BP: No sign of leaks as capped well nears 48 hours

Source: Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – BP's experimental cap was holding Saturday as the final hours ticked away in a two-day trial run to make sure it keeps oil from pouring into the Gulf of Mexico without blowing a new leak in the busted well.
Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said engineers glued to an array of pressure, temperature, sonar and other sensors were seeing no evidence of oil escaping into the water or the sea floor. Undersea robots were also patrolling the well site for signs of trouble.
A new breach underground was a major concern going into the test, because oil breaking out of pipes in the bedrock would be harder to control and could endanger plans for a permanent plug.
"We're feeling more comfortable," Wells said on a morning conference call, but cautioned: "The test is not over."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100717/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill;_ylt=ArOOIagtB2.N7Nm2Pg2Sg2ys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNoY2diNDAyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzE3L3VzX2d1bGZfb2lsX3NwaWxsBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9ye

isn't gushing oil is a good day. Keeping fingers crossed that the worst has passed.

that would be the nightmare scenario

.

breaking open which would then vent the oil thru cracks in the seabed and definitely be the worst case scenario. There had been a lot of speculation, and some pictures, that seems to show this had already happened, hence the great level of concern about the well integrity. Of course, we don't know if anything they say is true, since their main tactic has been lying and cheaping out over and over. However, this is the most promising news we've had in a long time and our best hope so far of stopping the growth of the nightmare.

Now, just 150 years or so for the gulf to degrade the crap that is now suspended in the water and covering
twenty thousand or more square miles of ocean floor, and things should be back to normal, yay!!

however, isn't it in the best interest of BP at this point to report that they have 'saved the day'?

I no longer trust alot of corporations, and BP is certainly one of them. I would not be surprised in the least to find in a report released ten years from now; that there was oil still penetrating the riser below the surface prior to the kill procedure...

I'm not saying it is; nor am I attempting to be a killjoy here.

I am simply proceeding here with caution...

If you look at your watch, it's the part about 2/3's through and you think: "It can't be over". Then there's this rumbling sound...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- After more than 40 hours of testing pressure on the new cap on its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP said Saturday that it may continue testing beyond the 48-hour period first announced to assure safety and the absence of new leaks. "We're watching every piece of data," said BP Vice President Kent Wells in a conference call with reporters Saturday. "We feel more comfortable that we have integrity."

No oil has visibly leaked out of the Macondo well since the cap was sealed Thursday and the pressure in the well is high enough to indicate that the well likely isn't leaking, Wells said. Preliminary seismic surveys indicate that the seafloor around the well hasn't ruptured, although more surveys, by BP and government scientists, are underway to ensure that no oil or gas is leaking from the well or the seafloor.

more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-may-prolong-testing-new-cap-2010-07-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp

but it does sound like they've got it under control.. finally!

that BP WANTS to hook any siphoning equipment to that new cap and capture 100% of the oil. It would show the exact amount that has been spewing everyday.

As said by another though, any day the well is not spewing oil is a good day.

Regardless I am just thrilled just to get this damn thing under control.. we can deal with penalizing BP later.

It leads to other things that we need to analyze and having a true number to put into those equations would help.

Why wasn't this procedure preformed sooner? How long has this gusher been active?

Since April 20--that's almost three months. Yet the cap looks like a simple operation.

We had several attempts to control the oil but no attempt to stop it--until now.

Why?

The caps they had didn't work due to hydrates clogging everything the first time, the 2nd time they couldnt get a good seal due to 2 pipes in the riser, so developed a new cap. Of course, if they had any clue to begin with, they'd have done things a lot differently and we wouldn't be in this sorry state. This whole thing was preventable, but they fucked up over and over trying to save a dime. Same as they're doing now with the clean-up. Kick them out of the US forever!!!!!! Ha, I'd love to see that, but it won't happen in this corporatist America.

we developed what we thought were unsinkable ocean liners while lacking in communications and sensor (radar) technology. Raced headlong into an iceberg. In this case we had the ability to drill a mile down, but we lacked the technology to handle a disaster a mile down.

:toast:

there was a lot of human error involved. Not enough life boats for a start, add poor communication between the radio room and the captain's orders to contact other ships.....


http://www.helium.com/items/1122551-why-titanic-sunk


Titanic was advertised on handbills as unsinkable, that was quite a claim in 1912. The public was informed that she could stay afloat with at least several of her water tight compartments flooded because of the way she was built. The total amount of rivets used to put her together was phenomenal, however those rivets were part of the reason she actually sunk.

The actual events began when J. Bruce Ismay, the "owner" of Titanic wanted Captain Edward Smith to push Titanic to arrive in New York City a day early. She left Southampton England doing 22 knots, Ismay wanted the speed bumped up to at least 25 knots. There had been reports throughout the evening of icebergs, Captain Smith chose to ignore those reports.

Just past midnight Titanic struck an iceberg, flooding five water tight compartments popping all the rivets along the gash in her side. When the compartments began to take on water Titanic began to go down by the bow. Two hours later, she disappeared in the Atlantic, along with her secrets.

Doctor Robert Ballard finally discovered Titanic in her watery grave, he was able to answer what really happened to the great ship. She went down by the bow, as she was going down she broke in half, up until that point it was assumed that she was still in one piece. She sustained a huge gash in her side, which in turn popped the rivets making the "unsinkable" Titanic very sinkable. By ignoring the iceberg warnings did that make Captain Smith culpable for all the lives that were lost? The findings at the time were more concerned with why the California did not answer the CQD's, she was not that far away. Was it human error that caused the great ship to sink? The answer is yes, human error was the biggest factor. Going to fast for conditions. So much for the romantic Titanic.

starting with the fact humans should never have allowed themselves to drill in the gulf. Period.

All those questions have been answered, but I bet you won't like the answer.

After they tried the two previous procedures, and had nothing left to try, Obama ordered them to keep working on a cap. They finally came up with a solution, manufactured whatever parts they needed, and so here it is.

The only stop is going to be the relief wells, which Obama instructed two to be drilled in case the first one failed.

Why don't you know any of that you oh so wiser than the rest of the country liberal DUer??

...after newspapers told us Bush won in 2000, Saddam had WMDs and the TARP bailouts were necessary to rescue failed banks after they were swindled by greedy homebuyers who wanted more house than they could afford...

Newspapers aren't accurate...we saw that during the entire Gulf debacle.

:thumbsup:

Says a lot that there is so little attention to this. I think some people are disappointed that the disaster isn't continuing.

... LOL

A lot of people have simply lost faith in the entire corporate/government system. There's a tendency not to celebrate good news until every "i" is dotted, every "t" is crossed, and all the evidence is in. It's over the top to suggest that DUers are cheering on an ecological disaster of this magnitude. By and large I have found the people at DU to be a rather contentious bunch, but their intentions are almost always good. We all pretty much want the same things.

I recced this post, but I won't feel like it's over until the relief wells are drilled.
The media has already reported far too many lies as gospel truth.

....the surface area doesn't look familiar.

:thumbsup:

Oil and gas could be leaking from many fissures both near the capped well and even miles away. The pressure never hit 8000-9000 psi in the integrity tests, which would assure that the well has been properly capped and the oil flow has been stopped. It peaked at about 6700 psi, which suggests there may be other leaks. There are a series of videos that clearly show leakage from fissures in the seabed. You can view them in this article: http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Exa... . While the well itself may be capped, the reality is that the oil leak is not fixed, only shifted away from the well head cameras and the light of the media, where it is hoped Americans will not notice it.