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[nenjin]

So they actually break the oil traps to get an explosive amount of output, but deprive themselves of the overall pressure needed to actually drain the trap? That's....damn that stupid, and greedy.

[Nonsapient]

So they actually break the oil traps to get an explosive amount of output, but deprive themselves of the overall pressure needed to actually drain the trap? That's....damn that stupid, and greedy.

Exactly.  It's the same way West Texas was produced.  Most of the drilling we do out around Midland (where George W. Bush claims to be from) is akin to using a straw to slurp all the syrup out of a snow cone;  we're just trying to milk the last drops we can possible milk.

[smjjames]

So they actually break the oil traps to get an explosive amount of output, but deprive themselves of the overall pressure needed to actually drain the trap? That's....damn that stupid, and greedy.

Exactly.  It's the same way West Texas was produced.  Most of the drilling we do out around Midland (where George W. Bush claims to be from) is akin to using a straw to slurp all the syrup out of a snow cone;  we're just trying to milk the last drops we can possible milk.

More like physics, plus some of the oil will just be inaccessable in various ways, it could be too deep (debateable though), the oil is getting trapped in small pockets that aren't economically viable to extract, or it gets thinned out in the deposits, or even gets dilluted to the point where it isn't economically viable.

Although you certainly know more about the oil industry than most of us here Nonsapient.

Now the estimate is down to four miniutes? That's not good news for the gulf, if the oil well is as rich as other estimates claim.

The U.S.A. passed peak oil a long time ago.  That's why we're looking at using tar sands (a net energy loss on the oil retrieved, if you don't include the energy used in producing our current transport infrastructure).

Not to mention massive ecological damage from the mining itself, making the negative cost even worse.

[Nonsapient]

More like physics, plus some of the oil will just be inaccessable in various ways, it could be too deep (debateable though), the oil is getting trapped in small pockets that aren't economically viable to extract, or it gets thinned out in the deposits, or even gets dilluted to the point where it isn't economically viable.

Yeah.  There's just a lot of ways to increase current productivity at the risk of ruining long term,  by causing the above problems.  You can also get into horrid situations where zealously fracturing/drilling can cause an aquifer and oil reservoir to co-mingle.

Obviously you can never get ALL of the oil out,  in my example above I should have said 100 barrels of possible oil production.

[smjjames]

Would that be before or after the government absolves them of liablity?

After. It'll be the absolvement, then the big internal investigation that ends with the official Tony Hayward resignation, then the capping of the dangerous well that has polluted the system so badly. I think the promises of change will occur after all that though, so that there will be less looking at the ineffectiveness of their planned changes.

That might change since there is talk of BP getting taken over by some other company, hopefully one that can cure its safety problems since whoever takes over BP wouldn't want to get another disaster on their hands. It's still an IF though I think since all the problems might render BP untouchable, but all the rigs and stuff owned by BP have to go somewhere.

[Outcast Orange]

BP will probably take over another company so as to get the renown and respect for itself.

Would anyone be really surprised if Amacos started popping up again?
I'm pretty sure they own that right.

The general public will never even realize it.
Remember that case with the plane crash and the swamp alligators?
All of those planes were adopted by a sister company,
 repainted, and nobody thought twice.

[Jackrabbit]

Did they crash again? If they didn't I'm cool with it.

[smjjames]

BP will probably take over another company so as to get the renown and respect for itself.

Would anyone be really surprised if Amacos started popping up again?
I'm pretty sure they own that right.

The general public will never even realize it.
Remember that case with the plane crash and the swamp alligators?
All of those planes were adopted by a sister company,
 repainted, and nobody thought twice.

No I don't, what plane crash and what alligators?

[spikesp]

BP will probably take over another company so as to get the renown and respect for itself.

Would anyone be really surprised if Amacos started popping up again?
I'm pretty sure they own that right.

The general public will never even realize it.
Remember that case with the plane crash and the swamp alligators?
All of those planes were adopted by a sister company,
 repainted, and nobody thought twice.

No I don't, what plane crash and what alligators?

did the pilot cancel fly : interupted by swamp alligator ?

[RAM]

I recall a plane crashed into a swamp, there were human corpses and alligators interacting. All very emotionally compelling I am sure, although I never really paid much attention so I wouldn't know what actually caused the crash...

[kuro_suna]

Sounds like the ValuJet Flight crash.

[Tradanbattlan]

Issue with burning the oil:
FLAMING HURRICANES.

While they ARE the apocalypse, they also make a good drink.

[Aqizzar]

Sounds like the ValuJet Flight crash.

Why would anyone actually call an airline "ValuJet" anyway?  I mean, I fly SouthWest, who use Greyhound buses with wings, but even they're not shameless enough to call themselves BudgetAir or Save-Ways or something.  If you buy a ticket on ValuJet and it crashes, even into an alligator infested swamp, you have no right to complain; the risk was right there in front of you.

[RedWarrior0]

ValuJet does sort of sound somewhat shady...

It' like a Days Inn my family was going to stay at on a trip home from Florida, where our room was in the back, we passed a guy who looked like halfway between drunk and stoned, saw more guys, suspected a drug deal, went to the manager, and were offered a room in the front.



Flaming Hurricane sounds like a mixed drink with Blair's 6AM in it.

[Siquo]

Oil spill Oil schmill.

It might be the End of the World (As We Know It (and I feel fine)).

Spoiler: Juiciest quote (click to show/hide)

Cracks and bulges

Methane is now streaming through the porous, rocky seabed at an accelerated rate and gushing from the borehole of the first relief well. The EPA is on record that Rig #1 is releasing methane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide and other toxic gases. Workers there now wear advanced protection including state-of-the-art, military-issued gas masks.

Reports, filtering through from oceanologists and salvage workers in the region, state that the upper level strata of the ocean floor is succumbing to greater and greater pressure. That pressure is causing a huge expanse of the seabed-estimated by some as spreading over thousands of square miles surrounding the BP wellhead-to bulge. Some claim the seabed in the region has risen an astounding 30 feet.

The fractured BP wellhead, site of the former Deepwater Horizon, has become the epicenter of frenetic attempts to quell the monstrous flow of methane.

The subterranean methane is pressurized at 100,000 pounds psi. According to Matt Simmons, an oil industry expert, the methane pressure at the wellhead has now skyrocketed to a terrifying 40,000 pounds psi.