http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7105649.ece

Timesonline UK

From The Times  April 23, 2010

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

An aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico shows the burning oilrig Deepwater Horizon, which collapsed and sank after an explosion caused by an oil ‘blowout’

Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor, and Jacqui Goddard in Miami

A team of engineers using an underwater robot was struggling last night to control one of the world’s most challenging oil spills after an explosion ripped apart and sank a rig leased by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

As fears grew for the safety of 11 workers still missing, BP and US officials were tackling what could be a major pollution incident using booms and dispersant chemicals.

The spill is being fed by an estimated 13,000 gallons of oil and gas that were pumping every hour from a pipe running up from an oil reservoir more than 2 miles (3km) beneath the seabed.

Deepwater Horizon rig, which had been drilling for oil at the time of the explosion on Tuesday night, collapsed and sank yesterday after being engulfed by a fire that had blazed for more than 36 hours.

Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Transocean, the Swiss company that owned the rig, said that engineers were trying to cut off the uncontrolled flow of oil using a subsea robot. He said that the robot, equipped with cameras and remote-controlled arms, was being used to try to activate a device on the seafloor, 5,000ft (1,500m) below the surface, that is designed automatically to clamp shut over the base of a pipe that connects the rig with the seabed.

The robot was being deployed remotely from a ship close to the site of the disaster, 50 miles off the coast off Louisiana. If the effort fails the only alternative is to drill a “relief well” intersecting the original well. Mud and cement could then be injected inside to cap it. Such an operation, however, could take weeks or even months.

BP, Transocean and the US Coast Guard were planning to use booms, skimmers and chemicals to control what threatens to be a huge oil spill.

US regulators pledged to begin an investigation into the accident, which appears to have been caused by a “blowout” – an uncontrolled release of gas or oil that forced its way up the well pipe and caught fire, destroying the rig.

The majority of the 126 workers on board escaped unharmed but 17 were injured and 11 remain missing. BP said that all six of its staff, who had been overseeing the operation, were safe.

Last night survivors told of their desperate attempts to escape the fire. Chad Murray, 34, the rig’s chief electrician, said that they had less than five minutes to leap from their stations or bunks and evacuate before the rig was enveloped by the fireball.

Jim Ingram said that he was getting ready for bed when everything suddenly went dark. He heard a thud that “kind of sounded like a crane operator that would have landed a load. On the second one, we knew something was wrong”.

Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 5:51 PM

Richard Charter advises us that…..

– The Mineral Management Services, a federal agency that’s heading up oil and gas exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf, is hosting public environmental review meetings to solicit comments and alternatives on the potential environmental effects of oil drilling.
– Two meetings will take place in Jacksonville at 1 and 7 p.m. today at the Jacksonville Marriott at 4670 Salisbury Road.
– Those who can’t attend today’s meetings may e-mail comments to GGEIS@mms.gov or mail them in an envelope labeled “Comments on the PEIS Scope” to the Regional Supervisor, Leasing and Environment (MS 5410) Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70123-2394.

OFFSHORE DRILLING:
Energy reps ask MMS to expedite Atlantic Coast study (04/21/2010)

Energy industry representatives pushed the U.S. Minerals Management Service to speed up a study on the environmental impact of seismic surveying off the Atlantic Coast. The research will look at an area off limits to exploration and drilling for more than two decades.
The agency held the first of 13 public meetings to gather comments on the environmental impact statement yesterday in Houston. The meeting drew about 40 people who largely urged the agency to focus on scientific reports and documented instances of seismic effects rather than speculating on potential impacts.
Once the study is done, scientists will analyze geologic data on the effects of drilling, allowing the government to move forward with lease sales, siting wind turbines, excavating sand and gavel, and drilling. Seismic activity has not taken place in the mid- and south-Atlantic since the early 1980s, surpassed by new technology to find the most prospective areas. Companies say they need the geophysical data to begin planning production from offshore sites.
Jennifer Smith, an environmental activist, urged MMS to consider harm done to whales, sea turtles and other marine life from seismic surveying. The industry says marine mammals are not harmed by seismic surveying, which involves capturing acoustic images reflected off the seabed by loud blasts of compressed air (Monica Hatcher, Houston Chronicle, April 20). — JP

What follows are the comments I sent in.. Feel free to use them..DeeVon

Re:  Comments on the PEIS Scope

To: Minerals Management Service, Interior Department
Attn: Regional Manager
Re:  Offshore oil & gas exploration and Development in the Gulf of Mexico
 
Dear Sirs:
I wish to file my opposition to any plans to expand oil and gas exploration and development in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf that would affect Florida, especially the area adjacent to the Dry Tortugas National Park.   Oil and water don’t mix.
 
The impacts of such activities would contribute to the further decline of Florida’s endangered coral barrier reef ecosystem where the Tortugas National Park is located.   It will adversely impact tourism and commercial fishing upon which the state’s economy depends. Yet the result would be just a few day’s of oil for a nation that really needs to invest in alternatives such as solar. 
 
The toxic drilling muds, routine spills from the platforms, accidental vessel groundings, daily pollution from land-based support activities, and the potential of rig blow-outs and catastrophic spills would result in water quality degradation and could result in permanent damage to the fragile and endangered coral reef ecosystem of South Florida.  The emissions from such activities would contribute to global warming adding further negative cumulative impacts.
 
Corals need clear, clean, nutrient free waters to thrive.  One spill could ruin this ecosystem.  The ongoing impacts of the Valdez spill are testament that clean-up efforts do not begin to restore natural systems degraded by oil and gas development.  It is not worth the gamble.  For the past 23 years, as the retired founder of the environmental organization Reef Relief, we have opposed oil and gas exploration and development in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico because the short term benefits do not begin to outweigh the negative long term impacts.  Nothing has changed in that regard except that now areas are being opened for such activity without any new evidence or justification as to its merits. For what??? 
 
Your job is to look at the extensive record and make a decision that will insure a sustainable future for all Floridians and the millions of others who come to visit us because of our spectacular oceans, beaches and coral reefs. The Eastern Gulf of Mexico has been off limits for many years for good reasons.   I trust you will take the long view and agree that conservation of this most valuable area is important.
 
Thank you for the opportunity to present this viewpoint. 
 
Very truly yours,
 
DeeVon Quirolo

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 – 1948)

We can do no great things; only small things with great love.
Mother Theresa

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/04/15/exxonvaldez-spill-still-affecting-alaskan-wildlife.html

Thursday, April 15, 2010,11:41 [IST]
 
Washington, April 15 (ANI): Lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by wildlife more than two decades after the disaster, scientists in Alaska have found.
The research uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how the consequences of oil spills are measured in decades rather than years.

The Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on the Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, spilling 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sea, covering 1,300 square miles. It is still regarded as one of the most devastating human-caused contamination events, and the effects on wildlife populations and communities have been debated by biologists, ecologists, and the oil industry ever since.

Now, using the biomarker CYP1A, which is induced upon exposure to crude oil, an international team led by Daniel Esler, from the Centre for Wildlife Ecology
, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, has measured prolonged exposure to oil in local wildlife populations.

“One of the more remarkable and unanticipated findings of recent research is the length of time over which animals were exposed to residual oil. Our research has shown that oil remaining in the area, particularly in inter-tidal areas, was encountered and ingested by some near-shore animals,” said Esler.

The team focused their research on harlequin ducks as an example of such a species. Harlequins are marine birds that live in inter-tidal and shallow sub-tidal areas. Between 1990 and 2005 there were approximately 14,500 ducks in the Prince William Sound area.

“In addition to the higher likelihood of exposure due to their habitat, harlequin ducks have a number of characteristics that makes them particularly sensitive to oil pollution,” said Esler.

“Their diet consists of invertebrates that live in this area and have a limited ability to metabolize residual oil. Also, harlequin ducks have a life history strategy based on high survival rates, as well as a small body size when compared to other sea ducks.

“We found CYP1A levels were unequivocally higher in areas oiled by the Exxon Valdez spill than in nearby areas, a conclusion supported by multiple samples and two independent laboratories. We believe this shows harlequin ducks continued to be exposed to residual oil from the spill through at least 2009, twenty years after the event.

“We believe it is important to recognize that the duration of presence of residual oil and its associated effects are not limited to a few years after spills, but for some vulnerable species may occur over decades,” Esler added.

The study has been published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. (ANI)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6969813.html

Houston Chronicle

By LISE OLSEN and TERRI LANGFORD
April 21, 2010, 9:44PMApril 21, 2010, 9:44PMNine major oil rig fires have killed at least two people and seriously injured 12 since 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico, a lonely, high-risk drilling area where workers stay for weeks at a time, working 12-hour-a-day shifts.

Those fires are among 509 recorded on oil platforms in the Gulf since 2006, according to the U.S. Mineral Management Services, which monitors and collects platform data.

The Chronicle did not find any fatal accidents involving the drilling rig that caught fire Tuesday night, the Deepwater Horizon, or the company that owns it, Transocean Ltd.

However, fire struck other Transocean rigs in 2008 and 2009 and four of 19 accidents recorded on Transocean platforms for the past four years resulted in injuries to workers that required evacuation to shore and caused $1.9 million in damage, according to MMS accident reports.

The Houston Chronicle counted 35 fatal Gulf of Mexico platform accidents since 2006, based on local news reports and records.

The two deadliest Gulf of Mexico fires occurred in 2008 and in January on two oil rig platforms operated by the Apache Corp. In those two cases, one man died of his burns, and another died jumping into the Gulf to escape the fire.

$8.5 million in fines

Fires on Transocean’s other rigs did not involve injuries, according to government reports. One 2008 fire began after an O-ring was improperly installed on a fuel line, causing fuel to leak onto a hot engine surface. Another in 2009 started because of electrical equipment failure.

Most of the fatalities on these hulking metal behemoths involved drowning, diving accidents, helicopter crashes or drilling equipment mishaps.

Drilling companies have been assessed at least $8.5 million in fines since 2005 by the MMS, which also wears another hat: The agency collects royalties from the leases it sells to oil companies it monitors for safety.

In 2009, $11 billion in royalties was collected from off-shore leases. According to the MMS website, those royalties are one of the federal government’s greatest sources of non-tax revenue.

Attorneys who often represent off-shore workers in injury cases said that accidents aboard Gulf of Mexico oil platforms tend to be underreported.

“There is a big difference between their actual incident/injury rate and their self-reported (rate),” said attorney Michael Doyle of Doyle Raizner in Houston, a firm that specializes in offshore injury cases.

Injury rate higher?

Despite federal reporting requirements, Doyle said companies have failed to report off-shore injuries to the U.S. Coast Guard, which shares some enforcement authority with the MMS, in about a third of the employee cases he has handled.

“Often (company officials) deny an injury no matter what the doctors say,” he said. “So the injury rate looks low, but is not.”

Federal court records show dozens of recent cases filed nationwide against Transocean Inc and interrelated companies. But many of the injuries and death cases result in undisclosed settlements, two other attorneys who recently represented workers in cases against Transocean said.

Kurt Arnold, who has represented several clients in recent cases against Transocean Offshore and specializes in maritime injury cases said most of the workers live together in small towns from East Texas to all across Louisiana.

“Unfortunately, the rise of incidents offshore are increasing as the exploration for oil and gas increases,” Arnold said. “Many companies talk about their safety record, but the majority of accidents are not reported or misclassified. Unlike on land, there is little oversight.”

terri.langford@chron.com

lise.olsen@chron.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575197613591134990.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

By GUY CHAZAN , RUSSELL GOLD And BEN CASSELMAN

Twelve people were missing and seven critically injured after an explosion and fire at an oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

View Full Image

AFP/Getty ImagesA Coast Guard rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors.

 

The rig, about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast, is owned and operated by Transocean Ltd. and contracted to British oil major BP PLC. A spokesman for Transocean said most of the 126 people on board were safe. A Coast Guard spokeswoman said 12 were still missing but said reports indicated that all 126 people got off the rig. The rig was still burning and listing.

Four Coast Guard helicopters and an airplane are being used in rescue operations and five Coast Guard cutters are also responding, the Coast Guard said. “We are still in a search and rescue operation,” Transocean spokesman Greg Panagos said.

Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, has said that the missing people were in a lifeboat that drifted away from the rig while rescue workers were helping others.

It was unclear what caused the blast, which happened at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. Mr. Panagos said Transocean wouldn’t focus on determining the cause until the search and rescue concludes.

Fifteen workers were airlifted to local hospitals, according to Petty Officer 3rd Class Elizabeth Bordelon of the Coast Guard.

Ninety-nine people from the rig are on a vessel expected to arrive at Port Fourchon, La., at 8 p.m. CDT, the Coast Guard said. Transocean is bringing family members of the rig’s crew to Louisiana and is providing counseling, Mr. Panagos said.

“Anytime an incident like this happens, it’s a huge deal to us. We don’t want to see anybody hurt and we’ll do everything we can to take care of the crew,” Mr. Panagos said.

A spokesman for BP said the company had six personnel on board the rig at the time of the incident, and all were safe. The rig, the Deepwater Horizon, is located in an area known as the Mississippi Canyon.

Deepwater Horizon is a semisubmersible, effectively a floating platform that has small thrusters to hold it in place above a well. It was carrying out exploration drilling on BP’s Macondo prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. BP said Transocean was carrying out the work on BP’s behalf and was responsible for safety on the rig. Its staff on the facility work with Transocean’s drilling team to make sure the work is done to BP’s specifications.

BP, which owns the rights to produce oil and gas from the area, filed for a permit April 16 to temporarily abandon the well it was drilling at the site of the explosion, according to the Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department that oversees offshore drilling. It wasn’t clear from the service’s data if the government had approved the permit.

A BP spokesman says it had recently wrapped up exploration drilling. It is standard practice, the spokesman said, to file such a permit. The rig would then be moved to another location while BP spends time analyzing and interpreting data.

BP had begun to drill the well in June 2009, using a different Transocean rig. The Deepwater Horizon appears to have begun work in January, according to Minerals Management Service well data. The well had reached a depth of at least 11,500 feet.

Temporarily abandoning the well would typically require setting cement plugs in the wells to make sure that water, oil and natural gas don’t move around.

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico is a key focus of the western oil majors and a significant exploration hotspot. Last year, BP announced a “giant” discovery in the Gulf, saying its Tiber prospect, south of Louisiana, contained some three billion barrels of oil.

Associated PressThe ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Deepwater Horizon is shown operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

Finds like Tiber have resurrected a region that was dismissed as the “Dead Sea” in the early 1990s after the majors drilled a string of dry holes.

With a fleet of 146 rigs, Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor. It has built up a big position in state-of-the-art rigs capable of operating in deep water and other technically challenging environments and has more than 21,000 employees world-wide. The company moved its domicile to Switzerland from the Cayman Islands in December 2008 for tax purposes and debuted on the Swiss stock exchange earlier this month.

Tuesday’s explosion isn’t the first major accident in the modern era of offshore drilling.

In 2001, a platform working off the coast of Brazil caught fire, killing 11 workers and sank five days later. The platform was a converting semisubmersible drilling rig.

According to an investigation by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, oil and natural gas was accidentally pumped into a storage tank, which led to excessive pressure in the tank and a rupture. Gas was dispersed inside the vessel and 17 minutes later, was ignited and exploded. The crew began to evacuate the facility about 1½ hours after the tank rupture.

About eight hours later, the facility was badly listing. Crews tried to inject nitrogen gas into its pontoons, but it sank five days later.

—Angel Gonzalez and James Herron contributed to this article.

Write to Guy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com