Who remembers Ixtoc I?

Okay, this latest disaster is bigger and the water in which the Deepwater well was being dug is deeper, but in many respects it's very similar to the Ixtoc I disaster in 1979

Source

On June 3, 1979, the 2 mile deep exploratory well, IXTOC I, blew out in the Bahia de Campeche, 600 miles south of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. The water depth at the wellhead site is about 50 m (164 feet). The IXTOC I was being drilled by the SEDCO 135, a semi-submersible platform on lease to Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). A loss of drilling mud circulation caused the blowout to occur. The oil and gas blowing out of the well ignited, causing the platform to catch fire. The burning platform collapsed into the wellhead area hindering any immediate attempts to control the blowout. PEMEX hired blowout control experts and other spill control experts including Red Adair, Martech International of Houston, and the Mexican diving company, Daivaz. The Martech response included 50 personnel on site, the remotely operated vehicle TREC, and the submersible Pioneer I. The TREC attempted to find a safe approach to the Blowout Preventer (BOP). The approach was complicated by poor visibility and debris on the seafloor including derrick wreckage and 3000 meters of drilling pipe. Divers were eventually able to reach and activate the BOP, but the pressure of the oil and gas caused the valves to begin rupturing. The BOP was reopened to prevent destroying it. Two relief wells were drilled to relieve pressure from the well to allow response personnel to cap it. Norwegian experts were contracted to bring in skimming equipment and containment booms, and to begin cleanup of the spilled oil. The IXTOC I well continued to spill oil at a rate of 10,000 - 30,000 barrels per day until it was finally capped on March 23, 1980.

10,000 to 30,000 barrels a day for 10 months pouring in the Gulf. Not as much as Deepwater, but not inconsiderable.

And guess what? There was no ELE, we didn't all die, the world did not end and most people have now completely forgotten about it.

Yes, Deepwater is a very major environmental disaster. But there is far too much ignorant doomsaying going on at the moment. IMHO

Brace yourself... Venom that sticks to the eyeballs is coming your way...

You'll be shouted down as a big oil shill murderer fo' sho'...





PS: You might like my thread on this from a month ago:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 17-6-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

reply to post by Essan


Just like the people on the world is ending side, I think you are just as wrong to underplay it.


We don't know how bad this is going to be yet it is still early. It could have huge impacts in the right situations.



Like I said the end of the world crowd is wrong and the this is not that bad crowd is wrong. You are one in the same in my eyes.

reply to post by Essan


Well the Earth 31 years ago, IMO, was in better condition then it is currently.

Lots happened since then. So you gotta put that in the picture aswell.

Many have sadly forgotten this event. I haven't, and have often drawn a parallel between the two to others. It seems that only the older generation remember it now, though only few of those do. Of course the cold war was on, Reaganomics picked up in 81, so most of this disappeared. Where, I don't know, though watching the reports from then, one can hardly distinguish from now. The rig was owned by Transocean, the bop failed, they tried something called the sombrero, tried putting a bunch of metal spheres in it, and the only thing that saved our butts was the relief well.

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss


I'm used to being called far worse

And sorry IIB, I missed your far more informative thread! I'm just fed up with all the 'end of the world' rhetoric on ATS atm and hoped to provide some persepective.

Yes, this is a very big environmental disaster (though not anywhere near as big as the burning of the Indonesian rain forest, for example), and only time will tell how much worse than Ixtoc I it'll be. Hopefully it won't take 10 months to fix this time!

reply to post by Subjective Truth


The funny thing is you jumped to the conclusion that he said "it's not that bad" when he didn't. I've been lambasted by scores of people yet all I really ever did was use historical data and other facts to conclude that the world hasn't ended with past oil spills, and won't end with this one.

Yes don't worry about this, till they start putting Nukes down there to fix it.
That's when they find out the Earth is hollow, and were at war with the inhabitants.

Halliburton one of those leaks down in Austialia, a while back that one leaked for awhile also. That was same kind of blow out in the water.

I don't think there is much comparison here.

That well was 600 miles off shore not 50. The well was very shallow not a mile down, and did not go another 4 miles under the surface of the sea floor. That oil and gas did not have the pressures on it the current leak has. The very toxic chemical banned in Europe called Corexit was not used which causes this spill to be that much more harmful to everything it comes in contact with.

That was a small leak far away, this is a major leak on our doorstep with tons of bad chemicals.

That leak did not have the potential for harmful destruction of sea, plant animal and human life this one does have. perhaps not an ELE, but it could destroy a lot of real estate and the resulting rain could plague the south and eastern coasts for a lone time making people sick.

[edit on 17-6-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix

That was a small leak far away, this is a major leak on our doorstep with tons of bad chemicals.

It was the biggest accident spill ever, until a few weeks ago. And it was in the Gulf of Mexico just like this. But maybe you're only concerned about one bit of the Gulf and all the oil in the world can spill elsewhere?

Yes, this well is 3 times as deep and in deeper water, but a spill is a spill is a spill.

Oh, and corexit was used on the Ixtoc I spill

Originally posted by Essan

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix

That was a small leak far away, this is a major leak on our doorstep with tons of bad chemicals.

It was the biggest accident spill ever, until a few weeks ago. And it was in the Gulf of Mexico just like this. But maybe you're only concerned about one bit of the Gulf and all the oil in the world can spill elsewhere?

Yes, this well is 3 times as deep and in deeper water, but a spill is a spill is a spill.

Oh, and corexit was used on the Ixtoc I spill

Until they cap the well, we won't know how bad it will be.

It's already bad, appears to be getting worse, with no end in site.

1 million plus gallons of Corexit has been sprayed and pumped. Thousands of gallons have been burned, which most likely causes the oil to harden and sink.
www.nrt.org...$File/FS%20burnresidues.pdf?OpenElement

And where is the soot going? Straight to Florida.

Just wait. This will affect even England.

[edit on 17-6-2010 by OurskiesRpoisoned]

The good news: the Ixtoc did not destroy the Gulf
the bad news: deepwater is far worse.

what's also interesting is that

"The widespread use of dispersants (during Ixtoc 1), the settlement of containment booms and the mobilization of all PEMEX’s recovery means were insuffisant when faced with such a spill. Oil slicks reached the coast around Vera Cruz, Tampico, Campeche, Laguna Madre and even as far as Texas."

www.cedre.fr...

So this means that the clean up will be far worse.

[edit on 17-6-2010 by filosophia]