BP Robot Seriously Hampers Oil Spill Containment

ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "A high-tech effort by BP to slow the oil gushing from its ruptured well head led to a large accident yesterday that forced the company to remove a vital containment cap for 10 hours. Robots, known as remote operated vehicles, were performing multiple operations at the disaster site when one bumped into the 'top hat' cap and damaged one of the vents that removes excess fluid, according to the US Coast Guard. The robots weigh around four tons, and are controlled from vessels on the surface using advanced IT systems with both manual and automated functions. BP removed the cap for nearly 10 hours ... in order to assess it after a discharge of liquids was noted from a key valve. The cap's removal left the oil gushing out of the wellhead, largely uninterrupted. Admiral Thad Allen, US National Incident Commander for the response, told the media that part of the problem was the number of robots conducting simultaneous operations at an immense depth. A dozen robots are circulating the wellhead." Another factor that may hinder containment even more is the increasing potential for tropical storms in that area of the Gulf.

Re:Brilliant

[Anonymous Coward]

Get BP out of the equation NOW. Is it not obvious that they cannot handle the situation at all? Unless BP pays a disinterested third party (and I hate to say this, but one picked by the government) to get this capped permanently, we will never see an end to this "cleanup" operation.

Instead you would suggest...who, exactly? Oh, that's right--no one. There is NO ONE who is set up and ready to step in for this. BP doesn't own any of the robots or much of the gear that's being used to try to contain this--it's all contract work, basically. If you "got BP out of the equation" it wouldn't change a damned thing. The same crews with the same robots would be doing the same thing, except someone else would be paying for it. Probably the US Taxpayer.

OK

[geekoid]

This disaster is horrible, but on the other hand we have several 4 ton robots circling a well a mile beneath the water.

Humans are awesome.

Re:Black hurricanes

[e9th]

According to the National Hurricane Center (sorry, .PDF), [noaa.gov] hurricanes themselves won't affect the spill much one way or another. But they will seriously interrupt the recovery process, such as it is.

And they're STILL cutting corners.

[Fantastic Lad]

Kindra Arnesen [youtube.com]

BP is a band of complete villains. Putting these psychopaths in charge of the cleanup is like putting the same cast of characters who crashed the economy back in charge of the economy. Fuck these guys.

-FL

Re:Undre Pressure

[camperdave]

Find out how much space would be required for the stuff coming out of the pipe to equalize to the surrounding sea pressure, and how wide of a column of oil and seawater would be heading to the surface. Build a funnel that large, with a tube to the surface. Build them out of heavy plastic film, like the plastic that matresses get wrapped in; a tube wide enough to contain the entire plume at ambient pressure. Lower that over the blow-out and voila, spill contained.

A 40ft wide roll of black polyethylene plastic sheeting, 100ft long costs $245. for $1500, six of those rolls, heat welded together would form an 80 foot diameter hexagon shaped tube 100 feet long. Fifty of those tubes, end to end would reach the well-head area at a cost of only $75,000. Attach the tube to a giant teepee over the well head area, and one of your parent's siblings is named Robert (Bob's your uncle), the spill is contained.

Now, polyethylene may not be the best plastic for this. Costs may alter a little bit. You still need to weld the sheets together somehow, and the system needs to be lowered into the water. You may need some stiffeners here and there to maintain the shape of the tube. You'd also need to leave space for the ROVs to get under the teepee to access the well-head. Still, for a measely couple of million dollars, this spill could have been a mere PR hiccup instead of the eco disaster it's turning into.

Re:Brilliant

[chefshoemaker]

Here was your equipment offer. Advanced Skimming Equipment [openmarket.org]

Re:Undre Pressure

[khallow]

That is what the cap is. It is the inlet for a pipe that will siphon some fraction of the oil. You can't make this second pipe a snug fit because of the pressure of the oil coming out. Obstruct the flow and your well pipe may rupture, resulting in a impossible to contain problem (for example, one Slashdotter has speculated that you could end up with a 500 feet wide pit that leaks oil instead of a small pipe).

Re:Kindra Arnesen's speech

[Anonymous Coward]

The shareholders that are ethical will begin selling off their stocks. As they do, those that are left will see their investment dwindling, forcing more shareholders to sell. Eventually, all in charge will be fired in an effort to control the corporate damage.

The bigger answer is simple. Get them to fix the problem. Killing BP now doesn't fix the problem. However, MultiNats and specifically Corporations are treated by the government as entities with special rights and responsibilites. They should be held to the FULL extent of those responsibilities. Perhaps not all at once, but over time. Thus the should be fined to the fullest extent of the law, but bleed them for every drop of capital and cashflow. Let them bleed cash flow to the full extent as that pipe is leaking oil. The oil didn't all come out at once, it's bleeding out. Thus, true justice should be applied. As they smother the ecosystem, let fines smother them. I'd say keep the company alive just barely. Bleed them to near death, but keep them alive. They should pay the full $1100 per gallon of oil if they're aren't found negligent, or the full $3300 per gallon of oil if they are. Most people figure it'll come out on the negligence side. I tend to agree.

I say the government's best role in this is to extract all the normal royalties on the gas/oil lease, and all the environmental damage fines, but at a rate where they can extract it, and still cause a LOT of pain financially. The thing I don't want to see is them getting away with it like Exxon did with the Valdez.

USA should ask Nigeria for advice

[fantomas]

The Niger Delta wetlands have been suffering oil damage for the last 50 years from BP and other US oil companies, perhaps the US government could ask the Nigerian government on how to deal with it.

Re:Kindra Arnesen's speech

[selven]

so damaging the shareholder value does _nothing_ against the employees who screwed up.

No, but if we penalize the shareholders, the next batch of shareholders will be more careful about investing in companies without morals. We really need to realize that investing money in a company means that you're actually financially supporting them, it's not just a casino where you put your money into a magic number machine and it spits out some random percentage, hopefully above 100, of what you put in after a week.

I'm on a boat!

[bradorsomething]

Hello from 11 miles South of the spill zone.

We were actually expecting a lot more oil from this news, but the surface is still relatively clear, with small, 20-50 meter blobs of oil to be collected and a great deal of green water otherwise. Two task forces are out here skimming, and 500 bbls a day is a good haul for one of the skimmers. We've been hampered by several fronts passing through the area, but collection continues. There's been a C-130 dropping dispersant in the area, with good results on the oil (although it makes the remains too thin to skim).

Although many here will scoff at the daily take we're seeing on the skimming vessels, it's surprising how little oil you see around the spill zone. A lot, I hope, is burning in that giant fire in the horizon. I expected a spike in how much oil we'd see, but it's all going... somewhere, just not up here.