Oil Spill Tracker (neighborhood, to buy, living)

[TexasHorseLady]

I think that this is something that people in Austin, and everywhere, should be concerned about and aware of. Not panic, not run around with chickens like our heads cut off (maybe I'm just old and have seen "the world is ending!" way too many times), but certainly keep some part of our attention on, as it is likely to have an impact on our day to day lives in one way or another no matter where we live.

[CptnRn]

Hurricane season begins June 1. This does not bode well. I hate to think of what an oily mess gulf coast beaches will be like after a hurricane blows through.

US predicts up to 7 major Atlantic hurricanes (http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/us-predicts-up-to-7-major-atlantic-hurricanes-712275.html?srcTrk=RTR_661354 - broken link)

The Atlantic hurricane season will likely be a busy one that may spawn as many as 23 named tropical storms, including up to seven major hurricanes, a number that's not likely to be affected by the Gulf oil spill, the U.S. government said Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that eight to 14 storms would strengthen into hurricanes, with top winds of 74 mph or higher. Three to seven of those could become major storms that reach Category 3 or higher — meaning they bring sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

"If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more active on record," NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a statement. "The greater likelihood of storms brings an increased risk of a landfall. In short, we urge everyone to be prepared."

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

I saw a clip of a guy on a news cast this morning saying it was "good" for it. His theory was that oil dispersed in small amounts over large areas is better than concentrated amounts of oil in smaller areas.


It's media...anything goes. Up is down, black is white. Maybe we should just have a helicopter dumpa ton of salad fixins in the Gulf and we all grab a fork. I'll bring the vinegar.

Sorry, sleep is going to happen early tonight...

But before I forget. Who owns BP?

[UKjay]

BP British Petroleum

You can't possibly know how any BP employee feels right now. Especially those of us who worked over the years with/on the Horizon.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

But before I forget. Who owns BP?

Millions of stockholders including probably millions of Americans. :-)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

I saw a clip of a guy on a news cast this morning saying it was "good" for it. His theory was that oil dispersed in small amounts over large areas is better than concentrated amounts of oil in smaller areas.


It's media...anything goes. Up is down, black is white. Maybe we should just have a helicopter dumpa ton of salad fixins in the Gulf and we all grab a fork. I'll bring the vinegar.

Sorry, sleep is going to happen early tonight...

But before I forget. Who owns BP?

The National Hurricane Center has some interesting information regarding the effect of a hurricane on the oil spill. One of the few positive notes confirms what you wrote:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/hurrican..._factsheet.pdf
What will the hurricane do to the oil slick in
the Gulf?
• The high winds and seas will mix and “weather”
the oil which can help accelerate the
• The high winds may distribute oil over a wider
area, but it is difficult to model exactly where the
oil may be transported.
• Movement of oil would depend greatly on the
track of the hurricane.
• Storms’ surges may carry oil into the coastline
and inland as far as the surge reaches. Debris
resulting from the hurricane may be contaminated
by oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident, but
also from other oil releases that may occur during
the storm.
• A hurricane’s winds rotate counter-clockwise.
Thus, in VERY GENERAL TERMS:
o A hurricane passing to the west of the oil slick
could drive oil to the coast.
o A hurricane passing to the east of the slick
could drive the oil away from the coast.
o However, the details of the evolution of the
storm, the track, the wind speed, the size, the
forward motion and the intensity are all
unknowns at this point and may alter this
general statement.

Will the hurricane pull up
the oil that is below the
surface of the Gulf?
• All of the sampling to date
shows that except near
the leaking well, the
subsurface dispersed oil is in
parts per million levels or less. The hurricane will
mix the waters of the Gulf and disperse the oil
even further.
biodegradation process.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

With today's technology is there any information on how much oil is in the ground? How big of a gusher is this? I'm hearing all the information about how much is gushing out, (and reputable reporters are saying they don't believe the government or BP in their estimates). However, I haven't heard what this oil gusher looked liked before they started to drill. They do have statistics on how big the oil well is don't they?

Thanks for the links.

Also, gas prices went down???

[atxcio]

Wikipedia says the Macondo Prospect (the reservoir that BP was drilling into) is estimated at 50 million barrels: Macondo Prospect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If the flow rate of the leak is 19,000 barrels per day,

50,000,000 / 19,000 = 2631 days = 7.2 years

So if the leak never stopped, it would run out naturally in 7.2 years. However, after it loses some significant percentage of it's oil, the pressure goes down so much it wouldn't naturally leak. Usually to get all the oil out of a reservoir, they have to begin pumping in salt water, which forces the oil up and out.

I'm sure that the gas prices going down is just a temporary thing, probably because of reduced early summer travel or something. Clearly this accident will mean reduced supply in the future -- drilling permits have already been put on hold for lots of projects. That means oil will go up... and sadly, it's a commodity like gold, so no matter how much we hate BP... they will continue to be the "owners of the gold mine" so to speak... and will benefit from the increased prices due to the future supply/demand ratio.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Thanks atxcio.

The live feed picture has changed on BP's site. Are they now cutting?? The clarity of those feeds is amazing.


http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

[CptnRn]

I was looking for an estimate of the number of off shore oil rigs in the gulf when I found these maps.

There must be thousands. The black squares are active oil platforms.

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Tracts | Lake Charles District | Offshore Oil Drilling | Energy Exploration

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Tracts | Lake Jackson District | Offshore Oil Drilling | Energy Exploration

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Tracts | New Orleans District | Offshore Oil Drilling | Hurricane Region

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Tracts | Corpus Christi District | Offshore Oil Drilling | Gulf Hurricane Region | Energy Exploration

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Tracts | Houma District | Offshore Oil Drilling

This 2005 pdf document says there are 6357 oil platforms in the gulf. Not all are active.

http://www.colby.edu/environ/courses...5_gulfwind.pdf
A map of the Gulf of Mexico showing the
location of all 6357 oil platforms in the Minerals
Management Database system. Useable locations
were selected based on the presence of a platform
complex identification number in the platforms GIS
layer that matched the MMD master platform