The Oil Spill's Actual Volume

[SoonerCoug]

According to this news story, the the gusher in the gulf has already released at least 3 times the amount of oil as the Exon Valdez with no sign of stopping.

"A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 barrels a day — much higher than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=126809525

The 70K figure has an accuracy of + or - 20K.

BP has a lot more video than they have not released, and if they would release the rest, these estimates would become much more definitive. I think this will force them to release the rest of their video.

This chart is floating around the internet. Compare coverage of this oil spill (end of chart) to the Exon Valdez spill in 1989. I can't guarantee accuracy of this, and it my be just liberal blogger propaganda.

[wuapinmon]

According to this news story, the the gusher in the gulf has already released at least 3 times the amount of oil as the Exon Valdez with no sign of stopping.

"A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 barrels a day — much higher than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=126809525

The 70K figure has an accuracy of + or - 20K.

BP has a lot more video than they have not released, and if they would release the rest, these estimates would become much more definitive. I think this will force them to release the rest of their video.

This chart is floating around the internet. Compare coverage of this oil spill (end of chart) to the Exon Valdez spill in 1989. I can't guarantee accuracy of this, and it my be just liberal blogger propaganda.

I was thinking the other day that there was A LOT more coverage of the Valdez spill than there has been of this one. The Valdez spill made the cover of National Geographic.

[Indy Coug]

I was thinking the other day that there was A LOT more coverage of the Valdez spill than there has been of this one. The Valdez spill made the cover of National Geographic.

Doesn't that have a lot to do with the proximity of the spill to the shoreline?

[wuapinmon]

Doesn't that have a lot to do with the proximity of the spill to the shoreline?

Perhaps....the photos of oil-drenched birds made for gripping television.

Anyone remember this lyric about what should be done to "that drunken captain?"

WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT LYRICS!

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[Pheidippides]

Doesn't that have a lot to do with the proximity of the spill to the shoreline?

That's my guess. So far, we've been really, really lucky in that not a lot of the oil has washed up.

[RobinFinderson]

I think the spill will continue to get a lot of coverage as the magnitude of the disaster comes into better focus. There is a lot that we don't know right now.

[Moliere]

According to this news story, the the gusher in the gulf has already released at least 3 times the amount of oil as the Exon Valdez with no sign of stopping.

"A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 barrels a day — much higher than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=126809525

The 70K figure has an accuracy of + or - 20K.

BP has a lot more video than they have not released, and if they would release the rest, these estimates would become much more definitive. I think this will force them to release the rest of their video.

This chart is floating around the internet. Compare coverage of this oil spill (end of chart) to the Exon Valdez spill in 1989. I can't guarantee accuracy of this, and it my be just liberal blogger propaganda.

I heard this on NPR last evening and it seems crazy that much oil is spilling into the gulf, but I believe the academic guy over BP anyday.

The big difference here is that very little oil is washing on shore due to the clean up efforts and the chemicals that are being used to dissipate the oil. The oil in this one is also very spread out as it is coming from the bottom of the ocean (1,000 feet down) so it also spreads out a lot due to underwater currents and such.

Long story short, Exxon Valdez caused a huge gusher of oil that covered the top of the surrounding water and that makes for good tv along with birds covered in oil. This spill is so dissipated that the tv shots aren't as good.

BP and others will be facing some big lawsuits for a long time from fishermen to shrimpers to states to environmentalists.

[Hot Lunch]

With so much oil being lost on a daily basis, how is it that the price per barrel continues to go down? I thought it would be the other way around. With the loss of so much oil a day, I thought the price of oil would spike.

Sorry if this has already been discussed.

[Scott R Nelson]

I was thinking the other day that there was A LOT more coverage of the Valdez spill than there has been of this one. The Valdez spill made the cover of National Geographic.

The oil spill has been front page news in my local paper ever since it happened. Where do you get your news that isn't covering it?

The oil in this one is also very spread out as it is coming from the bottom of the ocean (1,000 feet down) so it also spreads out a lot due to underwater currents and such.

Everything I've read said that it was 5000 feet down.

One thing that annoys me is that the news reports that I read keep switching back and forth between 200,000 gallons of oil per day and 5000 barrels of oil per day. I wish they would stick with just one - gallons.

This oil spill seems to have done a good job of permanently killing and west coast off-shore drilling. It will also cause much more regulation of the drilling industry. They'll have to come up with equipment that prevents the same thing from happening again.

Bottom line - you and I will be paying more for gasoline in the future.

[Pheidippides]

The oil spill has been front page news in my local paper ever since it happened. Where do you get your news that isn't covering it?
Everything I've read said that it was 5000 feet down.

One thing that annoys me is that the news reports that I read keep switching back and forth between 200,000 gallons of oil per day and 5000 barrels of oil per day. I wish they would stick with just one - gallons.

This oil spill seems to have done a good job of permanently killing and west coast off-shore drilling. It will also cause much more regulation of the drilling industry. They'll have to come up with equipment that prevents the same thing from happening again.

Bottom line - you and I will be paying more for gasoline in the future.

It is 5000 feet down.

Also, west coast off-shore has not been in a good state for some time, and frankly there's not much opportunity there. 5000 feet, while deep to you and me, is still relatively shallow for the ocean. The ocean off of the west coast drops of precipitously not far offshore and thus drilling is not feasible currently (heck, we don't even know if oil is there!), whereas the Gulf/Alaska/North Sea shelves go out for some distance.

The equipment, btw, was not the problem here. The maintenance of the equipment may have been, based on what I read yesterday. There's a lot more going on here than most people know and that I'm frankly uncomfortable talking about further for the time being.

[Pheidippides]

With so much oil being lost on a daily basis, how is it that the price per barrel continues to go down? I thought it would be the other way around. With the loss of so much oil a day, I thought the price of oil would spike.

Sorry if this has already been discussed.

5000 barrels a day is not even a pimple on the hairy ass of oil production. And it's not like this oil was taken out of the market. It was never in it to begin with.

[Hot Lunch]

5000 barrels a day is not even a pimple on the hairy ass of oil production. And it's not like this oil was taken out of the market. It was never in it to begin with.

I see. I have noticed though in the past the Oil prices would go up on just a prediction of something and thought that this would have been a good excuse to do something like that.

[Moliere]

Everything I've read said that it was 5000 feet down.

It is 5000 feet down.

Ugh!!!! I am seriously off my game (which means I'm way off of normal). It is 5,000 feet down. Anything below 1,000 feet of water is considered deep water drilling.

This oil spill seems to have done a good job of permanently killing and west coast off-shore drilling. It will also cause much more regulation of the drilling industry. They'll have to come up with equipment that prevents the same thing from happening again.

Bottom line - you and I will be paying more for gasoline in the future.

Also, west coast off-shore has not been in a good state for some time, and frankly there's not much opportunity there. 5000 feet, while deep to you and me, is still relatively shallow for the ocean. The ocean off of the west coast drops of precipitously not far offshore and thus drilling is not feasible currently (heck, we don't even know if oil is there!), whereas the Gulf/Alaska/North Sea shelves go out for some distance.

The equipment, btw, was not the problem here. The maintenance of the equipment may have been, based on what I read yesterday. There's a lot more going on here than most people know and that I'm frankly uncomfortable talking about further for the time being.

There are some companies that have been affected. I know of one that has leases off the coast of Cali that has had the kabosh put on them for any further drilling. These guys can't even drill off of any existing platform to reach the new reservoir.

It does seem like the equipment wasn't the problem. This equipment has worked many, many times over. Many redundancies are in place to keep this stuff from happening. It makes sense the equpiment was just not maintained properly.

And come on nikuman, spill the beans!!!!

[Pheidippides]

Ugh!!!! I am seriously off my game (which means I'm way off of normal). It is 5,000 feet down. Anything below 1,000 feet of water is considered deep water drilling.







There are some companies that have been affected. I know of one that has leases off the coast of Cali that has had the kabosh put on them for any further drilling. These guys can't even drill off of any existing platform to reach the new reservoir.

It does seem like the equipment wasn't the problem. This equipment has worked many, many times over. Many redundancies are in place to keep this stuff from happening. It makes sense the equpiment was just not maintained properly.

And come on nikuman, spill the beans!!!!

Salazar said no new drilling permits will be issued (even though they've issued a number in the Gulf since Salazar said that. That affects the entire industry, and I know many people are holding off doing things until they see how the regulatory framework gets affected as well. As well they should - uncertainty is nobody's friend, and there's a lot of it now.

One of the batteries for the BOP was dead, and one of the hydraulic lines was damaged.

Disclaimer: All of this stuff that's not on the MMS website or on MSNBC, etc. I want to be careful that I don't go further than that. So no bean-spilling from me!

[RobinFinderson]

With so much oil being lost on a daily basis, how is it that the price per barrel continues to go down? I thought it would be the other way around. With the loss of so much oil a day, I thought the price of oil would spike.

Sorry if this has already been discussed.

The ability to drill, and have the popular will of the people in your pocket (Drill baby drill!), is purchased at the pump via cheap gasoline. This disaster has cost the industry a LOT OF GOOD WILL. The industry isn't going to lose more good will right now by raising prices. Anyone who thinks that 'market forces' are the primary determiner of the cost of oil, imo, can't see the writing on the wall. You all watch... this disaster will mean CHEAP (relative) gasoline through the whole summer.