The Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Some Background and What It Means

[profgoose]

Below the fold, I will tell you the story as I understand it. It seems to me that the great depth and attendant pressures, and the learning curve that goes working within these new parameters, probably contributed to the initial leak, and is contributing to the difficulties that are now occurring in stopping the leak.

This particular well was not an important one--one source said it had economic importance only because of its proximity to a platform which was already in the area. The issues are more the possible environmental damage and the political fallout that could come from the accident. Unfortunately, most of the "easy oil" is gone. The oil that remains all has some challenges--but the fact of the matter is that the world economy cannot run without oil. So there are no easy answers.

1. Are these spills very common? Huge blowouts (explosions, followed by fire, occurring when wells are being drilled), occurring in US waters, are uncommon. The last one was the Santa Barbara Union Oil Blowout in 1969 - a little over 40 years ago. The leak lasted 11 days, and the amount of the spill was estimated to be 200,000 gallons (5,000 barrels of oil), so was less than the amount of the current spill. But it was close to shore, and the oil damaged beaches, besides affecting wildlife. (Correction: The source I used seems to be incorrect. Other sources give 80,000 to 100,000 barrels, which would be much larger. If the current blowout is now estimated to be leaking 5,000 barrels a day, the amount of the spill in Santa Barbara may still not be as large as the current spill, however.)

It's a very detailed post. More after the jump to The Oil Drum at http://su.pr/Aj0Vbb .