Gulf of Mexico: 10cm layer of dead animals and oil

NO SIGN OF SEALIFE

Deepwater Horizon oil leak “devastated” life on and near the seafloor:  Marine scientist

A research submersible discovered a 10cm thick layer of dead animals and oil in places, said Samantha Joye, a marine scientist  at the University of Georgia.

It’s implausible that the Gulf of Mexico will recover by the end of 2012, she said disputing BP’s assessment, a report said.

“Knocking these animals out of the food chain will, in time, affect species relevant to fisheries.”

Professor Joye told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Washington that it may be a decade before the full effects on the Gulf are apparent.

She said they concluded the layers had been deposited between June and September 2010 after it was discovered that no sign of sealife from samples taken in May remained.

Professor Joye and her team, using the Alvin submersible,  examined the bottom-most layer of the water close to the well head, known as the benthos.

“The impact on the benthos was devastating,” she told BBC News.

“Filter-feeding organisms, invertebrate worms, corals, sea fans – all of those were substantially impacted – and by impacted, I mean essentially killed.

“Another critical point is that detrital feeders like sea cucumbers, brittle stars that wander around the bottom, I didn’t see a living (sea cucumber) around on any of the wellhead dives. They’re typically everywhere, and we saw none.” More…

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters

BP Hayward: Frankly, I Couldn’t Give a Damn!

Sad Images of the Day

Let the one among you lawmakers who’s NOT on a corporate payroll cast the first stone.

Let the one among you lawmakers who’s NOT on a corporate payroll cast the first stone. [Original caption: BP CEO Tony Hayward testifies about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico at the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill, June 17, 2010. REUTERS/Larry Downing.] Image may be subject to copyright. More images…

How About You Rep. Joe [Big Oil] Barton?

“Joe Barton of Texas, a major recipient of oil and gas industry campaign contributions, apologized to Hayward for BP having been pressured by the White House into setting up a $20 billion escrow account for spill damages.” Reuters reported.

“It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, a $20 billion shakedown,” Big Oil Barton said.

Rep. Joe Big Oil Barton can’t keep his head out of the Big Oil rupture oil wells. Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Barton’s Forced Apology

“I apologize for using the term ‘shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP.”

Isn’t it a bit too late for that, you douche bag.

Related Links:

• Gulf Oil Disaster: “It’s a war”
• Oil Disasters
• Gulf Oil Disaster: Why Obama Was Slighted
• Obama: A Serious Self-Hater

Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak – Detailed Satellite Image

BP Oil Well in Gulf of Mexico Continues to Bleed Crude Oil

Heavy oil colors the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in this detailed satellite image, acquired by the ASTER on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 1, 2010. The image is made from both visible and infrared light, but the slick looks similar to a natural color image made solely from visible light. The heaviest oil is silver with slightly lighter concentrations radiating out in streaks of white. The water is black, though even the dark water is tainted with white, hinting at oil on the water’s surface throughout the image. Image and Caption: NASA. Click image for larger, detailed image.

Selected Reading

“BP oil spill 2010 news is revealing that BP is trying to offer settlements to some residents in Alabama. The BP oil spill is not their accident, according to BP CEO Tony Hayward, and now it appears that they are trying to get Alabama residents to agree to settlements that might be far less than they would get in a law suit. Some of the settlement agreements that BP is shopping around to coastline residents in Alabama stipulate that they will get a one-time payment of up to $5,000 in exchange for the residents giving up the right to sue the company. This could also mean that some of the offers are well below that $5,000 threshold, and it has already angered the Alabama attorney general.”  More …

Related Links:

• Oil Spill Attack on America – UPDATE May 3
• Could Gulf Cataclysmic Disaster Get Even Worse?
• Breaking News: Oil Leak 25,000 Bpd
• Fire-Earth Forecasts 10 Major Oil Spills to End 2011
• ‘I Hate BP, Bog Oil, Obama, US Lawmakers, Oil Lobby!’

• Obama’s energy security falls around his ankles
• Exxon Mobile Court Orders Only Fraction of Damages
• Oil Disasters

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Oil Spill: Drilling Ban Imposed in New Areas of US Coast

“No additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened”

White House adviser David Axelrod told ABC TV Network that Obama administration has now banned all drilling in new areas off the US coast pending investigations into the cause of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

In March Mr Barrack Obama relaxed a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling in the US coastal areas.

The ban was prompted by the ongoing massive 5,000bpd oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico, which has now reached the Louisiana coast and threatens to pollute other coastal states shoreline including Florida.

Birds fly over oil on the water near Breton Sound Island, on the southern most tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana, April 29, 2010.
Credit: Greenpeace, via Reuters.

The government has since designated the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster as an “incident of national significance”T and has sent the US Navy to help prevent what could turn out to be a major ecological and economic disaster.

As reported earlier Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and is considering to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to help the US Coast Guard and the Navy.

The worst thing that could happen now would be a major rupture in the damaged underwater well, resulting in a humongous amount of crude oil spilled into the Gulf.

Related Links:

• Things aren’t as bad as they look …
• Gulf Oil Spill Reaches Mouth of Mississippi River
  
• Oil Disasters

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Deepwater Horizon Sinks

Major Environmental Disaster Looms!

The oil well may be bleeding more than 8,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf each day

After burning for 36 hours, Deepwater Horizon, a semisubmersible oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico finally sinks, threatening to cause a major oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

”It certainly has the potential to be a major spill,” said David Rainey, a vice-president of BP Gulf of Mexico exploration, the company that was leasing the rig.

The state-of-the-art Korean-built offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon finally sank. Photo Credit: The US Coast Guard.

The state-of-the-art oil platform on lease to BP, was carrying out exploratory drilling about 66km (41  miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana.

The US Coast Guard said the rig may be leaking more than 8,000 barrels (342,000 gallons) of crude oil per day.

There’s no sign of the 11 missing crew members, despite frantic air and sea rescue efforts. An employee of Transocean, the company who owns the rig, said the initial blast may have killed the 11.

Four of the 17 crew members who were injured are said to be in critical condition.

Oil Rig Spec

The ‘state-of-the-art’ oil platform owned by Transocean was built in South Korea in 2001. Measuring about 121 x 78 meters (41m deep), it was designed to operate in water to the depth of about 2,440 meters  ( 8,000 feet), drilling  9,144 meters deep. The rig was a semisubmersible platform which accommodated a crew of 130.

News Release: Transocean Ltd. Provides Update on Semisubmersible Drilling Rig Deepwater Horizon

ZUG, SWITZERLAND, Apr 22, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) provided an update today regarding a fire and explosion onboard its semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon and reports that the rig sank late in the morning, today. The combined response team was not able to stem the flow of hydrocarbons prior to the rig sinking, and we are working closely with BP Exploration & Production, Inc. and the U.S. Coast Guard to determine the impact from the sinking of the rig and the plans going forward. The U.S. Coast Guard has plans in place to mitigate any environmental impact from this situation.

The incident occurred April 20, 2010 at approximately 10:00 p.m. Central Time in the United States Gulf of Mexico. The rig was located approximately 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon block 252.

The cause of the fire and explosion is unknown at this time. An investigation into the cause of the incident and assessment of the damage will be ongoing in the days or weeks to come.

Statements regarding any future aspect of the incident on the Deepwater Horizon, the effects, results, investigation, damage assessment relating thereto mitigation of environmental impact, as well as any other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These include but are not limited to results of searches, investigations and assessments, actions by the Coast Guard and other governmental agencies, actions by customers and other third parties and other factors detailed in Transocean’s most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available free of charge on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated.

Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor and the leading provider of drilling management services worldwide. With a fleet of 139 mobile offshore drilling units plus three ultra-deepwater units under construction, the company’s fleet is considered one of the most modern and versatile in the world due to its emphasis on technically demanding segments of the offshore drilling business. Its worldwide fleet is more than twice the size of the next-largest competitor. The company owns or operates a contract drilling fleet of 45 High-Specification Floaters (Ultra-Deepwater, Deepwater and Harsh-Environment semisubmersibles and drillships), 26 Midwater Floaters, 10 High-Specification Jackups, 55 Standard Jackups and other assets utilized in the support of offshore drilling activities worldwide.  For more information about Transocean, please visit our website at http://www.deepwater.com.

SOURCE: Transocean Ltd.

Related Links:

• Deepwater Horizon Still Burning – UPDATE
• Offshore Oil Rig Explodes
• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Want a Mandate to Kill Life on the Planet?
• Chevron-BP Pipeline leaks Oil into Louisiana Wildlife Refuge
• Oil Refinery Explodes in Washington State
• Obama: A Serious Self-Hater

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Offshore Oil Rig Explodes

Oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana’s coast explodes many injured, missing

Seventeen crew workers seriously injured, 3 of them critically, 15 others missing

The explosion occurred on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil-drilling platform 66km (41 miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana, at about 10 p.m. (ET) Tuesday, the US Coast Guard said.

‘State of the art,’ semisubmersible Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig on Fire, April 20, 2010 at approximately 10:00 p.m. central time. Photo: Scott Lloyd/United States Coast Guard.

The fire was “large and intense,” and the rig was still burning Wednesday morning, according to various reports. “It’s burning pretty good and there’s no estimate on when the fire will be put out,” a coast Guard officer said.

The rig owners, Transocean, said the rig has been on lease to BP Exploration & Production since September 2007.

No news concerning the extent of oil pollution that would most probably have occurred as a result of fire was available as of posting.

Deepwater Horizon Location Map. No information was made available concerning the extent of probable oil pollution, which may have been caused by the massive fire on the oil platform, as of posting. Base Map: Google Earth. Click image to enlarge.

The Deepwater Horizon before the explosion

News Release: Transocean Ltd. Reports Fire on Semisubmersible Drilling Rig Deepwater Horizon

ZUG, SWITZERLAND, Apr 21, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) today reported a fire onboard its semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. The incident occurred April 20, 2010 at approximately 10:00 p.m. central time in the United States Gulf of Mexico. The rig was located approximately 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon block 252.

Transocean’s Emergency and Family Response Teams are working with the U.S. Coast Guard and lease operator BP Exploration & Production, Inc. to care for all rig personnel and search for missing rig personnel. A substantial majority of the 126 member crew is safe but some crew members remain unaccounted for at this time. Injured personnel are receiving medical treatment as necessary. The names and hometowns of injured persons are being withheld until family members can be notified.

Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor and the leading provider of drilling management services worldwide. With a fleet of 140 mobile offshore drilling units plus three ultra-deepwater units under construction, the company’s fleet is considered one of the most modern and versatile in the world due to its emphasis on technically demanding segments of the offshore drilling business. Its worldwide fleet is more than twice the size of the next-largest competitor. The company owns or operates a contract drilling fleet of 46 High-Specification Floaters (Ultra-Deepwater, Deepwater and Harsh-Environment semisubmersibles and drillships), 26 Midwater Floaters, 10 High-Specification Jackups, 55 Standard Jackups and other assets utilized in the support of offshore drilling activities worldwide.  SOURCE: Transocean Ltd.

Related Links:

• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Want a Mandate to Kill Life on the Planet?
• Chevron-BP Pipeline leaks Oil into Louisiana Wildlife Refuge
• Oil Refinery Explodes in Washington State
• Obama: A Serious Self-Hater

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Alaska tug grounds, leaks diesel at Prince William Sound

Tugboat meant to help prevent oil spill disasters in Prince William Sound runs aground leaking up to 35,000 gallons of diesel

The Pathfinder, a 136-foot tug with six crew, on its way back to port in Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef and radioed for help at 6:15 pm Wednesday, the Coast Guard said.

The Pathfinder, a 136-foot tug, is surrounded by a spill containment boom Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009. The tug ran aground on Bligh Reef – the same reef as the Exxon Valdez 20 years ago. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester). Image may be subject to copyright.

Two of the tug’s fuel tanks which were damaged contained about 127,000 liters (33,500 gallons) of diesel fuel, or a quarter of their full capacity, AP reported.

The tug is owned by Crowley Maritime Corp., and is part of a system set up supposedly to prevent oil disasters like  Exxon Valdez from occurring, hit Bligh Reef, a submerged navigation hazard. In 1989 the infamous Exxon Valdez ran aground after hitting the same reef, spilling some 42 million liters of crude oil and causing and ecological disaster.

Yet Another BP Pipeline Leak in Alaska

The above news came just a day or so after BP said it had discovered another oil leak in an oil pipeline connected to a well at the Prudhoe Bay oil field, the third leak reported by the company in less than 4 weeks.

On December 2, BP discovered another leak from a pipeline at a different well at Prudhoe Bay, which leaked about 30,000 litters of oil,  Alaska’s environmental officials said.

On November 29, 2009 a ruptured pipe at the Lisburne field leaked about 175,000 liters of oil and water.

Related Links:

• BP Leaks in Alaska, Again
• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Kudos to Residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania

Big Oil Itching to Drill to the Last Straw

Big Oil Prods Congress for More Offshore Drilling

We’d like to rape and plunder some more before killing the marine environment: Big Oil

Big oil says they must have more offshore areas for oil and natural gas drilling, citing the same old, tired, discredited and pathetic excuse that America would be less reliant on foreign suppliers that way.

Offshore drilling: Rape and plunder in the high seas. Source of Photo: yourdemocracy.net.au

“There is some hypocrisy in locking these resources away while relying on resources produced in other countries,” said Marvin Odum, the President of Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

“Instead, we should embrace policies that provide access to our own oil and gas resources,” Reuters reported Odum as saying to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at hearing on offshore energy production.

“The U.S. Interior Department is considering a five-year plan that might open new offshore areas to drilling.” Reuters reported.

“But many environmental groups oppose expanded offshore drilling, fearing oil spills could result, especially when energy companies move into the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico where platforms are susceptible to hurricanes.”

The recent Australian oil disaster in Timor Sea is but the latest deadly reminder of the perils of offshore oil and gas drilling. For about 11 weeks the leak from the West atlas drilling rig and the Montara wellhead platform, which eventually caught fire early November, spewed oil and gas condensate at a rate of at least 400 barrels a day, polluting the fragile ecosystems in the region leaving tens of thousands of marine creatures dead.

PTTEP Australasia, the company responsible for the major oil disaster in the Timor Sea, said they pumped mud into a relief well in their fourth attempt to plug the leak, which had spewed oil and gas condensate at at least 400 barrels a day for nearly 11 weeks, before extinguishing the platform fire.  (PTTEP Australasia).

“The potentially irreversible effects of oil pollution on marine ecosystems and their dependent economies do not justify the potential short-term economic gains that might accrue from offshore oil and gas development,” said Jeffrey Short with the international marine conservation group Oceana.

The big oil says they have improved their drilling technology which allows oil companies to rape the marine environment in a friendly way.

“These advances enable more production while reducing environmental impacts and allowing for efficient use of existing facilities and infrastructure,” said David Rainey, VP of Gulf of Mexico Exploration at BP America, the U.S. arm of the British giant BP Plc.

And this came on a day when early impact of climate change  wrought havoc on Britain, with torrential rains  and up to 153 km/h wind gusts battering several coastal regions, triggering waist-high floods in several cities.

“Finding oil and gas for the future requires exploring in areas that are ever deeper and more complex,” Rainey boasted.

“We must stop ignoring the fact that oil and gas will play a major part in meeting America’s energy demands for several decades as we transition to a more sustainable energy future,” said Shell’s Odum.

You know full well Mr Odum that  you don’t even have several years, let alone several decades. Stop the mass deception! Quit the unintelligent “transition to a more sustainable energy” mantra. You’re not fooling all of us all the time.

Take your sick economy and shoot her in the head because our oceans simply can’t cope anymore!

Related Links:

• Australia Blazing Oil Rig May Collapse
• Australia Oil Well on Fire
• Australian ecological disaster
• Timor Sea Oil Slick: Growing Australian Disaster
• Major Ecological Disaster Underway in Timor Sea
• Australian Oil Disaster May Get a Lot Worse
• Australia Fails to Plug Oil Leak in Timor Sea
• How Much Oil Pollution Is Too Much?
• FEWW Earthquake Forecast: Timor Sea

Related News Links:

• The oil spill in Timor Sea grows daily
• Timor Sea oil spill costs $5.3m – so far
• First attempt to plug oil leak fails
• Second attempt to plug oil leak fails

• Expedition observes hundreds of marine creatures in oil slick
  http://wwf.org.au/news/expedition-observes-hundreds-of-marine-creatures-in-oil-slick/

• Australian oil spill ‘contaminating one of world’s richest marine wildernesses’
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/23/australia-oil-spill?commentpage=1

Recent Oil Spills:

• Gulf of Mexico receives its regular ration of oil spill
• Oil Spills, Earthquakes and Faults

• Magnitude 6.8 EQ Strikes BANDA SEA
• Deadly Earthquake Strikes Java, Indonesia
• Exxon Pays Peanuts to the Monkeys

• 4m liters of crude spill into French nature reserve
• Old MacDonald Had a Fleet
• Shell Leaks in Shabby Style!
• Exxon Mobile Court Orders Only Fraction of Damages
• Another Day, Another Oil Spill in Alaska

• Chevron should pay $27 billion in compensation
• US Govt Sues BP America
• Australia hit by another man-made disaster
• Large spill at Canada’s oil sands terminal

4m liters of crude spill into French nature reserve

There’s an irony behind every oil spill!

A fractured pipeline spills 4million liters of crude oil into French nature reserve

Four million liters of crude oil [4,000 cubic meters, or 25,160 barrels, weighing approximately 3,500 metric tons] has spewed from a fractured pipeline into a nature reserve adjacent to the Camargue national park, in southern France.

More than 2 hectares [5 acres] of Coussouls de Crau nature reserve is covered in crude oil. The reserve which is close to the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau, in the south of France, was created in 2001 and is home to tens of thousands of birds. Photo: AFP (dated August 8, 2009). Image may be subject to copyright.

Owned by the usual gang of big polluters including France’s Total, U.S. giant ExxonMobil and Britain’s BP, the  pipeline was operated by the Societe du Pipeline Sud-Europeen (SPSE), which supplies oil refineries and a petrochemical plants in France, Germany and Switzerland.

The 40-year-old fractured underground pipe was a meter wide and buried 80 cm under the ground.

“This is a real ecological disaster,” junior environmental minister Chantal Jouanno told reporters after visiting the area in the far south of France. Reuters reported.

She held the pipeline operator, SPSE  responsible for the disaster, and added:  “We will have to draw the consequences for all the pipelines in France.”

Crude spill location map: Coussouls de Crau nature reserve, near the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau, in  south of France. Map: Google. Original map may be subject to copyright.

The leak which occurred at about 8.30 am (06:30 UCT) has reportedly covered more than 2 hectares of the Coussouls de Crau nature reserve close to the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau,  south of France.

“The site lies at the entrance to the Camargue park, a vast expanse of plains and marshland, famous for its wild horses and bulls, that [borders] the Mediterranean Sea.” Reuters reported.

Related Links:

• Old MacDonald Had a Fleet

• Shell Leaks in Shabby Style!
• Exxon Mobile Court Orders Only Fraction of Damages
• Another Day, Another Oil Spill in Alaska
• Chevron should pay $27 billion in compensation
• US Govt Sues BP America
• Australia hit by another man-made disaster
• Large spill at Canada’s oil sands terminal

Another Day, Another Oil Spill in Alaska

How Many More Oil Spills Before Alaska is Toast?

A Christmas Day oil spill at ConocoPhillips’ Kuparuk oil field in Alaska caused by a ruptured pipeline  was deemed  one of the biggest-ever spills on the North Slope by  the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Ruptured hole in 6 inch flow line. The size of the hole is approximately 3.5 x .25 inches. Date: 12/27-28 . Photo Credit: ADEC

Kuparuk 2U Pad Crude Oil Spill — Jan 5-6, 2008. Photo Credit: ADEC – J. Ebel

About 100,000 gallons of oil-water mix escaped a corroded water-injection pipeline at North America’s second-biggest field,  Kuparuk, which can produce up to 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

A smaller spill also occurred at BP’s Milne Point field elsewhere on the North Slope three days ago.

Other incidents in the area include spill of oil, gas and other fluids in 2008 at the Kuparuk oil field, and a 200,000-gallon crude oil spill at BP’s  Prudhoe Bay oil field in 2006.

North America’s second largest oil field, Kuparuk is owned by a consortium of big oil including  ConocoPhillips (the field operator and majority owner),  BP the second largest shareholder has about 40 percent, while Chevron and Exxon Mobil own minor shares.

Related Links:

• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
• PERP Response Photo Gallery [Link includes data and photos on Alaska oil spills]