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Efforts To Stem The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Efforts to stem the ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill were ongoing from the time that the '' Deepwater Horizon'' exploded on April 20, 2010 until the well was sealed by a cap on July 15, 2010. Various species of dolphins and other mammals (61 casualties), birds (2,095 casualties), and the endangered sea turtles (467 casualties) have been killed either directly or indirectly by the oil spill. The ''Deepwater Horizon'' spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill in total volume released (Ixtoc discharged to ; as of mid-July 2010, Deepwater Horizon has spilled to ). Much of the oil is so far down in the Gulf that only nature, including microbes, will be able to remove it using a process called bioremediation. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at . After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the spreading oil utilizing skimmer ships, floating booms, controlled burns and of oil dispersant. Due to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, the United States Department of Energy. Located in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, the lab overlooks the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, and is managed by the University of California system. History 1931–1941 The laboratory was founded on August 26, 1931, by Ernest Lawrence, as the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley, associated with the Physics Department. It centered physics research around his new instrument, the cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939. Throughout the 1930s, Lawrence pushed to create larger and larger machines for physics research, courting private philanthropy, philanthropists for funding. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the ''Houston Post'', the ''Chronicle'' became Houston's newspaper of record. The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a privately held multinational corporate media conglomerate with $10 billion in revenues. The paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists, editors, and photographers. The ''Chronicle'' has bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Austin. It reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the " newspaper of record" of the Houston area. Previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue, Downtown Houston, the ''Houston Chronicle'' i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drilling Fluid
In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are also used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells. One of the functions of drilling mud is to carry cuttings out of the hole. The three main categories of drilling fluids are: water-based muds (WBs), which can be dispersed and non-dispersed; non-aqueous muds, usually called oil-based muds (OBs); and gaseous drilling fluid, in which a wide range of gases can be used. Along with their formatives, these are used along with appropriate polymer and clay additives for drilling various oil and gas formations. The main functions of drilling fluids include providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering into the well bore, keeping the drill bit cool and clean during drilling, carrying out drill cuttings, and suspending t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Kill
A top kill is a procedure used as a means of regaining control over an oil well that has been producing or is experiencing well control issues with crude oil or natural gas in the well. It is not a procedure where control has been lost over the well, like a blowout. The process involves pumping heavyweight drilling mud into the well. This procedure is expected to stop the flow of oil and gas from the well. A further step could be sealing the well completely, often with cement. In use The top kill procedure was used to plug flaming oil wells, blown up by retreating Iraqi forces, in 1991, during the Gulf War. This technique came to prominence during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill when it was used in an attempt to seal a seafloor oil well after the failure of the blowout preventer. However, it failed to block the flow of oil. References See also * Well kill * Blowout preventer A blowout preventer (BOP) (pronounced B-O-P, not "bop") is a specialized valve or similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discoverer Enterprise
''Discoverer Enterprise'' is a fifth generation deepwater double hulled dynamically positioned drillship (ASTANO FPSO design) owned and operated by Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., capable of operating in moderate environments and water depths up to 3,049 m (10,000 ft) using an , 15,000 psi blowout preventer (BOP), and a outside diameter (OD) marine riser. From 1998 to 2005 the vessel was Panama-flagged and currently flies the flag of convenience of the Marshall Islands. ''Discoverer Enterprise'' has two sister ships, ''Discoverer Spirit'' completed in 1999, and ''Discoverer Deep Seas'' completed in 2000. The ship was the first to offer a dual drilling derrick capability. The dual derricks allowed simultaneous operations to be performed, and according to Transocean increased efficiency by 40 percent. The US$360 million ship gives its name to the Enterprise Class of large deepwater drillships. ''Deepwater Horizon'' spill response The ship operates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drillship
A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped with the latest and most advanced dynamic positioning systems. History The first drillship was the ''CUSS I'', designed by Robert F. Bauer of Global Marine in 1955. The ''CUSS I'' had drilled in 400-foot-deep waters by 1957.Schempf, F. (2007). Pioneering Offshore: The Early Years. ulsa, OK PennWell Custom Pub.. Robert F. Bauer became the first president of Global Marine in 1958. In 1961 Global Marine started a new drillship era. They ordered several self-propelled drillships each with a rated centerline drilling of 20,000 foot-wells in water depths of 600 feet. The first was named ''CUSS ( Glomar) II'', a 5,500-deadweight-ton vessel, costing around $4.5 million. Built by a Gulf Coast shipyard, the vessel was almost twice the size o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upstream (newspaper)
''Upstream'' is an independent oil and gas industry upstream sector weekly newspaper and a daily internet news site. The newspaper is owned by NHST Media Group. It is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The newspaper covers the upstream sector of the global oil and gas industry with full-time staff correspondents in all the major centres of the industry. It is published every Friday. Upstream had full-time reporters based in its head office in Oslo, as well as bureaux and correspondents in London, Moscow, Accra, New Delhi, Singapore, Wellington, Rio de Janeiro and Houston. Its editor in chief is Erik Means. The newspaper was founded in 1996 to compete with well-established rivals including ''Oil & Gas Journal'', ''Petroleum Intelligence Weekly'', and ''Offshore Engineer''. It covers all aspects of the upstream industry, but focuses especially on news related to business, policy and the sector's key players as well as the commercial side of the industry. Coverage includes explorati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. The newspaper's offices are located at One Yonge Street in the Harbourfront, Toronto, Harbourfront neighbourhood of Toronto. The newspaper was established in 1892 as the ''Evening Star'' and was later renamed the ''Toronto Daily Star'' in 1900, under Joseph E. Atkinson. Atkinson was a major influence in shaping the editorial stance of the paper, with the paper having reflected his values until his death in 1948. The paper was renamed the ''Toronto Star'' in 1971. The newspaper introduced a Sunday edition in 1973. History The ''Star'' was created in 1892 by striking ''Toronto News'' printers and writers, led by future mayor of Toronto and social reformer Horatio Clarenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methane Clathrate
Methane clathrate (CH4·5.75H2O) or (8CH4·46H2O), also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, fire ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound (more specifically, a clathrate hydrate) in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice. Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System, where temperatures are low and water ice is common, significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth. Methane hydrate is formed when hydrogen-bonded water and methane gas come into contact at high pressures and low temperatures in oceans. Methane clathrates are common constituents of the shallow marine geosphere and they occur in deep Sedimentary rock, sedimentary structures and form outcrops on the ocean floor. Methane hydrates are believed to form by the precipitation or crystallisation of methane migrating from d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Containment Dome
A containment dome is a component of the system designed to contain the underwater blowout of an oil well such as occurred with the Macondo Well blowout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This portion of the system is designed as a vacuum to suck up the products being expelled from a blowout and deliver those products to the containment system housed on the vessel moored above the blowout. Superior Energy Services is constructing this device to be used by Shell Oil Company on the barge '' Arctic Challenger'' as their "fourth line of defense" against a blowout in the Arctic drilling regions in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Fr .... The fourth method, which was constructed in Bellingham, Washington, US is the containment barge carryin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oil Containment Chamber Port Fourchon LA 100426-G-8744K-021
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated lipids that are liquid at room temperature. The general definition of oil includes classes of chemical compounds that may be otherwise unrelated in structure, properties, and uses. Oils may be animal, vegetable, or petrochemical in origin, and may be volatile or non-volatile. They are used for food (e.g., olive oil), fuel (e.g., heating oil), medical purposes (e.g., mineral oil), lubrication (e.g. motor oil), and the manufacture of many types of paints, plastics, and other materials. Specially prepared oils are used in some religious ceremonies and rituals as purifying agents. Etymology First attested in English 1176, the word ''oil'' comes from Old French ''oile'', from Latin ''oleum'', which in turn comes from the Greek (''elaion'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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