Blah Blah Blah...

[BigBear]

Please post the list of reasons you've heard why the leak hasn't been plugged yet.

I can think of many reasons why the oil spill hasn’t yet been plugged. None of them deal with technological capabilities, they all have to do with following the money.

But to stay on topic:

Technical reasons for leak not being plugged (even though we have the technological capabilities):

Methods tried and their failure -
1. Robotic subs to trigger the blowout preventer
- failed as the cause of leak was a mechanical failure in the valve system

2. Idiotic containment dome
- dome just stopped surface spread... does nothing for the millions of gallons under water

3. Top hat or cap on leak
- too much internal pressure to hold cap underwater

4. Insertion tube
- can't forge to lower rig where leak is occuring

5. Top kill
- leak is under water... at the bottom, not on top

6. Junk shot
- with pressure, can't fill gap

7. "New and improved" containment cap
- new and improved piece of crap

8. Relief wells
- these are dangerous but they are working to some extent in capturing some of the released oil... which will still give BP profits on the oil....

And I'm sure there are some faults with this list. They are jus the ones that come to the top of the head. If they really wanted to, they could plug it. But even with BP taking responsibility and saying they pay for clean up... it won't cut into their profits. It's all about teh money honey.

[Irving]

If they really wanted to, they could plug it.

I just can't take you seriously when you say this. What exactly are the benefits of not stopping the leak again?

[BigBear]

They are just looking for less costly ways of stopping it. They are looking for the bottom dollar. The benefits being, they are still grabbing a lot of the oil that is leaking for sale, so there is no "immediate" need in their eyes to stop it.

Just google it, I'm sure there are better articles out there that can explain it.

You don't have to take me serisouly friend. I was just joining the conversation. I'm done with this thread now.

[jake]

They are just looking for less costly ways of stopping it. They are looking for the bottom dollar. The benefits being, they are still grabbing a lot of the oil that is leaking for sale, so there is no "immediate" need in their eyes to stop it.

Those methods have to be pretty costly for them to think it's a better deal to watch their share value crash, agree to put $20 billion in escrow to pay compensation and watch their good name (as much as an oil company has a good name) get tarnished while they look for a cheaper solution.

[BigBear]

I understand that... but in the "big picture" they aren't going to lose anything. 20 billion is not a lot of money to them. Sure, their name might take a hit for a while, but the world depends on oil, so they stick around. Eventually when they do plug it, they'll find a positive way to spin it and everything is back to normal...

And they are not losing a lot of money on this spill: with teh relief wells and what they are able to siphon off, they are still making hundreds of millions of dollars.

Finally, I'm not an oil expert so I'll bow out now.

[Irving]

I'm not trying to be insulting by saying that I can't take you seriously, no need to be offended. It is just ridiculous to assume that they are taking their sweet time to stop this because they don't need the money or this won't hurt them.

[BigBear]

No Sir, I'm not insulted, I'm just bowing out as I'm not an expert and can't answer your inquieries... because I don't know. I can't persuade someone to see my point of veiw either, so instead of continuing the conversation, I'll bow out.

No worries, I'm not offended or upset or anything. I just don't have the answers.

Lastly, I'm not assuming that they are taking their swet time because they don't need the money or it won't hurt them. What I'm assuming is that some suit is not listening to their engineers. With todays technology, there is no reason that the spill/leak should not have been stopped by now. I guess what I'm saying is that the world is so dependant on oil (and please believe all the companies are intertwined) that the big companies don't have to worry about "their name" as again: it's all about the money, and they ain't losing any on this spill.

Okay and serisouly... I'm bowing out, lol. Any other comunique can be through email.

[Irving]

What I'm assuming is that some suit is not listening to their engineers.

This is what I was looking for and now I better understand your position.

[Hoosier]

I wish I had saved the link, but it was a lengthy post by someone who works in the offshore oil industry, but isn't involved in the Deepwater Horizion problem. It basically said that, based on what's been shown so far, the problem is that the well pipe/casing is broken below the surface of the ocean floor. Any attempt to cap or plug the well (create backpressure) will force more oil out of the broken sections below the sea floor. That's worse as it's harder to trap, and undermindes the entire sea floor above the leak point. That 450 ton blow out preventer is sitting on top of the well pipe -- the ocean floor cannot support it's weight. If the oil leaks out below and degrades the sand around the pipe, the pipe will begin to tip -- especially with a huge heavy BOP on top that's being subjected to ocean currents.

Since there's no way to plug the leak, all they can do is siphon off as much as possible, and that's what they've been doing. I think the shadiest thing going on here is that neither BP nor the government has owned up to the fact that the leak can't be plugged, and our only hope is the relief wells manage to intersect the failed well below the leak point. That's August at best, and unlikely to hit with the first try.

H.

[TS12000]

Something else will get the media's attention soon enough and we can all go into ignore mode, assume the problem got fixed, and not hear about it again for a while just like we do with everything else.