Mother of all
gushers could kill Earth's oceans
Imagine a
pipe 5 feet wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the
planets' largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best
technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that
reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn't contained, it could poison all
the oceans of the world.
"Well if you say the fire hose has a 70,000 psi pump on the other end
yes! No comparison here. The volume out rises geometrically
with pressure. Its a squares function. Two times the pressure is 4 times
the push. The Alaska pipeline is 4 feet in diameter and pushes with
a lot less pressure. This situation in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning
dangerous." -- Paul
Noel (May 2, 2010)
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Last night we received the following text in an email, author not
identified. I passed it by Paul Noel, who is an expert in the
field. His response follows thereafter. In calculating the gallons
required to kill the oceans, remember that oil goes to the surface, where life
is concentrated.
The
Oil Mess
[...].
The original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the
ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons
of crude oil a week!
I'm engineer with 25 years of experience. I've worked on some big projects with
big machines. Maybe that's why this mess is so clear to me.
First, the BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out
where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the
crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do.
Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst
all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused
the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The
pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of
human science to contain it.
When the rig sank it flipped over and landed on top of the drill hole some
5,000 feet under the ocean.
Now they've got a hole in the ocean floor, 5,000 feet down with a wrecked oil
drilling rig sitting on top of is spewing 200,000 barrels of oil a day into the
ocean. Take a moment and consider that, will you!
First they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to
cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil
rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would take years
and hundreds of millions to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the
muddy ocean floor? There just is no way. No way.
The only piece of human technology that might address this is a nuclear bomb.
I'm not kidding. If they put a nuke down there in the right spot it might seal
up the hole. Nothing short of that will work. [See Paul Noel's ideas above.]
If we can't cap that hole that oil is going to destroy the oceans of the world.
It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water
toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this?
We're so used to our politicians creating false crises to forward their
criminal agendas that we aren't recognizing that we're staring straight into
possibly the greatest disaster mankind will ever see. Imagine what happens if
that oil keeps flowing until it destroys all life in the oceans of this planet.
Who knows how big of a reservoir of oil is down there.
Not to mention that the oceans are critical to maintaining the proper oxygen
level in the atmosphere for human life.
We're humped. Unless God steps in and fixes this. No human can. You can be sure
of that.
See also: Oil
spill Much Much Worse than reported and Not Stopping Soon (Christian
Science Monitor)
Response by Paul
Noel
for Pure Energy Systems News
I really do think
that the situation is getting further and further out of hand.
By yesterday morning, the nature of the crude had changed, indicating that the
spill was collapsing the rock structures. How much I cannot say. If it is
collapsing the rock structures, the least that can be said is that the rock is
fragmenting and blowing up the tube with the oil. With that going on you have a
high pressure abrasive sand blaster working on the kinks in the pipe eroding it
causing the very real risk of increasing the leaks.
More than that is the very real risk of causing the casing to become unstable
and literally blowing it up the well bringing the hole to totally open
condition. Another risk arises because according to reports the crew was
cementing the exterior of the casing when this happens. As a result, the well,
if this was not properly completed, could begin to blow outside the casing.
Another possible scenario is a sea floor collapse. If that happens Katie bar
the door.
Possible Fix
I do not see any good possibilities from humans further fracturing the rock
particularly at higher levels. That is the cap rock that is holding the deposit
together.
I do see a possible use of explosives for favorable outcome. If a properly
sized charge were applied in a shaped fashion around the drill pipe at some
distance from it say 5 feet or so it is entirely possible that an explosive
charge could pinch the pipe off similar to a hydraulic clamp. The resulting
situation would vastly reduce the spill. Once you clamped off the pipe much
more substantially say down to 1 foot or less opening the resulting pipe could be
charge cut above the location and a tapered pipe fitted to it to collect any
leaking oil. The end result would be to contain the spill and dramatically
control any leaks because drill mud could then be entered into the pipe fitted
to the exterior. In the end, the pipe could be controlled that way. The size of
a charge to do this would be a few pounds not megatons.
A nuclear detonation carries the real risk of giving us the full doomsday
scenario on this well. I just don't like doing that. There is no coming back
from the brink when you do that one. If it works, which I see as unlikely,
great. If it doesn't work, there is now a maybe a hole 1/4 mile across leaking
oil. That looks worse than any possible outcomes otherwise.
Oil Deposit Capacity
The BP people are not talking, but this well is into a deposit that easily
could top 500,000 barrels production per day for 10 or 15 years. Letting that
all go in one blast seems more than foolish.
The deposit is one I have known about since 1988. The deposit is very big. The
central pressure in the deposit is 165 to 170 thousand PSI. It contains so much
hydrocarbon that you simply cannot imagine it. In published reports, BP
estimated a blow out could reach near 200,000 Barrels per day (165,000) They
may have estimated a flow rate on a 5 foot pipe. The deposit is well able to
surpass this.
The oil industry has knowledge of the deposit more than they admit. The deposit
is 100 miles off shore. They are drilling into the edge of the deposit to leak
it down gently to be able to produce from the deposit. The deposit is so large
that while I have never heard exact numbers it was described to me to be either
the largest or the second largest oil deposit ever found. It is mostly a
natural gas deposit. That is another reason not to blast too willy nilly there.
The natural gas that could be released is really way beyond the oil in
quantity. It is like 10,000 times the oil in the deposit.
It is this deposit that has me reminding people of what the Shell geologist
told me about the deposit. This was the quote, "Energy shortage..., Hell!
We are afraid of running out of air to burn." The deposit is very large.
It covers an area off shore something like 25,000 square miles. Natural Gas and
Oil is leaking out of the deposit as far inland as Central Alabama and way over
into Florida and even over to Louisiana almost as far as Texas. This is a
really massive deposit. Punching holes in the deposit is a really scary event
as we are now seeing.
Rig and Pipe Info
The pipe is a fairly rigid pipe and sticks up out of the Blow out prevention
device for some distance before it bends over and kinks off. The distance is
not long but is enough to do what I suggested. Explosive forming of metals is a
standard technology and under water it is easier. The charge focuses very
predictably.
Imaging a long straw that is 1 mile long and has kinked over in several
locations. This is about what you have. I have seen the submarine photos from
early on. Just a really big straw. It has about a 1.5 or 2 foot diameter drill
pipe in the center with about a 10 inch hole down the center. I am not exactly
sure on the drill pipe size. The casing here is very thick steel. It has to
handle massive pressures.
The rig is quite some distance away from the well. It may be a 1/4 mile or more
away. It sort of bent over and then kinked the pipe as it went down.
I guess the size here sort
of bends the imagination. This rig has a deck area of about 3 to 4 acres. It
had a crew quarters on board that had about 120 people in it. (Imagine a big
hotel here.) The hotel on the rig was about 4 stories high. You just cannot
imagine until you see these rigs how big they are. If you want to see one go to
Mobile Bay. Gulf High Island 2 and other rigs in the area can be seen clearly
for 90 miles from Pensacola Florida. The towers go up 1100 feet. You can take
the ferry right between two rigs if you go from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island.
There is no comparison to these rig anywhere in the world. They are the biggest
ever built bar none.
Controls That Should Have Been In Place
By the way, I am not against drilling it, I am just against doing so without
proper controls.
1. The rig that was drilling
was not a US Flagged rig. That means US Inspectors were not allowed on board
the rig to inspect it. As a matter of National Security under the GATT the USA
has a right to demand US Only in various technology. The USA should never allow
a foreign flag vessel to drill for oil in the US Economic Zone (200 mile
limit).
2. Acoustic automated shut of
devices should be required.
3. I think US Federal
Inspectors should have to be resident on and inspecting rigs like this
24/7.
4. I think that the drilling
should be required to do some smaller holes that deliberately miss the main
deposit that test the structure before main drilling operations happen.
5. Careful procedures should be
in place to set up wells before they hit the main deposit. The well casing
should have to be inserted well before the drill hits the deposit and it should
have to be cemented in at least 2 weeks prior to finishing the hole down to the
oil or gas. This is to give the cement time to set. The casing should have
ridging to make this cement have a tight wedged grip on the miles of rock
around it. This is required because the lift pressure on a pipe in this case
could easily reach 20 million pounds of lift. This is an insane amount of up
pressure. Even at 70,000 psi it would lift about 140 million pounds. (almost
64,000 long tons!)
Haste from Economic Pressure
I suspect that the series of disasters we have seen in mines around the world
and in the USA regards coal and oil are the product of pushing the crews and
developments too fast due to the high economic pressures. This happened the
last time (Sago and others) when the economic pressure started rising.
The economic pressures on the energy prices are stunning. Everyone is trying to
keep their economy going. You can measure the economic output of a nation
directly with the energy consumption day to day. The USA dropped its energy
consumption in the current downturn (depression) by about 24%. It is now rising
again. We are about 19% down and rising. The current situation is that the
developments in oil/gas and coal are not keeping pace with what is going to be
the demand shortly. They cannot even hope to meet the demand.
This is why I said that Alternative Energy is the only hope.
They can push the pedal to the metal (figuratively speaking) and there is not
going to be a speed up much. Since human demand is going to force increases in
supply towards 3 times the current level in less than 30 years, we are looking
at a big hole with no hope of fixing it.
Air pollution world wide is reaching levels that are at the limits of the
environment to take the demands. This increase in energy has to come from
somewhere else.
Nuclear power doesn't have the potential. It turns out to run out of fuel in
about 30 years. Worse yet solving the problem with nuclear doesn't do anything
but boil away scarce fresh water supplies. All combustion does this. The only
solutions are ones where the energy comes from somewhere else. Solar and Wind
are good options. As you are also aware, the hard core alternatives are there
in magnetic power etc. This has to come.
The alternatives to drilling US Waters for oil if we solve this with oil are to
depend more and more on hostile powers for oil. Funding your enemies is insane.
Drilling in US waters risks ever increasing threats of what we have going on
right now.
The collapse of rock structures is even more scary. Mexico has one entire state
that is being held up by nitrogen injection wells that would sink if that gas
is released. This is not funny stuff. I know I get punched by the "know
nothings" out there with political agenda, but I will risk it. If you will
note the Oil and Gas people pretty much don't say anything against me. They
know. I have been to some of their events and they actually like what I have to
say. They cannot say it for fear of their jobs.
If one estimates the cost of a barrel of oil from the Middle East, the US Armed
Forces cost added in would drive it to about $2000/barrel. If people paid this
at the pump they would be demanding what I say with force so high you couldn't
hear anything else. If you factor in the cost of spills and such domestic oil
probably costs $500/barrel or more. This is just insane.
# # #
Paul Noel, 52, works as Software Engineer (as Contractor) for the US Army at
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. He has a vast experience base including education
across a wide area of technical skills and sciences. He supplies technical
expertise in all areas required for new products development associated with
the US Army office he works in. He supplies extensive expertise in
understanding the Oil and Gas industry as well.
Born in Lynnwood Washington, he came to Huntsville Alabama, when his father
moved to be part of NASA’s effort to put men on the moon. Neal Armstrong may
have gotten the ride, but his father’s computers did the driving.
Paul is also a founding member of the New Energy Congress.
Previous Coverage
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Additional Links
- Deepwater
Horizon.pdf - brief history and photos of fire.
- http://www.state.nj.us/dep/watershedmgt/waterbook_chp10.htm
- Motor Oil: "One part per million (1ppm) can make water unsafe to
drink; 35 ppm can produce a visible oil slick that damages aquatic life,
including fish and shellfish; and 50 ppm can foul a wastewater treatment
plant."
- Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become
unchecked gusher 30 Apr 2010 'The following is not
public' document --A confidential government report on the unfolding spill
disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could
become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day
into the Gulf. "The following is not public,"
reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency
Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were
found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further,
the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of
magnitude higher than previously thought."
Comments
- View/post comments below or at our Examiner.com
version of this story. Also at BeforeItsNews
Other forums that
have picked up this story include:
- AboveTopSecret.com/forum/thread567266/pg1
- DemocraticUnderground.com/...&address=389x8259665
- GodlikeProductions.com/forum1/message1053829/pg1
- Environmental-Balance.net/
- CureZone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1616182
- Forums.Hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2751972
- Forums.MySpace.com/t/4777072.aspx...
- MyGeni.org/view/weblink.mygeni?wid=885
