Mother Of All Gushers Could Kill Earth's Oceans

New estimates out -

In a closed-door briefing for members of Congress, a senior BP executive conceded Tuesday that the crippled Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico could conceivably spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day of oil, more than 10 times the estimate of the current flow.

Federal officials have raised the possibility of a leak of more than 100,000 barrels a day if the well were to flow unchecked, but the chances of that situation occurring were unclear.

www.nytimes.com...

That is 60,000 barrels = 2,520,000 gallons a day.



[edit on 4-5-2010 by Delphiki]

Hello, someone asked in one of the first two pages on a biblical view of this matter. I am not a bible expert but I do read it a lot and enjoy The book of Revelation.

Anyhow The only Verse that I believe comes close is
Rev 8:8
8And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

What I found interesting in this verse is "as it were a great mountain burning with fire".

Ive read over this quite a few times and have dismissed it as a meteor or volcano but I guess you have to try to picture what the Prophet John was seeing when he was given a glimpse into the future he was trying to describe what he saw and called it a Great Mountain. What that Great mountain really is could be anything of Good size I guess maybe an oil rig. I am convinced that the blood mentioned in the verse is not litteral blood but oil or some other type of substance that is released from the earth.

Rev 8:8 is the second trumpet, if your not familiar with the bibles end times it goes 7 seals, the 7th seal ushers in the 7 trumpets and the 7th trumpet contains the 7 bowls of Gods Wrath.

With that said I dont think we are in the trumpet stage yet, but that is just my opinion.

Anyhow I will be keeping an eye on the developments on this story I read the article on the pesn site and was alarmed especially when they said a nuclear bomb might be used.

Could the nuclear bomb ignite the oil? in the ground?

Good topic, I enjoyed reading the posts and the debates.


[edit on 4-5-2010 by ILoveProphecy]

I was watching the local (New Orleans) news tonight (Tuesday May 4th) and they had a story about the second bird to be treated for being covered in oil. Let that sink in for a second. It's been a week of doom and gloom, the world might end, the oceans will never be the same again, this is a world changing event... and the second bird gets treated in a week.

Very little oil has made it to shore, very few birds have turned up with oil on them, and there haven't been large amounts of dead fish washing up on the shore. I'm starting to wonder if some of the early predictions of damage have been over exaggerated. I'm hoping anyway.

Originally posted by ethancoop
I was watching the local (New Orleans) news tonight (Tuesday May 4th) and they had a story about the second bird to be treated for being covered in oil. Let that sink in for a second. It's been a week of doom and gloom, the world might end, the oceans will never be the same again, this is a world changing event... and the second bird gets treated in a week.

Very little oil has made it to shore, very few birds have turned up with oil on them, and there haven't been large amounts of dead fish washing up on the shore. I'm starting to wonder if some of the early predictions of damage have been over exaggerated. I'm hoping anyway.

I think the reason for this is the Gulf Stream pulling the oil up and around Florida. Just because it is out of sight for the moment, doesn't mean it hasn't been or won't be detrimental. This is still a very serious situation.

Edit to add: next time you watch the local news, check to see if they mention anything related to how much oil is actually in the reservoir or say anything about Macondo

[edit on 4-5-2010 by FlySolo]

[edit on 4-5-2010 by FlySolo]

holy


..#

60,000 barrels!?!

I kept reading this 100,000 barrel nonsense from being misread information and confusion

THIS is what they are actually saying now!!!

60,000 barrels...COULD REACH "OVER" 100,000!!!!

It was already 'bad'

60,000+ is EXTREME EXTREME

reply to post by Triple_helixxx


Just so that you're not confused:

In a closed-door briefing for members of Congress, a senior BP executive conceded Tuesday that the crippled Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico could conceivably spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day of oil, more than 10 times the estimate of the current flow.

It's a BP exec who's saying it COULD conceivable spill. As in it's a hypothetical situation, not already happening.

The 100,000 barrel number isn't from BP.

As it is right now, it seems to still be in the 5-6k range.

Originally posted by ILoveProphecy
Anyhow The only Verse that I believe comes close is
Rev 8:8
8And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

If this ignited, that would be a pretty good description of it.

Could the nuclear bomb ignite the oil? in the ground?

Not sure. But if the oil is combustible like diesel, it could explode under too much pressure.

Check this out .I never seen this one on the MSM. This guy was under the rig fishing before it blew. he got out just in time. story, photos, and small video. posted on a fishing blog.

they smelled lots of gas before the rig went up

fishing under rig. then it blew up.





[edit on 5-5-2010 by SJE98]

reply to post by SJE98


WOW! Quite a story!

He said, "If you would have seen the explosions you wouldn't believe any one of the 126 would have survived it."

Earlier, right after first explosion he said there was "a very large crew boat tied to the rig as it blew. People began rafting to that boat as it floated slowly away. The rig blew several more explosions after that and began to burn down. Some of the rig began dripping into the water and the platform tilted in and turned RED HOT."


I wonder if he saw whether the rafters made it to the crew boat.

The heat must have been really intense. Could the raft have been durable in water that hot?


I wonder if this "crew boat" was the same boat mentioned here as a "supply boat".

We have heard that a supply ship arrived just before the explosions and it was reported to be 'manned by all new people, nobody aboard was from the 'usual supply crew'. This purported industry source continues: there were a total of 14 explosions and these could have been cutting charges.

www.rense.com...

If these guys were there and so close....they may have seen things earlier that they shrugged off as insignificant. Things that they may have forgotton in the wake of the dramatic event.

If I were these guys I would go underground for awhile and not be found. It's not safe to know too much.







[edit on 5-5-2010 by Alethea]

At 60,000 barrels + a day this episode is going to dwarf the Exxon Valdez spill. I cannot believe what is happening.

Aliens if you are listening, please please take me as far away from this god forsaken Civilization as possible

Originally posted by Alethea
reply to post by SJE98

 

Earlier, right after first explosion he said there was "a very large crew boat tied to the rig as it blew. People began rafting to that boat as it floated slowly away. The rig blew several more explosions after that and began to burn down. Some of the rig began dripping into the water and the platform tilted in and turned RED HOT."


I wonder if he saw whether the rafters made it to the crew boat.

The heat must have been really intense. Could the raft have been durable in water that hot?

Well, if it was a life raft, then it's doubtful. But, those rigs primarily use lifeboats, which are fiberglass, enclosed, and have a system that washes water over the top of them to cool them off. They're also self propelled for 24 hours at 6 knots in calm water.

I wonder if this "crew boat" was the same boat mentioned here as a "supply boat".

I doubt it. There's a big enough difference that most people who've seen the two will be able to distinguish them from each other. Supply boat (OSV): Big. 225 ft to 325 ft, 35-50 ft wide, 2-5 decks above the main deck. Used to bring out deck cargo, as well as liquid cargo (fuel, potable water, drilling fluids, bulk dry cement, bulk dry gel, etc.) Crew boat: 130 ft to 225 ft, 20-30 ft wide. Used to transport cargo and equipment out very swiftly. Typically make 18 to 28 knots.

In the various photos, the big bulky looking boats are supply boats; the small thin looking boats are crew boats.

We have heard that a supply ship arrived just before the explosions and it was reported to be 'manned by all new people, nobody aboard was from the 'usual supply crew'. This purported industry source continues: there were a total of 14 explosions and these could have been cutting charges.

www.rense.com...

If these guys were there and so close....they may have seen things earlier that they shrugged off as insignificant. Things that they may have forgotton in the wake of the dramatic event.

If I were these guys I would go underground for awhile and not be found. It's not safe to know too much.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by Alethea]

It there are times when an entire crew changes out. Not too often, though, unless they're all working 14 days on/14 off. More likely the vessel was down for repairs and another one was sent out. Edison Chouest's OSVs all look the same in each class of vessel. So, unless you can see the name you won't know exactly which one it is. (They're the tan and orange vessels, BTW.)

If the fishermen were there, they need to get their story out, and I don't just mean on a fishing forum. Every bit of accurate information helps.

at last a confirmation of methane gas

I have had a theory as to what happened, that I can now post

Its known that methane can exist under water pressures in liquid form.
the drilling operation relys on drill mud (kind of a slurry) is pumped down the hole to cool the tools and plug the pressures. During the cementing operation almost all mud is pulled from the riser.
my theory, liquid methane saturated the drill mud, and under that high pressures, stayed in suspension. When the mud was brought up, and the pressure released, it turned into gas, which takes up more volume, and causing a situation that you can not vent enough gas off to keep the pressure low enough to control. Even if they could have vented all the fluid>gas off, the cloud of methane around the rig would be huge, hence the multi explosions. The rig basicly was hit with the same concept as a vapor bomb, but self induced.

this is one source about the Lmethane, but there are many other sources
I remember a show exploring the floor of the gulf, and they came upon a "pond" of it

www.straightdope.com...

dr

Why dont all oil companies have a stake it trying to cap this gusher. It would be competition and that should force a faster time line on getting this under control. Whoever caps it first will be rewarded by the amount of oil they can get from this gusher.

This has become a calamity to the area and I think we(people near the gulf) may have to deal with the consequences of oil on the beaches for years after all is said and done. This is really bad.

Originally posted by jrod
This has become a calamity to the area and I think we(people near the gulf) may have to deal with the consequences of oil on the beaches for years after all is said and done. This is really bad.

more like our lifetime, and our kid's too
the reason they can't/won't fight over it is they don't live here, and really don't care
it is just another case of "risk management gone bad"

dr

reply to post by dr dodge


Oh wtf? I'm not yet flipping, still keeping my nerves, but this really doesn't sit well with me anymore. Do we have any clue how much methane could leak out of here? Because of the extreme depth, I just have a bad feeling that it might be a ginormous amount. Does anyone have links to this, or estimates for methane reserves deep under the gulf area. Also does anyone have an idea if there are small pockets at these levels, or if it's all sort of connected in an area?

Methane hydrates (also called clathrates) are bubbles of methane gas trapped in a cage of ice crystals. Methane hydrate deposits occur in locations all over the world. The most concentrated deposits occur under the Arctic Ocean, under the ocean floor on most continental shelves, in locations like the Gulf of Mexico, the Bermuda Triangle, the Dragon's Triangle south of Japan, and in permafrost surrounding the Arctic ocean. It is reliably estimated that the amount of methane trapped as hydrates globally exceeds by many times the total combined oil, coal and natural gas reserves that have ever existed on earth. A chunk of methane ice exposed to the air and ignited will burn until all of the methane in that ice has been consumed. Methane hydrates, however, require specific conditions of temperature and pressure to keep them contained within their ice cage. Reduce the pressure - for example, by reducing the sea level and the pressure of water above the deposit - or increased the temperature and the methane hydrate deposit becomes unstable and begins to release the trapped methane into the atmosphere. That is a problem. Methane is a greenhouse gas. In fact, it is 21-23 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. When the methane trapped in the hydrate is released it expands by about 170 times.[1] Methane is lighter than CO2, lighter than air. As a result it rises rapidly through the atmosphere up to the lower-density stratosphere. On the positive side methane remains in the atmosphere for only about 10-20 years. CO2 remains in the atmosphere for over 100 years.

Source

[edit on 5-5-2010 by unityemissions]

Yeah, It actually could trigger a release of methane just by warming the water at that depth. A big fart cloud of methane could become a huge vapor bomb at sea due to lightning or it could hit land and suffocate some folks before it inevitably blew up. Not sure this adds up to the "apocalypse" but no doubt this is going to have huge repercussions in unforeseen areas. When the eastern seaboard is covered in crude I think the outrage will escalate but as we saw during Katrina the gulf coast is somewhat expendable so while it only is threatening the gulf I would not expect too much reaction.
It would only bring attention to the failure left behind from Katrina.
N.

reply to post by N.of norml


Right, but according to Dr. Dodge above, it's already leaked methane in the initial explosion. So my question is basically: Is there still methane which is being leaked, or has that been released and/or contained already?

reply to post by hawkiye


We need some good old fashioned alien intervention. This should answer the question of whether aliens are here and whether they are for us or against us. If you ask me they are the ones putting the doomsday screws in place.

And in my estimation the folks playing fast and loose with energy and the planet's life are the Republicans. No conservative values there. What was their mantra - Drill baby drill?

It is the whining crying alarmist Democrats who are the conservatives where the planet is concerned. They have tried to move away from more drilling even though the money to be made from it was there to scoop up for them as well.

Why do you have to fight a constituency of acquisitive resource squanderer's to even get the chance to protect and save the planet?

Why with at least this.... is there not agreement?








[edit on 5-5-2010 by rusethorcain]

oil wells are very dirty lots of other stuff comes up too H2S a poison gas also common hydrogen gas too... normally those are not nearly as volatile as condensate... room temp flash point...nasty stuff,,,

FYI They got the okay to burn off some of the slick, should be happening right now... bet thats a sight to see...sea of fire...

[edit on 5-5-2010 by DaddyBare]

From Horse's mouth.

Update 05/05/10

BP today announced that it has stopped the flow of oil from one of the three existing leak points on the damaged MC252 oil well and riser in the Gulf of Mexico. While this is not expected to affect the overall rate of flow from the well, it is expected to reduce the complexity of the situation being dealt with on the seabed.

At the MC252 well, using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), a valve has been installed on the end of a broken drill pipe, one of the three points from which oil was leaking. The ROVs first cut the end of the pipe to leave a clean end and the valve, weighing over half a ton, was placed in position on the seabed. Overnight the ROVs completed securely joining the valve to the broken drill pipe and then closed it, shutting off the flow from that pipe. The ROVs will continue to closely monitor the well and remaining flow points to look for any changes.

Source: BP

I am sill trying to wrap my head around the enormous complexities involved at 5,000 foot depth. For sake of comparison, the Titanic laid rest at 12,500 feet and we have all seen that footage, so the ROV's can handle it.

Oh well, one leak stopped, two to go. Fingers crossed.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by kinda kurious]