A Look at Deep Water Horizon
BP recently stated that it will supply block grants of $25 million to the states of Mississippi; Florida and Alabama. These grants BP hopes will pay for the damage caused by these states for there lost of trade. Additional awards of $15 million to Mississippi and Alabama have been granted to pay for the damaged tourist trade.
As of this date the oil continues to spill out into the ocean. Sources state that the oil cannot be stopped before August. BP has stated that it has an elaborate technical program designed to cap the oil. Its initial stage of was placing a LMRP cap on the well. This has been the most successful attempt at capping the well since the explosion took place in late April. During this time much to dismay of the entire world hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil were emptied into the Gulf of Mexico causing untold environmental damage; lost of trade in both the fishing and tourism industries. BP‘s executives attempted to shift the blame to Transocean who owned Deep Water Horizon. BP leased Deep Water Horizon from Transocean for approximately $496,800 a day.
Deep Water Horizon was an ultra deep water; dynamically positioned; semi submersible off shore drill rig. It was built in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries. Before it was destroyed they had dug the deepest oil well in the world with a vertical depth of 35,050 ft. In 2002 the rig was upgraded with an e drill, a drill monitoring system where technicians received real time drilling data from the rig and transmitted maintenance and troubleshooting information. Deep Water Horizon had many comforts. It had a bowling alley and a movie theater. On April 20,2010,the rig was in the final phases of drilling an exploratory oil well at the Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico , when at 09:45 p.m. CDT, a geyser of seawater erupted from the marine riser onto the rig, shooting 240 ft into the air. This was soon followed by the eruption of a slushy combination of mud, methane gas, and water. The slushy material quickly changed to gas and ignited into series of explosions and then a fireball. Workers immediately attempted to active the blowout preventer, but it failed.
The question Deep Water Horizon poses is how much risk can be endured from deeper oil rig drilling. It is well established that the deeper the drilling the greater risk of an explosion. With the greater risk of explosion the ultimate risk of the loss of human life; an oil spill and ecological disaster. While explosions and fires are rare, they do happen. In 1988, the Piper Alpha offshore rig exploded,killing 167.
In 2001, the Petrobas 36 platform off Brazil’s coast also exploded, killing 11 workers. Ali Vashi, a CNN reporter, who was once evacuated from an oil rig, felt oil rigs are the safest places to be. There is a zero tolerance for safety infractions. Which is what makes the explosion on the oil rig in the Gulf all the more unexpected and means that it is one that happened very fast.
Despite the efforts of BP, this is the worst ecological disaster in the nation’s history. The wetlands of Belle Terre, La are soaked with the brown scum of oil. Birds and animals are covered with the slime. One worker struggled to pull the oil off of his hands. A dead turtle covered with oil floats in Barataria Bay. People have been hired in temporary jobs to clean up the spill but how many permanent positions will be lost due to the lack of fishing and the tourist trade. However, one has to wonder, how much of our food supply will be affected by the spill. As I watched them clean the oil from the crabs in the area, I could not be convinced that it would never be safe to eat sea life from those waters again.
As of this date the oil continues to spill out into the ocean. Sources state that the oil cannot be stopped before August. BP has stated that it has an elaborate technical program designed to cap the oil. Its initial stage of was placing a LMRP cap on the well. This has been the most successful attempt at capping the well since the explosion took place in late April. During this time much to dismay of the entire world hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil were emptied into the Gulf of Mexico causing untold environmental damage; lost of trade in both the fishing and tourism industries. BP‘s executives attempted to shift the blame to Transocean who owned Deep Water Horizon. BP leased Deep Water Horizon from Transocean for approximately $496,800 a day.
Deep Water Horizon was an ultra deep water; dynamically positioned; semi submersible off shore drill rig. It was built in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries. Before it was destroyed they had dug the deepest oil well in the world with a vertical depth of 35,050 ft. In 2002 the rig was upgraded with an e drill, a drill monitoring system where technicians received real time drilling data from the rig and transmitted maintenance and troubleshooting information. Deep Water Horizon had many comforts. It had a bowling alley and a movie theater. On April 20,2010,the rig was in the final phases of drilling an exploratory oil well at the Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico , when at 09:45 p.m. CDT, a geyser of seawater erupted from the marine riser onto the rig, shooting 240 ft into the air. This was soon followed by the eruption of a slushy combination of mud, methane gas, and water. The slushy material quickly changed to gas and ignited into series of explosions and then a fireball. Workers immediately attempted to active the blowout preventer, but it failed.
The question Deep Water Horizon poses is how much risk can be endured from deeper oil rig drilling. It is well established that the deeper the drilling the greater risk of an explosion. With the greater risk of explosion the ultimate risk of the loss of human life; an oil spill and ecological disaster. While explosions and fires are rare, they do happen. In 1988, the Piper Alpha offshore rig exploded,killing 167.
In 2001, the Petrobas 36 platform off Brazil’s coast also exploded, killing 11 workers. Ali Vashi, a CNN reporter, who was once evacuated from an oil rig, felt oil rigs are the safest places to be. There is a zero tolerance for safety infractions. Which is what makes the explosion on the oil rig in the Gulf all the more unexpected and means that it is one that happened very fast.
Despite the efforts of BP, this is the worst ecological disaster in the nation’s history. The wetlands of Belle Terre, La are soaked with the brown scum of oil. Birds and animals are covered with the slime. One worker struggled to pull the oil off of his hands. A dead turtle covered with oil floats in Barataria Bay. People have been hired in temporary jobs to clean up the spill but how many permanent positions will be lost due to the lack of fishing and the tourist trade. However, one has to wonder, how much of our food supply will be affected by the spill. As I watched them clean the oil from the crabs in the area, I could not be convinced that it would never be safe to eat sea life from those waters again.
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