the massive containment and protection measures that the US government and state government and volunteers, National Guard, Coast Guard, EPA and other government agencies are actually the ones doing and the ones doing it successfully.
Scientists Find Giant Plumes Of Oil Forming Under Gulf
News One – 16 minutes ago
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010 Breaking News – BP Announcement
CNM News Network – Jesse Smith – 38 minutes ago
Oil Leak: What Does the Discovery of Oil Plumes Mean?
TIME – Kristi Oloffson – 41 minutes ago
***
Gulf residents report oil smell but EPA says air quality safe
USA Today – 1 day ago
Transocean Legal Filing ‘Shameful,’ Say Attorneys for Missing Oil …
PR-USA.net (press release) – 53 minutes ago
Florida lawmaker seeks any additional video of oil leak
BigNews.biz (press release) – 38 minutes ago
British Petroleum (BP) has received 6,700 financial claims in connection with the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which had cost $450 million so far, the oil giant said in London on 13 May. BP said about 1,000 of the claims had already been settled. The total costs of the oil spill response had risen to $450 million within three days – from $350 million at the start of last week.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Obama-calls-for-increased-oil-company-liability-for-spills/100829.php
***
Proposed spill penalty: A year of profits
CNNMoney – Blake Ellis – 2 days ago
Effort to Raise Oil-Spill Liability Fails in Senate – BusinessWeek
all 108 news articles »
***
By comparison, the approach here, along the Louisiana shoreline, seems almost primitive. All day and into the night, people lay boom — maritime sandbags — because this is what you do in times of hazardous spills, to protect your livelihood, your home and the complicated ecosystem of which you are a part.
But because boom seems to expect only strokes and kisses from the waves, it does not always work. For example, the Coast Guard reported that strong winds and choppy seas over the weekend had damaged about 80 percent of the boom laid out to protect the Alabama coast.
“Some of it has been torn apart, some of it is reparable, some was relocated by the weather,” Petty Officer David Mosley of the Coast Guard said. “We’re looking to fix what we can fix, and replace what we can replace.”
But the power of boom reaches beyond the physical and into the psychological, helping many people here along the Louisiana shore to brace against waves of helplessness and doubt. Now that fear of oil contamination has led the government to ban fishing in most of these waters, boom gives people something to do other than contend with an invasive species called the news media, share the latest oil-slick rumor and stare at the beckoning water.
For the last several days, the Venice Marina at the bottom of Plaquemines Parish has been a fishless stew of whisper, resentment and opportunity. Here, a lawyer from Mississippi, looking to sign up charter-boat captains interested in suing somebody. There, a denizen of the marina, scolding a foreign journalist for killing the local business with unnecessarily dire reports.
And everywhere, reporters, scientists and environmentalists paying idle captains for boat rides in pursuit of the latest tip that oil has been seen near the Chandeleur Islands, or down by Breton Sound.
(etc.)
By DAN BARRY
Published: May 5, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06land.html?src=mv
***
Steven Chu: Obama’s oil spill gamma ray action man
Salon – Andrew Leonard – 1 day ago
Obama Sends Bomb, Mars Experts to Fix BP Oil Spill – BusinessWeek
Fire BP, Let Nobel Prize-winning Physicist Steven Chu Solve Oil Leak – Firedoglake (blog)
all 7 news articles »
***
Oil spill brings out problem-solver in Gov. Bobby Jindal …
NOLA.com – Stephanie Grace – 10 hours ago
Huge oil plumes reported underwater as BP tries to stop gulf leak
NOLA.com – 10 hours ago
BP to try again as latest technique to cap oil fails
Tampabay.com – 19 hours ago
Assurance sought on liability: The Obama administration has sought … the United States government or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for any amount.
History of the Fund
In August 1990, when President George H. W. Bush signed the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) into law and authorized use of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF), the Fund was already four years old. Congress created the Fund in 1986, but did not pass legislation to authorize the use of the money or the collection of revenue necessary for its maintenance. It was only after the Exxon Valdez grounding and the passage of OPA that authorization was granted.
http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/About_NPFC/osltf.asp
***
Oil Pollution Act (OPA)
In addition to authorizing use of the OSLTF, OPA consolidated the liability and compensation requirement of certain prior federal oil pollution laws and their supporting funds, including the:
- Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA),
- Deepwater Port Act,
- Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Authorization Act, and
- Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Uses of the Fund
With the consolidation of these funds and the collection of a tax on the petroleum industry, the Fund increased to $1 billion. Fund uses were delineated by OPA to include:
- Removal costs incurred by the Coast Guard and EPA
- State access for removal activities;
- Payments to federal, state, and Indian tribe trustees to conduct natural resource damage assessments and restorations;
- Payment of claims for uncompensated removal costs and damages;
- Research and development; and
- Other specific appropriations.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 increased the maximum size of the Fund to $2.7 billion.
http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/About_NPFC/osltf.asp
***
Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, meanwhile, say they have detected large oil plumes from just beneath the surface of the sea to more than 4,000 feet deep.
Three or four large plumes have been found, at least one that is 10 miles long and a mile wide, said Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia.
Researchers Vernon Asper and Arne Dierks said in Web posts that the plumes were “perhaps due to the deep injection of dispersants which BP has stated that they are conducting.”
These researchers were also testing the effects of large amounts of subsea oil on oxygen levels in the water. The oil can deplete oxygen in the water, harming plankton and other tiny creatures that serve as food for a wide variety of sea critters.
Oxygen levels in some areas have dropped 30 percent, and should continue to drop, Joye said.
“It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas,” Joye said. “We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s impossible to fathom the impact.”
Joye’s lab was waiting for the research boat to return so a team of scientists can test about 75 water samples and 100 sediment samples gathered during the voyage. Researchers plan to go back out in about a month and sample the same areas to see if oil and oxygen levels have worsened.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/huge_oil_plumes_reported_under.html
***
My Note –
This it the very expensive (at taxpayers’ expense as well as using the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for it) facility and studies place that couldn’t spring for a few goldfish to see if the dispersants they were testing would kill them. And, didn’t think it was necessary to include over on the side of their test pools – a few $15.00 box fans to stir up some side waves that might be closer to real world conditions with their pretty gentle sine waves in the pool while they were testing the booms that are in use right now – see CNN for a video of some of their testing for $300,000 plus each time they did it.
Here is the wikipedia thing about it – sounds good, doesn’t it? The trust fund only had $2.7 billion dollars in it – I think they spent that much by Thursday the week the explosion and oil spill happened.
– cricketdiane
Ohmsett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ohmsett aerial photo
Ohmsett is the National Oil Spill Response Test Facility, located in Leonardo, New Jersey. The name Ohmsett is an acronym for “Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank”.
This is the only facility of its kind where full-scale oil spill response equipment testing, research, and training can be conducted in a marine environment with oil under controlled environmental conditions. Variables such as waves, temperature, and oil types are able to be controlled. A benefit of this facility is that it provides an environmentally safe place to conduct objective testing and to develop devices and techniques for the control of oil and hazardous material spills.
The mission of Ohmsett is to strengthen awareness of oil spill pollution prevention and response methods, while at the same time remaining committed to the well being of its customers, employees, and associates.
The facility, located an hour south of New York City, in Leonardo, New Jersey, is maintained and operated by the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior (which is a Federal agency) that manages the nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). They do this through a contract with MAR, Incorporated[1].
History
Ohmsett schematic map
The Ohmsett facility was originally built by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1974 and was operated by that same agency until 1987. At that time, it was known as the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank, or OHMSETT. It is now just referred to by the acronym. In 1989, Ohmsett, as it was known then, was closed and responsibility for the facility was transferred to the U.S. Navy (USN). This was done because the facility is located on the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, NJ.
Title VII of the Ocean Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) gave MMS the lead responsibility for reactivation of Ohmsett in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. The MMS was also charged with the continuing operation and maintenance of the facility as a national test facility. The MMS refurbished Ohmsett beginning in 1990 and reopened it for testing in 1992. Costs for the yearly operation and maintenance of Ohmsett are covered by the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSTLF). The OSTLF derives its funds from a tax on companies that produce or transport oil. Because of this, no appropriated taxpayer dollars are used to support this unique oil spill response technology testing, training, and research facility.
See also
(from)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohmsett
***
External links
- Ohmsett
- MMS Ohmsett web site [2]
- Oil Pollution Act of 1990 [3]
- Ohmsett is at coordinates
40°25′31″N 74°04′03″W / 40.425364°N 74.06756°W / 40.425364; -74.06756 (Ohmsett)Coordinates: 40°25′31″N 74°04′03″W / 40.425364°N 74.06756°W / 40.425364; -74.06756 (Ohmsett)
Coordinates: 40°25′31″N 74°04′03″W / 40.425364°N 74.06756°W / 40.425364; -74.06756
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