Now that the kill seems to have worked on the BP oil spill, I will update and give the range of how this compares globally. I want to put down in writing a few thoughts before that, though.
First, I thought BP's refocusing of the story to the engineering issues faced in plugging the leak was brilliant. The press picked up on what an amazing engineering feat this was, it is naturally an apolitical story, the graphics were compelling, and it contrasted nicely with bureaucrats pointing at each other and blaming and pontificating. Gimme a team of world class engineers any day.
The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about this which was somewhat informative and somewhat entertaining. As a deep water drilling engineer I know told me...
"This has been damn interesting, because I generally don't know anything about what is in the news. Now comes a story where I know EVERYTHING there is to know, and the way they misconstrue things is astounding!"
In any case, the WSJ article has one part in it that is telling and hellishly entertaining. We all know that BP is/was an aggressive driller. Long string where others would drill out from intermediate, etc. This story shows something we have all been in. A well, way over budget, and folks just trying to finish the job and get off a hole that people are getting reamed out by management every day for busting their AFE (Authority for Expenditure). Exactly the kind of environment where mistakes are made.
Towards the bottom of the story, he interviews a Halliburton spokesperson about BP's practices, particularly in regards to the spacers used to hold the pipe in place for cementing. Halliburton (and to be fair, other contractors as well), want you to buy as many of these things as possible. You, on the other hand, want to buy just what is necessary. This is the constant dynamic of the oilpatch. The Halliburton rep's statement was "were not consistent with industry best practices," they were "within acceptable industry standards". Ie, if they had just used 21 like we wanted to sell them, this could have been avoided.
Brilliant marketing! Soon we will be legislated on exactly which and how many services to buy from Halliburton and Schlumberger! Wonderful. "Best Practices" here we come! I am buying Halliburton stock today.
"the kill seems to have worked"? Really? I am still seeing the "give it 48 hours" line.
One thing I think is kind of funny is that when the public is seeing testimony from people on the rig, they necessarily see 99 Transocean employees and service hands, to the one BP guy (who took the fifth, and who can blame him).
Posted by: hughw | May 28, 2010 at 04:39 PM
Yeah, apparently spoke too soon. Dang it.
Posted by: Open Choke | May 29, 2010 at 07:37 AM
Thanks for your commentary, even if you did speak too soon. Evidence seemed to indicate it had worked. I feel sorry for BP because someone will take the blame and they are it, right or wrong. Any professional commentary/analysis on the situation would be appreciated. The media hype is disgusting.
Posted by: Richard | May 30, 2010 at 02:46 PM
I quit reading Time magazine years ago. Why? I noticed whenever they talked about something I knew about, they got it, not quite wrong, but twisted.
Hmmmm...
If they are wrong on this, how do I know they are right about anything?
I quit reading Time.
I also quit reading Scientific American after the kill piece on Lomborg after he wrote the "Skeptical Environmentalist". They were grossly unfair and quite frankly, unscientific in their criticism. In science, you attack the ideas, not the person. Or so I was taught to believe.
What I have noticed is when the media gets shrill about something, they are upset because they cannot refute what their target has done or said.
Case in point:
A lot has been said about the birds killed in this oil spill. What are we up to now, 500?
Nothing is said about the thousands of birds chopped up by wind turbines every year.
See http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/wind-power-green-and-deadly
Why is that? Why does one industry get a pass and the other doesn't? Where are all the lawsuits from the environmentalists against wind turbines?
Anyway, don't accept anything from the media without careful verification.
Posted by: Jack Simmons | June 05, 2010 at 07:27 AM
Planetresource.net has a Eco friendly solution to clean up the tragedy British Petroleum has created, please watch the video animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60bdQQQ3iVw and pass this along to as many people as you know.
One person can still make a difference in this world, is that simple interactions have a rippling effect. Each time this gets pass along, the hope in cleaning our planet is passed on.
Posted by: sumin | June 08, 2010 at 07:34 AM