The disaster wasn't the destruction of the oil rig, it was trying to clean up on the cheap

[WonderGrunion]

http://www.terradaily.com/news/energy-tech-05zzzzzzp.html

Hurricanes Destroyed 109 Oil Platforms: US Government

Washington (AFP) Oct 04, 2005
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 109 oil platforms and five drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, but only a small portion of production will be lost for good, the US government said Tuesday.

Rita accounted for most of the damage in a region that ordinarily produces nearly one-third of US crude oil imports, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said in presenting a preliminary assessment report.

Rita destroyed 63 platforms and one drilling rig when it tore through the region on September 24, she said. Katrina destroyed 46 platforms and four drilling rigs when it hit the Gulf at the end of August.

Katrina also caused extensive damage to another 20 platforms and nine drilling rigs. Rita seriously damaged 30 platforms and 10 drilling rigs.

Oil companies in the gulf have tons of experience in preventing oil from leaking from a damaged or destroyed leak. The disaster occurred because BP didn't want to lose this lucrative pipeline. They tried a series of inexpensive half-measures and concealed what they were doing from the government to buy themselves time to try and save this pipe for future usage. That was the origin of the disaster.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. how big is this compared to the other ones - what flow rate?

[WonderGrunion]

3. Compared to 5 rigs destroyed and 19 seriously damaged

I can't imagine this one rig had a higher flow rate than that.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. did the other ones lose much oil?

[naaman fletcher]

2. huh?

Do you have any evidence of this?

Certainly it is BP's fault But the reason is that there were signs that there were a problem, yet BP pushed forward anyway. The blow-out preventer also didn't work.

i don't see where cleaning up on the cheap has anything to do with that. The rigs destroyed by Rita all closed down before Rita hit. They had time to prepare and they shut off the wells.

[WonderGrunion]

4. First the clean-up, then the quagmire for BP struggling to control spill

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7112269.ece

About £10 billion has been wiped off BP’s value since the explosion, much of it yesterday, when its shares fell 40.8p, or 6.5 per cent, to 584p as investors took fright at the spill’s potentially enormous scale, costs and consequences.

They were not the only ones surprised that it took nine days, and growing pressure from the US Coast Guard, for Doug Suttles, one of BP’s senior executives, finally to admit that the amount of crude oil leaking from the stricken rig could be 5,000 barrels per day, rather than the 1,000 barrel figure initially claimed.

Mr Suttles sounded increasingly desperate as he acknowledged that the company’s efforts to control the giant slick were failing. “We’ll take help from anyone,” he said in a response to an offer of assistance from the US military.

BP denied the accusation of concealing the true extent of the leak. A spokeswoman called it “political nonsense” and said that BP was doing everything it could to resolve the spill.

[BeFree]

5. Ok

The question is.... was there a competent person on board the rig who had the authority to make sure money was not the most important item? Was there even one government inspector on the rig?

Another question: Why was it that the BoP didn't work? 'Bad battery' says one report.

[naaman fletcher]

7. Yes there were competent people.

The well started pulling up foreign material. On land if that happened the proper response would be to shut the rig down and run away as fast as possible. Any number of people in any position of responsibility on the rig should have known that. Undoubtedly someone felt pressure financially to take a chance.

I don't know why the BOP failed.

[BeFree]

8. So

Multiple failures?

And was there one person representing 'the people' who could have shut it down?

[naaman fletcher]

9. yes...

There would have been a head BP guy. Now, even though Transocean was a subcontractor, the head Transocean guy should have refused to continue.

[BeFree]

10. yeah

So... there was no government inspector on the rig?

[naaman fletcher]

12. I don't know. nt.

[RC]

13. The BOP failed during a test because someone nudged a joy stick and

raised the drill pipe up 15 feet while the Blow Out Protector was clamped down hard around the drill pipe. When they resumed drilling after the test pieces of rubber from the BOP started coming up with the mud. The on-board BP exec that was in charge, said to ignore it, keep going.

[lonestarnot]

11. No, I do not recall anything of this magnitude and no blow out at 1 mile deep.