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BP Oil Spill
The BP oil spill, also known as the Deepwater Horizon spill, occurred in late April 2010 when a oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 people. The disastrous spill gushed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf and is considered an environmental catastrophe and one of the worst offshore oil spills in U.S. history.
887 Questions
What is the best way the stop the broken BP oil well from spilling more oil?
2010, May 4: BP announces beginning of work to start drilling relief wells.
May 5: BP plugs one of the 3 oil rigs. This does not significantly reduce the flow of the oil, but reduces the complexity of the problem.
May 8: BP attempts to place a containment dome over the oil spill but fails.
May 16: Work begins on 2nd relief well.
May 17: Riser insertion tube tool (RITT) is put into place. This collects about 2000 barrels of oil a day, a fraction of the oil being spilled.
As of May 29th, BP announced that 3 consecutive attempts at a 'top kill' had failed. The 'top kill' process involves pumping heavy fluids into the blowout preventer to restrict oil flow, and then permanently sealing it with cement.
June 3: Deployment of the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap containment system. This plan involves cutting a part off the blow out preventer to leave a cleanly cut pipe which can then be capped. This effort is expected to take 4 days. They proceded with this method on June 3rd, and so far it is helping. However a jagged edge on the pipe might make the cap fall off. BP's next plan is to pump warm water down from the surface of the water, to prevent the cap from forming ice crystals like one of their previous operations. They will also plan to siphon the oil from pipes from the surface of the water.
June 5: LMRP is functional. About 10,000 barrels of oil are collected, though much continues to spill.
About 15,000 barrels of oil are collect per day. Approximately 30 million cubic feet of natural gas is being burned or 'flared' per day.
Other long term efforts include drilling side 'relief wells' into the original borehole. Once the relief wells are in place, they will pump drilling mud into the hole to try and stop the flow. Also, they might replace the blowout preventer with a new one. However, this will take upwards of three months.
Please see links.
As of June 8, BP is:
1) Drilling two relief wells, which each take 3 months to drill. Approximately 90 million dollars will be sent to this effort.
2) A drillship is over the well, collecting more oil each day through a lower marine riser and cap. Rates of over 10,000 barrels per day have been reported. Drillships cost more than 15 million dollars per month, so the cost here will exceed 50 million easily.
3) Setting containment booms to slow the progress of spill. Protective barriers (berms) are being constructed and deployed.
4) Setting controlled burns of the oil where there is sufficient oil to burn (more proximal to the spill).
5) Using dispersants subsea and spraying over spill, to the extent allowed by EPA.
6) Paying contractors to pick up oil patties that are washing up on beaches and netting them where possible in marches.
7) Over 400 boats are now skimming the oil spill.
Cost to BP right now on cleanup is close or over one billion dollars.
See related links.
As of 2010 July 15, BP had replaced the LMRP cap with a 150,000 pound (68000 kg), 5.8 m cap which had completely contained the flow of oil from the main leak. It's stability is currently being tested, but it is hoped that this cap will be able to help siphon 80,000 barrels of oil per day to ships above.
Unfortunately, oil began seeping from the ocean floor elsewhere, leading to the conclusion that the main oil pipe has been damaged.
It was announced on 2010 August 4 that something called "Static Kill" is working and they are almost done with the problem.
How much oil is in the leaking BP well?
Sometimes simple questions do not have simple answers. It is sufficient to say that the estimates have a large range, and are subject to change. My comments are valid for June 11, 2010 only.
Right now, BP is capturing oil coming out of the well using the LMRP. They indicated that it is capturing about 15,000 thousand barrels of oil per day (15 MB/D).
The US Geological Survey (Marcia McNutt, task force leader) was initially assigned responsibility to identify rates. The rate question is now being addressed by three teams- See related link.
The Plume Modeling Group estimates as of June 10, 2010, the oil coming out of the riser prior to the use of the insertion tube is 25 to 30 MB/D, but then give an outside range of 20 to 40 MB/D. This is not the current rate, but what might have been flowing nearly a month ago.
Unfortunately, this isn't the rate coming out now, because they cut the marine riser in preparation for the LMRP. Everyone agrees that this should increase the rate, the the experts have given an opinion on how much this should increase the estimates.
Some of the oil coming to the surface is also being loss by evaporation, skimming and controlled burns. The experts have not yet given an opinion on how much this should decrease the estimates.
However, if we ignore the increase and all the decreases except for BP's estimate of what is captured by the LMRP, an estimate of the current spill rate using the outer range numbers is 5 to 25 MB/D. This can be converted to millions of gallons by multiplying the numbers by 0.042, yielding 0.21 to 1.05 million gpd.
Remember this does not include (1) increase due to cutting of riser and (2) evaporation, burning and skimming decreases. Using the lower range of estimates, the claim that this is the largest accidental oil spill in the US is correct, and has far surpassed the volumes spilled by the Exxon-Valdez. Also, I note that in many of the largest spills, recovered oil was nominal, so just the total spilled (from the well or tanker) was reported. In this case, the reductions as mentioned above are significant.
See link.
How many were killed during the most recent oil rig explosion?
the oilf rig explosion killed 11 people and injured 17. The explosions oil flowed for over 3 months while people were desperately trying to get it clean the explosion was in the gulf of Mexico :) hope this helps :)
What has been done to clean the oil spill up?
No, they can't fix the oil spills because oil can't dissolve in the water for example sugar can but oil can't.
I wish that answered your question. <- This is actually not a helpful answer as the question never asked if oil could dissolve in water or not. The question was if "they" could fix the oil spill.
The answer is yes and no. They are currently trying to redirect the pipes containing the oil by sawing through it and putting a plug that leads to another reservoir. The no part is that it is impossible to undo the damages done by the oil spill as it has already drastically affected the ecosystems around the Gulf.
Who should you call first if you have and oil spill or fuel spill?
At home (on land) call your local Fire Department. They will send a fire crew and a Hazmat truck.
If at sea, notify the US Coast Guard as soon as possible.
What materials clean oil spills?
You can use a lot of things to clean up oil spills but the best thing to clean up an oil spill is to use a sponge.
Which animals are affected by the BP oil spill?
It kills the sea birds. If the oil gets into the feathers, it damages their waterproofing, meaning the bird gets waterlogged, very cold and ulimately dies. In addition, large amounts of oil can simply clog up their ability to fly. finally, seabirds depend on fish and aquatic animals for food, so if the oil kills their food source, they starve.
What can you do to stop oil spills?
There are 3 core ways of stopping oil spills:
- Reduce the danger of current oil drilling/transportation.
- Reduce the amount of current oil drilling/transportation.
- Change the type of oil drilling/transportation to less risky methods.
All of the following answers fall under one or several of these categories:
Make an example of companies/countriesShow outrage at companies who do dangerous things to save money so that when accidents happen, they will be forced to reassess their policies for financial and business reasons. Such ways of showing outrage could include:- Publicly protesting.
- Boycotting companies and encouraging others to boycott the offending companies
- Spreading knowledge of disasters caused.
- Specifically, speaking to your government representatives.
Use of 'smart pig' technologies to determine if there are leaks in oil pipelines.
Improve existing safety standards in oil companies.
Encourage safety over profit from the top-down in the company.
National Answer:Encourage drilling by nations which have good safety records and many safety standards. The safety standards in many developing or third-world countries are often trumped by the desire for quick profits. If a nation has an oil accident, try to make an example of that country by punishing them economically, eg. don't buy goods from them until they clean up their safety standards. This will encourage these nations to force safety standards upon the corporations willing to drill. Legislative Answer:Push for elimination of oil drilling in deep water.Some suggest that allowing shallow-water drilling is the answer.
Reduction of Oil Demand:If oil demand is reduced, prices for oil will go down. This makes it less profitable for new oil wells to be drilled, so there will be less drilling, less spilling. There are many ways to reduce oil demand; see related questions for more answers.How many gallons of oil leaked in the gulf oil spill?
The BP gulf spill started April 20, 2010 and was first contained July 15, 2010. Oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico at an estimated rate of 30,000 - 60,000 barrels per day. Some oil was contained by siphoning directly from the cap, some was burned in open waters, some was "dispersed" using chemicals and some was skimmed.
The NY Times and Associated Press have been reporting a total of "94 to 184 million gallons". This estimate as of July 29th 2010 after the new temporary cap had been placed and the leak had been stopped. The final sealing of the well but pumping in drilling cement from one of the two relief wells is estimated to be completed by mid August.
When did bp oil spill get plugged?
The oil stop flowing on July 15, 2010 as a result of the top kill. In September the Macondo well was intersected by a relief well and could be permanently killed with a cement plug. This occurred on September 19.
See relarted link.
How much did it cost to clean up the bp oil spill?
Approximately 80 billions dollars. They are not paying all at once though, they put a 20 Billion dollar trust fund to cover damages, payed off the bloodthirsty environmentalists, and then.... the point is they lost so much money that they fired their CEO a few weeks into the crisis thats how you know it was really bad
How does oil spill affect seabird?
An effect of oil spills on penguins is that their feathers lose much of their ability to insulate the body, resulting in hypothermia. (It gets mighty cold where penguins live!) The birds may even swallow the oil when trying to clean their feathers that could lead to poisoning.
Fortunately for penguins, most of them live in areas that have a low likelihood of having oil spills. There is little shipping traveling that far south and no significant oil drilling.
What actors and actresses appeared in The Great American Oil Spill - 2010?
The cast of The Great American Oil Spill - 2010 includes: Mark Carwardine as Himself - Presenter Connie Chevis as herself Stephen Fry as Himself - Presenter Jay Holcomb as himself Shirley Laska as herself Sue Rocca as herself Mike Utsler as himself
Oil leak on a 1996 Mercury Sable?
An oil leak on a 1996 Mercury Sable may be caused by a hole in the filter or oil pan. These parts can be replaced at any auto parts store. A mechanic will be able to pinpoint the exact location of any leak.
Could be burning it at such a slow rate not showing smoke Could be leaking on hot part of engine and burning off How much is it consuming?
Thie Sea Robin, a marine fish, measures in at up to 16" long
How do oil spills affect marine life and what are scientific solutions?
The oil spill that's traveling along the u.s border is affecting marine life majorly. all living things in the water are affected. the fish breath from water and oxygen, and with the oil traveling through the water,,,, all the life will die. idk how we are going to fix this. but i hope it stops soon. im only 14 by the way, hope this helped a little.=)
How does oil affect life and how does it not affect life?
Yes- this is very true.
There are bacteria in sea water that actually consume the oil. On calm water, oil may create a very thin film on water (like engine oil leaking from a boat) and not cause any significant environmental damage. If the area is small, some animals may avoid the area where the spill has occurred.
Oil may be dispersed by wave action, and the small bits of oil may not to dilute to harm sea life.
In relation to the BP oil spill, the area became so large, that it was difficult for birds to avoid the spill. The impact on many animals is given in the related link.
Areas affected by bps oil spill?
So far (June 15), coastlines of Louisianna, Mississippi, Alabama and panhandle are Florida in vicinity of Pensacola are impacted. Large areas of the Gulf are off limits to fishing.
BP is 40% owned by British share holders, 39% owned by American share holders and 21% the rest of the world.
