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Oil Leak Siphon Working, but is it too Late?
Engineers finally figured out how to siphon some of the oil that has been spewing into the Gulf for almost a month, but it could be too late to stop the ooze from reaching a major ocean current that could carry it through the Florida Keys and up the East Coast.
After weeks of failed solutions, BP PLC crews on Sunday hooked up a mile-long tube to funnel the crude from a blown well into a tanker ship. However, millions of gallons of crude are already in the Gulf of Mexico.
A researcher told The Associated Press that computer models show the oil may have already seeped into a powerful water stream known as the loop current, which could propel it into the Atlantic Ocean. A boat is being sent later this week to collect samples and learn more.
"This can't be passed off as 'it's not going to be a problem,"' said William Hogarth, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. "This is a very sensitive area. We are concerned with what happens in the Florida Keys."
BP PLC engineers remotely guiding robot submersibles had worked since Friday to place the tube into a 21-inch pipe nearly a mile below the sea. After several setbacks, it was working, though officials warned that it was too early to measure how much crude was being collected and acknowledged it was no panacea.
"It's a positive move, but let's keep in context," said Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president for exploration and production. "We're about shutting down the flow of oil from this well."
BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday that the tube was currently drawing roughly 1,000 barrels of oil a day from the well. He added that BP plans to shut down operation of the well as soon as they stop the leak.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts
BP failed in several previous attempts to stop the leak, trying in vain to activate emergency valves and lowering a 100-ton container that got clogged with icy crystals. They have used chemicals to disperse the oil. Tar balls have been sporadically washing up on beaches in several states, including Mississippi where at least 60 have been found. But so far, oil has not washed ashore in great quantities.
Hogarth said a computer model shows oil has already entered the loop current, while a second shows the oil is 3 miles from it - still dangerously close. The models are based on weather, ocean current and spill data from the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other sources.
Hogarth said it's still too early to know what specific amounts of oil will make it to Florida, or what damage it might do to the sensitive Keys or beaches on Florida's Atlantic coast. He said claims by BP that the oil would be less damaging to the Keys after traveling over hundreds of miles from the spill site were not mollifying.
Damage is already done, with the only remaining question being how much more is to come, said Paul Montagna, from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University.
"Obviously the quicker they plug this the better, but they are already having a tremendous effect on the environment," he said. "In the end, we have to figure out how much is actually pouring into the Gulf."
BP had previously said the tube, if successful, was expected to collect most of the oil gushing from the well.
Crews will slowly ramp up how much it siphons over the next few days. They need to move slowly because they don't want too much frigid seawater entering the pipe, which could combine with gases to form the same ice-like crystals that doomed the previous containment effort.
Two setbacks over the weekend illustrate how delicate the effort is. Early Sunday, hours before a steady connection was made, engineers were able to suck a small amount of oil to the tanker, but the tube was dislodged. The previous day, equipment used to insert the tube into the gushing pipe at the ocean floor had to be hauled to the surface for readjustment.
The first chance to choke off the flow for good should come in about a week. Engineers plan to shoot heavy mud into the crippled blowout preventer on top of the well, then permanently entomb the leak in concrete. If that doesn't work, crews also can shoot golf balls and knotted rope into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it, Wells said.
The final choice to end the leak is a relief well, but it is more than two months from completion.
Top officials in President Barack Obama's administration cautioned that the tube "is not a solution."
"We will not rest until BP permanently seals the wellhead, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a joint statement.
Meanwhile, scientists warned of the effects of the oil that already has leaked into the Gulf. Researchers said miles-long underwater plumes of oil discovered in recent days could poison and suffocate sea life across the food chain, with damage that could endure for a decade or more.
Researchers have found more underwater plumes of oil than they can count from the well, said Samantha Joye, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia.
The hazards of the plume are twofold. Joye said the oil itself can prove toxic to fish, while vast amounts of oxygen are also being sucked from the water by microbes that eat oil. Dispersants used to fight the oil also are food for the microbes, speeding up the oxygen depletion.
"So, first you have oily water that may be toxic to certain organisms and also the oxygen issue, so there are two problems here," said Joye, who's working with the scientists who discovered the plumes in a recent boat expedition. "This can interrupt the food chain at the lowest level, and will trickle up and certainly impact organisms higher. Whales, dolphins and tuna all depend on lower depths to survive."
Oil has been spewing since the rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and sinking two days later. The government shortly afterward estimated the spill at 210,000 gallons (794,913 liters) a day, a figure that has since been questioned by some scientists who fear it could be far more. BP executives have stood by the estimate while acknowledging there's no way to know for sure.
Steve Shepard, who chairs the Gulf Coast group of the Sierra Club in Mississippi, said the solution by BP to siphon some of the oil is "hopefully the beginning of the end of this leak."
He, like others, is worried that much more than the estimate is leaking and that the long-term damage is hard to measure.
"We have a lot to be worried about," he said. "We are in uncharted territory."
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. After weeks of failed solutions, BP PLC crews on Sunday hooked up a mile-long tube to funnel the crude from a blown well into a tanker ship. However, millions of gallons of crude are already in the Gulf of Mexico.
A researcher told The Associated Press that computer models show the oil may have already seeped into a powerful water stream known as the loop current, which could propel it into the Atlantic Ocean. A boat is being sent later this week to collect samples and learn more.
"This can't be passed off as 'it's not going to be a problem,"' said William Hogarth, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. "This is a very sensitive area. We are concerned with what happens in the Florida Keys."
BP PLC engineers remotely guiding robot submersibles had worked since Friday to place the tube into a 21-inch pipe nearly a mile below the sea. After several setbacks, it was working, though officials warned that it was too early to measure how much crude was being collected and acknowledged it was no panacea.
"It's a positive move, but let's keep in context," said Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president for exploration and production. "We're about shutting down the flow of oil from this well."
BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday that the tube was currently drawing roughly 1,000 barrels of oil a day from the well. He added that BP plans to shut down operation of the well as soon as they stop the leak.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts
BP failed in several previous attempts to stop the leak, trying in vain to activate emergency valves and lowering a 100-ton container that got clogged with icy crystals. They have used chemicals to disperse the oil. Tar balls have been sporadically washing up on beaches in several states, including Mississippi where at least 60 have been found. But so far, oil has not washed ashore in great quantities.
Hogarth said a computer model shows oil has already entered the loop current, while a second shows the oil is 3 miles from it - still dangerously close. The models are based on weather, ocean current and spill data from the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other sources.
Hogarth said it's still too early to know what specific amounts of oil will make it to Florida, or what damage it might do to the sensitive Keys or beaches on Florida's Atlantic coast. He said claims by BP that the oil would be less damaging to the Keys after traveling over hundreds of miles from the spill site were not mollifying.
Damage is already done, with the only remaining question being how much more is to come, said Paul Montagna, from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University.
"Obviously the quicker they plug this the better, but they are already having a tremendous effect on the environment," he said. "In the end, we have to figure out how much is actually pouring into the Gulf."
BP had previously said the tube, if successful, was expected to collect most of the oil gushing from the well.
Crews will slowly ramp up how much it siphons over the next few days. They need to move slowly because they don't want too much frigid seawater entering the pipe, which could combine with gases to form the same ice-like crystals that doomed the previous containment effort.
Two setbacks over the weekend illustrate how delicate the effort is. Early Sunday, hours before a steady connection was made, engineers were able to suck a small amount of oil to the tanker, but the tube was dislodged. The previous day, equipment used to insert the tube into the gushing pipe at the ocean floor had to be hauled to the surface for readjustment.
The first chance to choke off the flow for good should come in about a week. Engineers plan to shoot heavy mud into the crippled blowout preventer on top of the well, then permanently entomb the leak in concrete. If that doesn't work, crews also can shoot golf balls and knotted rope into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it, Wells said.
The final choice to end the leak is a relief well, but it is more than two months from completion.
Top officials in President Barack Obama's administration cautioned that the tube "is not a solution."
"We will not rest until BP permanently seals the wellhead, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a joint statement.
Meanwhile, scientists warned of the effects of the oil that already has leaked into the Gulf. Researchers said miles-long underwater plumes of oil discovered in recent days could poison and suffocate sea life across the food chain, with damage that could endure for a decade or more.
Researchers have found more underwater plumes of oil than they can count from the well, said Samantha Joye, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia.
The hazards of the plume are twofold. Joye said the oil itself can prove toxic to fish, while vast amounts of oxygen are also being sucked from the water by microbes that eat oil. Dispersants used to fight the oil also are food for the microbes, speeding up the oxygen depletion.
"So, first you have oily water that may be toxic to certain organisms and also the oxygen issue, so there are two problems here," said Joye, who's working with the scientists who discovered the plumes in a recent boat expedition. "This can interrupt the food chain at the lowest level, and will trickle up and certainly impact organisms higher. Whales, dolphins and tuna all depend on lower depths to survive."
Oil has been spewing since the rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and sinking two days later. The government shortly afterward estimated the spill at 210,000 gallons (794,913 liters) a day, a figure that has since been questioned by some scientists who fear it could be far more. BP executives have stood by the estimate while acknowledging there's no way to know for sure.
Steve Shepard, who chairs the Gulf Coast group of the Sierra Club in Mississippi, said the solution by BP to siphon some of the oil is "hopefully the beginning of the end of this leak."
He, like others, is worried that much more than the estimate is leaking and that the long-term damage is hard to measure.
"We have a lot to be worried about," he said. "We are in uncharted territory."
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I am a legally blind person..I walk to the store, bank, post office..I use mass transit the city bus.. So no we don't buy gas..
After all, even with offshore drilling, most oil still comes from Canada, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia.
Without American money, Canada would have no free health care system, Venezuela's Chavez wouldn't be able to provide free heating oil to his people in the winter, and each Saudi Prince (there are 6,000 of them) wouldn't be able to buy a new car every three months.
Keep it coming.
http://deepseanews.com/2010/04/the-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-a-timeline/
Explosion 4/20- Coast Guard says no oil escaping 4/23-remote vehicles show oil leaking 4/23-oil slick covers 700 sq miles 4/24-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar say they are expanding the government?s investigation of the explosion that caused the disaster. Obama administration officials meet with top executives of BP. April 27- so it was 8 days before the Adminstration met with BP officials. Coast Guard was on duty right away but the Admininstration sat back and waited. Didn't appear to be any concern for speed.
_____________________
jschmidt27, I am completely convinced that if the US Navy and Army engineers were on top of this from day 1, this leak would have been stopped long ago, not 2 weeks while the inept Obama watches from the sidelines, crying about finger pointing.
Yeah.
Right.
I don't buy gas..I am appalled of this mess.
______________
You don't buy gas ? Nobody in your family drives a vehicle, cuts the lawn, or saws wood, nothing ? You just live on little house on the Pararie ? You might not buy it, but someone else goes to the station for gas and "buys" it for you.
Consider the 21 inch pipe is gushing at full capacity...now a 6" pipe is supposed to suck up all that oil ?
Now consider if there is a stopper that wedges into the remaining 21 inches -- this will make a super jet that will clog the 6" and/or send backward pressure to cause / exacerbate leaks in the 1 mile long twisted and crumpled piping.
by ejavam07 May 16, 2010 11:50 PM EDT
Just a little math here... a 21" pipe gushing oil (at full throttle) into a 6" straw. Assuming that the 6" straw is sucking at full tilt ..., and there is no resistance in the straw, would mean that if A = pi * r ** 2, the percentage that is actually coming up the straw would be A = (21 ** 2) / (6 ** 2) or about 1/12th of output, right? So this is wonderful news, right?
by greco99-2009 May 17, 2010 12:22 AM EDT
Plus the following 'miracle' will be required to make this contraption work - No pressure differential at the junction. Otherwise there will be either crystallization or gaseous expansion
I guess it may take longer than 'days to measure' the oil being 'sucked up' -- because there is relatively little oil that will be captured this way compared with the oil that is leaking...
I think this is just the same BS as when BP announced there was 'only' 1000 barrels leaking per day (for reference a 1/2 inch garden hose will fill a small pool (about 400 Barrels) in a day.
I'd like to see the video that would have certainly been made by the robotic subs (ROVs). No video? Makes you wonder if this is more PR / scam to buy time...
Woods Hole / MIT has some of the most technically advanced deepwater submarines...but, BP has denied Woods Hole's offer for (free) assistance...
Trust but verify...lying to Federal Officials is a crime...false reports cause real harm...
Glad to see the criminal probe coming from congress...now waiting to see the response from the State Attorney;s General...
To those who chanted "Drill Baby Drill", those of us opposed to fossil fuels and atomic energy said no because you will surly "SPILL DUMBY SPILL", and to the worlds horror, you have. These oil companies clearly did and do not have adequate response plans or equipment! Why not? They posted record profits in the hundreds of Billions over the last few years, maybe a few million on safety and accident response could have made the difference here. The only thing that came from the Exxon Valdez disaster is not better safety standards or regulation, not better clean-up tactics and technology, not top notch response plans and enough equipment to handle every situation, not tougher fines and penalties... the only law that passed was one limiting the liability of the offender to $75,000,000.00!!! REALLY CONGRESS??!!! If their liability is limited, who pays the rest?? You and me, that?s who!! Wow, they are not even trying to hide the corruption. WAKE UP!! STAND UP!! SPEAK UP!! TAKE ACTION!! STOP THE INSANITY!!
My name is Steve Smith, I started ANNUENERGYCOMPANY.COM because I passionately believe that renewable, clean, green energy can and will replace these dirty deadly fuels, not in the future or someday, but TODAY! I'm working hard to change the world, and I have a comprehensive plan, but I need your help. Call me @ 727-499-8396, go to my company website or email me @ sales@annuenergy.com. Lets make the needed positive changes, so our children and grandchildren have a habitable planet to live in, before it is to late!
The Republicans just blocked a Democrat bill that would have raised oil companies' "responsibility cap" from $75 million to $10 billion. So who do you think is going to pay the overages? Us the tax payers.
On the 9th of April Sarah Pailin said in New Orleans ?it's perfectly safe to drill in the Golf?, 11 days latter 11 people are dead and we have one of the worst man made disasters in history. Spill baby spill. That woman is an idiot.
On the outset, BP said ?trust us we can handle this?. They gave a low ball estimate for the spill rate and tried to leave everyone with the impression they could take care of this themselves. The Obama administration didn't trust them. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) did there own calculations and determined that the spill rate was five times what BP said. And Obama declared all hands on deck. He sent out the coast guard the EPA and Interior. BP's initial reaction made this spill a lot harder to clean up.
Now I know the Teabagger, Republicans want to blame Obama. It happened under his watch, bla bla bla. It's a man made accident and everything is not his falt. You don't want him to regulate healthcare, banks, big business etc. but he should have better regulated this, give me a break.
For 8 years this country was led by two oil guys, fossil fuel guys. There looked the other way, they didn't regulate tough. So we've had the worse mine disaster in decades and now we have the worse the worst oil spill. I don't think its a coincidence.
Republicans need to stop making excuses and blaming this administration when all the planning and permitting occurred under Bush.
The Obama administration have been on this sense day one and I can give you a time line and I will if anyone wants to dispute it or can't look it up themselves.
http://www.mms.gov/awards/SAFEcriteria.htm