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Edited on Tue May-04-10 07:12 AM by Are_grits_groceries
Most people never thought about it. Everybody trusted someone to make sure it was safe.
Have you seen pictures or clips of oil spewing out of a rig on land when a pocket of it is reached? That spewing is caused by the pressure on the oil from the layers of rock above it. It is considerable on land.
Now imagine the pressure at huge depths. You not only have the pressure of the layers of rock, but also the pressure of the water. It is enormous.
When a pipe hits that oil, the upward movement is tremendous. An oil jugular is hit.
In order for it to be effective there have to be several things that will happen. 1-It has to be capped with a wellhead to control it. 2-The piping must be sufficient to carry the oil for a long period of time. The pressure on the pipes has to be considered. Another factor is the sand flowing in the oil. It will abraid the pipes some from the inside. 3-The pipes also must withstand the temperatures of the water on the outside and the oil on the inside. These are 2 radically different temperatures.
Then it should be safe. Can the oil flow be stopped if there is a problem such as the one that occurred? Divers can't go to those depths so are there submersibles designed to work on that machinery? Is the machinery at the bottom designed so that a submersible can easily work on it? Are there mechanisms that have been tested to see if they will work to stop the flow at those depths with that type of flow and under those conditions? Has the whole apparatus been designed for deep drilling or have shallow water rigs been altered some to work? This has been compared to going to the moon because it is so difficult. NASA didn't just wing it with some standard technology at that point.
Working at those depths is at the extreme limits of technology. I don't believe the rigs or other equiment were designed and TESTED in any manner that was sufficient.
In addition, the methods such as the domes have never been used for this large a gusher. All of the methods for stopping the flow if the BOPs don't work are theoretical. They also take a long time to work.
A lot of the methods used now are the ones used in 1969. There hasn't been nearly enough work on new containment and clean up methods. They are also not designed for the rough weather. Skimmers and booms are old, but they shouldn't be discounted. However, have they been greatly improved?
The horse is out of the barn now, and who knows when it will stop galloping?
(I know I probably left a lot out. This is what happens when I mull at 3am. I'll stop my insufferable lesson now. I apologize for my nattering.)
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