From the SCRIPTORIUM
The world is watching a well head located a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico…….and what do they see? The massive oil flow has been replaced with a massive mud flow coming from the broken pipe…and some say that this “top kill” technique may be working at helping seal the ruptured oil pipe….
If true it is all so much good news for us here on the Gulf Coast…believe me we need some good news with the latest Hurricane prediction was not so good for the upcoming season.
The live feed from the Gulf floor is compelling…it is like a train wreck that you cannot stop looking at …..but the feed appears to show no oil escaping, just drilling mud blow back….but that begs an answer to a couple of questions (yes, there is always questions)
1–is the sight of the mud blow back just covering up the oil as it continues to escape?
2–Is the mud sealing the leak or is it just being forced back out?
3–Is the pumping of mud just a smoke screen which is doing nothing to give the relief well a chance to punch through and solve the problem?
Update: Not important now….the Top Kill failed and now on to the next big idea…..cut off pipe install new valve…..I am beginning to think that the “best” minds are anything but that…..if that fails…it looks like the 2 relief wells will be the answer the whole time…..was all this just a cover and the 2 wells were the answer the whole time?
Since we all know that sh*t WILL happen (even if they were careful which, by nature, many of these people are not, or they wouldn’t do what they do for a living), it seems sensible to me that the oil companies of the world, or even a company that sells its services to oil companies in emergency situations, would have a ready made (and adaptable) answer of some sort that would work (much like Red Adair used to do years ago and I presume his company still does, if it still exists).
Apparently not. Why? Duh!
Some of these techniques were used by Adair back in the 90’s in Iraq and Kuwait….but none of these have been tried at 8000 lbs of pressure per square inch….that is an ouch! My opinion is that it will be finished when the two relief wells get dug….about 2-3 months….
Probably you are right – IF the hurricanes don’t intervene. However, isn’t it a fact that the oil companies are drilling more and more in ever deeper water? Surely there is a HUGE opportunity here for an enterprising “Adair” style company to work out solutions bothe for now and for the future. The Red Adair company DID already deal with blowouts offshore as well as on land and being deeper really does only increases the difficulties – the aims and answers are likely to be very similar…
As we’ve both said – the lack here is of forethought and THAT stems from incidents like the Exxon Valdez. Adults (particularly the risk takers in a capitalist society) are just like children – older, but hardly wiser – if they get away with it once, they don’t worry about mistakes in the future!
This is EXACTLY the point I keep making: if you try to control this sort of thing with legislation, all you get is “bribed” or “coerced” officials and smart lawyers who tie the administration up in its own red tape and legislation. If, on the other hand, you stick to KISS and palinly and without exception insist on applying an attitude of “f*ck up and you’ll get f*cked” then these people very quickly learn to be circumspect and it’s soooooo much cheaper and more effective!
But how do we take greed out of the equation?
Greed IS the equation – if they absolutely KNOW it’s going to cost them a huge bundle of money with NO way out (plus a possible custodial sentence), they WILL be careful and they WILL look for contingencies that will work in case it does go wrong. Childish, materialistic and uncaringly selfish these people may be, but they ain’t stupid – not really!
Selective memory is more like it….
We all have that – it’s a survival mechanism. 🙂
True….I try to remember it all good or bad and there have been some bad that I would like to forget but I will not let myself…….above all that you cannot survive if you learned nothing from the fuck ups…..
Bush managed OK
You betcha!