Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: kamilyun on August 31, 2008, 08:50:50 AM
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What happens? I've seen footage of one going down in the North Sea, but what typically happens in the Gulf of Mexico? Are these platforms tethered, or do they rest on the bottom? Is damage to the deck and superstructure usually all that happens? Can one sink?
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Beats me there. The N-Sea is notaurious for high waves, so I'd belive that's what would cause a topple rather than wind.
Anyway, lots of storms boiling around. Had a hurricane a couple of days ago, blew away my wife's new greenhouse :cry
(Windspeeds up to 200 km/h, - that would be level 4?)
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THis is an excellent excuse to raise the price of gas. MUAA
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remember the rigs in the north sea are designed and built by europeans. they are a far cry from the rigs built for the US.
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A lot of the Rigs in the Gulf are Jack Up rigs. This is exactly what it sounds like the rig is actually sitting on the sea floor. They are less likely to incur damage than the rigs in the North Sea which are semi submersibles. My Uncle when he was working in the North sea said that they would keep drilling in 60' waves but higher than that the compensator's would not work and they would have to stop drilling.
Any rig in the path of the hurricane would have moved off the hole or made fast for the hurricane.
The biggest damage that will happen in the gulf will be to the underwater product lines and to the refineries on the coast.
:aok
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This will do wonders for gas prices. Should take about 4 months for the prices to come back down again.
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gas has already bumped up .15 a gallon... makes you want to shoot a room full of speculators
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Beats me there. The N-Sea is notaurious for high waves, so I'd belive that's what would cause a topple rather than wind.
Anyway, lots of storms boiling around. Had a hurricane a couple of days ago, blew away my wife's new greenhouse :cry
(Windspeeds up to 200 km/h, - that would be level 4?)
Doesn't that big Shell platform, "Bullwinkle", sit on the bottom?
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I think they should all be built to withstand North Sea conditions. Might actually save some of the Gulf platforms from hurricanes.
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The north sea rigs can pretty much take whatever you throw at em.
Discovery had a show called "oil sweat and rigs" or something like that a few months ago and also a show that showed a group of guys clearing up and fixing the rigs after katrina. Very different kind of rigs from what we have up here in the colder and more exposed north. Less high tech and weather proofed, but alot cheaper and more economical to build and operate.
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What happens? I've seen footage of one going down in the North Sea, but what typically happens in the Gulf of Mexico? Are these platforms tethered, or do they rest on the bottom? Is damage to the deck and superstructure usually all that happens? Can one sink?
Kam, this might be something you'd like to take a look at regarding Oil platforms:http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/index.htm (http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/index.htm)
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Excellent link, thx :aok
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Excellent link, thx :aok
You're welcome...When you look in there, you start to see where some of the opposition to offshore drilling comes from. There's a lot of accidents in there!
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Accidents occur in southeast asian seas.
Based on world wide accident rates U.S. Insurance rates climb.
Environmentalists force laws requiring more safety regulations on U.S. sites (the lowest accident rates) world wide.
Cost per employee and salaries climb with cost of insurancewith news of further accident rates and required safety training.
Politicians claim massive profits are due to soaring prices and suggest higher taxes.
Hurricanes cause speculation that accidents may occur and prices soar.
Cyclic chain continues never ending and in no particular order.
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What is the difference between an oil tanker rupturing and spilling its contents to what a platform spills when it leaks? I would like to know. Sometimes we need to take risks. Limiting the damage to those is a big plus.
Drill and makes us energy independant please. Would love to see the world reaction to us not needing anything they offer.
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What is the difference between an oil tanker rupturing and spilling its contents to what a platform spills when it leaks? I would like to know. Sometimes we need to take risks. Limiting the damage to those is a big plus.
Drill and makes us energy independant please. Would love to see the world reaction to us not needing anything they offer.
This one was 3.5 million barrels. http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm (http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm)
Compare it to some of the other spills' here:http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/26_spilldb.pdf (http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/26_spilldb.pdf)
The only spill I saw that was worse than the one in the Gulf of Mexico was Saddam's intentional spilling during GWI.
The Exxon Valdez was only 240,000 bbls. by comparison.
What happened with the IXTOC platform is that when it's well that it was drilling blew out, They could not get it under control-even when divers' went down to close the BOP (Blow-Out Preventer.) Despite efforts to pump mud in the hole, and to drill relief wells, the well blew for 9 months, all that time at between 30,000 to 10,000 barrels per day. A supertanker, at least, only spills' what it happens to have in the holds at the time.
We still have a ways to go perfecting offshore technology. And until energy companies' can demonstrate that they can minimize any kind of disaster, you're still gonna have opposition to drilling in certain places.
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This one was 3.5 million barrels. http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm (http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/ixtoc1.htm)
That was quite of a spill. They did absolutely everything wrong they could have.
I think since all of the accidents in the early years the drilling industry has learned quite a bit.
Any time a well is drilled or in production it has the potential to have environmental factors help cause a disaster.
When a tanker leaks there is a specific amount of oil that may be spilled. When a well blow out or a production tower is damaged the oil will keep flowing until it is shut off.
BTW there is probably more gas spilled from gas stations via leaky tank and piping than from the large tankers. I have yet to run across a station that doesn't have any gas spilled.
Dry cleaners have chemicals that are harder to clean out of the groundwater than gas or diesel. The petrol floats and the dry cleaners chemicals sinks.
:aok