Actually 39% of BP is US owned, 40% is British and the rest is spread around the world.
The field itself is a joint venture between BP (65%), Anadarko, a US oil company (25%) and Mitsui of Japan (10%). As Anadarko is almost wholly US owned, US investors (principally pension funds) own more than half of the field.
The last time a catastrophic blowout like this happened it was in 1979. The Ixtoc I well off the coast of Mexico, in 500 ft of water, suffered a blowout. It put out oil at a similar rate but it took 10 months for them to plug the well. The Mexican government claimed immunity and didn't pay any compensation.
BP began drilling 2 relief wells as soon as possible after the accident. The first of those should be completed in early August. The relief wells should allow them to stop the leak completely.
I'd be very surprised if the current spill adds up to more than a third of Ixtoc 1.
BP leased a rig from Transocean. Transocean not only owned the rig and BOP, their staff manned the rig. The ultimate authority wasn't BP, it was the senior Transocean man on board. That's what the contract called for.
BP were the customer. They paid Transocean a daily rate. That means it was in Transocean's interests to take as long as possible and BP's to get things finished as quickly as possible. That's bound to lead to disputes, of course, and BP were bound to ask for quicker ways of doing things. But BP could only ask, the operation was under Transocean's control.
A lot of Transocean equipment failed in this disaster. Things like the BOP are supposed to be regularly inspected and fail-safe. BP had nothing to do with the supply or maintenance of that equipment.
Ixtoc I spill pumped out only 3 tenths of what the Deep Water Horizon is pumping out. look at the info i said on June 1st. and
READ IT ALL...1:
Current estimates of the amount of oil being discharged range from 12,000–100,000 barrels (500,000–4,200,000 US gallons; 1,900,000–16,000,000 litres) per day. The preliminary best estimate that was released on May 27 by the semi-official Flow Rate Technical Group put the volume of oil flowing from the blown-out well at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (500,000 to 800,000 US gallons; 1,900,000 to 3,000,000 litres) per day, which had amounted to between 440,000 and 700,000 barrels (18,000,000 and 29,000,000 US gallons; 70,000,000 and 111,000,000 litres) as of that date... This discharge rate has hit well above the Flow Rate Tech Group's amount. it is around the 100,000 barrels now in much more accurate tests
compared to the Ixtoc I oil spill
In the initial stages of the spill, an estimated 30,000 barrels of oil per day were flowing from the well. In July 1979, the pumping of mud into the well reduced the flow to 20,000 barrels per day, and early in August the pumping of nearly 100,000 steel, iron, and lead balls into the well reduced the flow to 10,000 barrels per day. Pemex claimed that half of the released oil burned when it reached the surface, a third of it evaporated, and the rest was contained or dispersed.[6] Mexican authorities also drilled two relief wells into the main well to lower the pressure of the blowout, however the oil continued to flow for three months following the completion of the first relief well.
Pemex contracted Conair Aviation to spray the chemical dispersant Corexit 9527 on the oil. A total of 493 aerial missions were flown, treating 1,100 square miles of oil slick. Dispersants were not used in the U.S. area of the spill because of the dispersant's inability to treat weathered oil. Eventually the on-scene coordinator (OSC) requested that Mexico stop using dispersants north of 25°N.
In Texas, an emphasis was placed on coastal countermeasures protecting the bays and lagoons formed by the barrier islands. Impacts of oil to the barrier island beaches were ranked as second in importance to protecting inlets to the bays and lagoons. This was done with the placement of skimmers and booms. Efforts were concentrated on the Brazos-Santiago Pass, Port Mansfield Channel, Aransas Pass, and Cedar Bayou which during the course of the spill was sealed with sand. Economically and environmentally sensitive barrier island beaches were cleaned daily. Laborers used rakes and shovels to clean beaches rather than heavier equipment which removed too much sand. Ultimately, 71,500 barrels of oil impacted 162 miles of U.S. beaches, and over 10,000 cubic yards of oiled material were removed.
Quote from: Dawger on May 30, 2010, 10:19:42 AM
What about IXTOC?
Nine months at a much higher rate than Deepwater Horizon. 140 Million gallons. A river of oil.
Seas didn't die.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v290/n5803/abs/290235a0.html
where did you find 140 MILLION gallons dawger?
2: Sea life will not die out, it will adapt like it always has...Sadly, this adaptation will cause the death of thousands of sea animals let alone birds and land animals or amphibians on the shore. experts are saying it will impact hundreds of bird species alone...
3: On May 19, scientists monitoring the spill with the European Space Agency Envisat radar satellite stated that oil reached the Loop Current, which flows clockwise around the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida, and may reach Florida within 6 days. The scientists warn that because the Loop Current is a very intense, deep ocean current, its turbulent waters will accelerate the mixing of the oil and water in the coming days. "This might remove the oil film on the surface and prevent us from tracking it with satellites, but the pollution is likely to affect the coral reef marine ecosystem". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration acknowledged, on May 19, that "a small portion of the oil slick has reached the Loop Current in the form of light to very light sheens."
4: BP has not allowed independant scientists to accurately determine the true oil leak amount and has downplayed it from the start of the incident.
End of my quote------------
----Now you do the math between the oil spill from Ixtoc I and the DWH spill. 3 months of spillage from DWH will create 378,000,000 gallons of spillage to add onto the 29,000,000 that BP stated as a
form of cover for the 100,000 gallons flowing.
that would mean adding in the 36 days since the explosion it would actually amount to approximately 510,000,000 gallons of oil from 4 months of steady flow if it does not end by this August
compared to 10 months for the Ixtoc I's 30,000 barrels instead of 100,000 and only 378,000,000 gallons of oil from the Ixtoc which most burned off or dissipated or was contained in TEN months. a.k.a. the DWH will pump more oil out in 3 months than the Ixtoc I did in ten months.
and just because BP says theyll have it contained in August, doesn't mean that they will.
the Ixtoc was in 500ft of water, the DWH is in 5,000ft. relief wells are a way to slow the leak, they will still need to repair the leak after the two relief wells are in place. that will also take time. by then the oil will hit the Gulf Stream and go up the coast.
So after 4 months of rigging relief wells and possibly up to another 2-6 to fix the leak...well that would just be too much math for my head. add 510,000,000 to whatever decrease in flow and you could possibly amount over a figure of 1 billion gallons of oil before it stops.
