Just an FYI - The Deepwater Horizon was drilling an 'exploratory' well.

It was an exploratory rig, not a production rig. The well was to be capped for production at a later date.

I have encountered some people pushing exploratory permits as 'not a big deal'. If you look at the ecological disaster occurring in the Gulf of Mexico it will become apparent that exploratory permits are, in fact, a very big fucking deal.

If you encounter someone pushing the 'not a big deal' meme out of ignorance, by all means educate them.
If you encounter someone pushing the 'not a big deal' meme knowing it is not the truth, hold them up as an example and hold them accountable for their lie.

'Exploratory' is what is killing our Gulf.

Unfortunately.

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to go back to the days of Carter and look at alternative energy.

even though they get tax breaks for drilling for US oil on US territory.

I could provide links, but the mods won't let me...

what used to be RW talking points being pushed as 'progressive' or 'liberal' or even 'Dem'. Something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Propaganda of all sorts in all media is Big Business...

An exploratory well can be a production well, and this one was both. It was being temporarily P&A'd (plugged and abandoned), so that a secondary rig (called a workover rig) could come in and do the finishing touches on putting it in to production, i.e., perforating casing, setting production equipment, etc. Normally offshore, a semi-sub like the Deepwater Horizon will do both; BP decided since they had the rig on contract to get it to another lease to drill, since going day rates for rigs that size are around a million to a million and a half dollars per day, and they can get a workover for half of that or less.

what you see in my post as not meshing with your post. As far as I can tell, we are talking about the same thing.

As some people continue to claim here on DU.

Also that anyone suggesting otherwise is either an idiot or a liar, if not both.

Not every well hits oil and not every well hitting oil ends up as production well (issues with well, geology, pressure, etc) but every single production well around the globe began as exploration.

and have little understanding of term of art in this area. Thus they can jump to conclusions to fit their agenda.

but are counting on your own ignorance to push their agenda. They would fall into the 'liar' category.

in the other thread but this FACT falls on dear ears.

But sometimes they can get lost (or abandoned) in the noise of the more 'spirited' threads.

They were in the process of capping it and abandoning for future production by another rig. All of this is out in the open and readily available to anyone with the slightest curiosity.



"Adrian Rose, a vice president of Transocean, Ltd., said workers had been performing their standard routines with "no indication of any problems" just prior to the explosion.<25> According to a Transocean spokesperson, at the time of the explosion the rig was drilling but was not in production.<26> Production casing was being run and cemented at the time of the accident. Once the cementing was complete, it was due to be tested for integrity and a cement plug set to temporarily abandon the well for later completion as a subsea producer."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

The plan was resubmitted with the designation still being "EP"

Bottom Lease # G32306
Submitted 2/23/09 Approved 4/6/09 Cancelled 4/16/09
Plan type code “EP”
Plan Control Code “N”- Initial Plan - First exploration or development plan submitted for a particular bottom-hole lease.

Resubmitted 4/16/09
Plan type code “EP”
Plan Control Code “R” - R- Revised Plan - An proposed change to an approved exploration or development plan that does not increase the number of allowable permits..

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/offshore/Plans_Permits/plans/master.asp

I was looking for that earlier.:toast:

Went from an "EP" designation to a DOCD plan.

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/offshore/Plans_Permits/plans/master.asp

on the rig were more about the great find than any BS about their safety record.

Lesson: Be careful what you wish for.

on the submitted paperwork to the MMS, "drill and temporarily abandon two relief wells concurrently to support well control activities for well #001." (Emphasis mine)

I know that the general consensus has been that there is not enough oil off the coast of the U.S. to make it worthwhile drilling for it. Obama himself said that when he slammed McCain for stating that we needed to lift the ban on offshore drilling.

But, this accident, and some other information I've read over the past week, which stated that 'deep-water drilling' is the way to go and that contrary to what we've always believed, there is a lot of oil to be found off the coast, deep in the ocean.

I don't have a link right now but will post one later. However, if it is true that there is far more oil than previously thought, could it be that once elected, Obama was informed of the fact that there may be way more than anyone had thought? If true, the possibility that the U.S. could become less dependent on oil from the ME might have persuaded him to change his mind.

If this was exploratory, then they struck 'gold' and had this accident not happened, I think they would have been celebrating. I will have to do more research and see if there is any more info on this topic. But, his complete flip flop has never made sense no matter how it was spun, unless he actually did know something none of us knew.

No one has said anything about the amount of oil they just found, or how it would have affected things as far as the ME and yet, I think this 'find' is fairly significant.