At Least 9 Ships Near BP's Macondo Well (yes...THAT Well)

Seems there is a lot of activity in the vicinity of the "successfully capped" not leaking anymore Macondo well...(the one that caused the disaster) There are at least 9 oil related work vessels surrounding the site as of November 15, 2011.....I am exteremely concerned. It costs a fortune for those ships to be there....and they would NOT be there....unless something warranted it. Some of you may have heard about the oil slicks showing up recently right next to this site....which BP claims is not from their well. That oil was tested, and MATCHES the oil from Macondo. These ships out there at the present time seem to be dropping lines (which would suggest they are using the ROVs for some reason. Is there anyone who has the know how to get images of this area and the vessels (from marinetraffic.com) or another source. This is big news for those of us on the gulf coast....and not good news. I want the purpose of this thread to be to monitor this ship activity, and what their purpose could be. Here is the story....anyone who has info or can get it , please help any way you can.

From Planet Ocean News...

Macondo Mystery Deepens: Nine Large Vessels Spotted Working in Vicinity of Deepwater Horizon Site

We saw lots of “work” vessels out in the Macondo today! And new orange buoys we hadn’t seen before. Our southeast-bound route took us past the platform “VK989″ at about N28°58′ W088°37′, and the first two orange buoys we saw were a little over 50 miles off shore to the east-southeast. Thence came a progression of oil-related (BP-contracted, we think) work vessels, some ROV-capable and more. These included the Meg L. Skandi, C. Chariot, Monica Ann, Normand Pacific, Sarah Bordelon, Deep Blue, HOS Iron Horse, Brooks McCall, and Holiday.

Anyone who followed the BP Disaster will recognise these ships. They were there during the active "spill" as they tried to control things, and sending out remote vehicles to inspect the situation. But.....nothing's going on.....right? (sarcasm intended)

There were THREE leaks down there. They "capped" only the smallest one. There ARE two more bigger leaks, and they've been spewing it out for OVER A YEAR.

All I can say is, I would leave the Gulf area. And never come back. Sorry but it's true.

www.globalresearch.ca...

It seems that the "Skandi" ship has mud tanks.....what is a mud tank you say?? This is what.

A mud tank is an open-top container, typically made of steel, to store drilling fluid on a drilling rig. They are also called mud pits, because they used to be nothing more than pits dug out of the earth.

Why would they need drilling fluid to use at a non existant rig or a "capped" well? Just asking....maybe someone who knows can tell me. I thought what all this could be about was a salvaging mission to recover the sunken rig at first.....not now though. They would never spend the money to send out equipment and ships that are not needed.....and you don't need drilling fluid to do a recovery operation.

money.cnn.com...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- 554 days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP is back in action in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company announced Wednesday that it had earned its first permit to drill for oil in the Gulf since last year's oil spill disaster, and says that a resumption of drilling is imminent.

It seems BP is back in action again.

reply to post by CaptChaos


Yes, I believe that too. I have many hours of video I recorded from the ROVs which have different coordinates etc....

ating facilities. Bea has worked for many years in governmental and quasi-governmental roles, and has been a high-level governmental adviser concerning disasters. He worked for 16 years as a top mechanical engineer and manager for Shell Oil, and has worked with Bechtel and the Army Corps of Engineers. One of the world's top experts in offshore drilling problems, Bea is a member of the Deepwater Horizon Study Group, and has been interviewed by news media around the world concerning the BP oil disaster.

***
WB: Is it possible that this fractured, subsea salt geology will make it difficult to permanently kill the oil leak using relief wells?

Bea: Yes, it could. The Santa Barbara channel seeps are still leaking, decades after the oil well was supposedly capped. This well could keep leaking for years.

Scripps mapped out seafloor seeps in the area of the well prior to the blowout. Some of the natural seeps penetrate 10,000 to 15,000 feet beneath the seafloor. The oil will follow lines of weakness in the geology. The leak can travel several horizontal miles from the location of the leak.

[In other words, the geology beneath the seafloor is so fractured, with soft and unstable salt formations, that we may never be able to fully kill the well even with relief wells. Instead, the loss of containment of the oil reservoir caused by the drilling accident could cause oil to leak out through seeps for years to come. See this and this for further background].
***

WB: I have heard that BP is underestimating the size of the oil reservoir (and see this). Is it possible that the reservoir is bigger than BP is estimating, and so - if not completely killed - the leak could therefore go on for longer than most assume?

Bea: That's plausible.

WB: The chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon said that the Macondo well was originally drilled in another location, but that "going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools", and that BP abandoned that well. You've spoken to that technician and looked into the incident, and concluded that “they damn near blew up the rig.” [See this and this].

Do you know where that abandoned well location is, and do you know if that well is still leaking?

Bea: The abandoned well is very close to the current well location. BP had to file reports showing the location of the abandoned well and the new well [with the Minerals Management Service], so the location of the abandoned well is known.

We don't know if the abandoned well is leaking.

WB: Matthew Simmons talked about a second leaking well. There are rumors on the Internet that the original well is still leaking. Do you have any information that can either disprove or confirm that allegation?

Bea: There are two uncorroborated reports. One is that there is a leak 400 feet West of the present well's surface location. There is another report that there is a leak several miles to the West.

[Bea does not know whether either report is true at this time, because BP is not sharing information with the government, let alone the public.]

Indeed, in June of 2010, BP officials admitted to damage beneath the seafloor, and numerous scientists have speculated that the blowout and subsequent clumsy attempts by BP to plug the well could have created new seeps, and made pre-existing natural seeps bigger.

Oh,man!
Any oil slicks seen in the area?
As if enough damage was done be the BP disaster and the after effects,now a possible leak?
Or are they trying to redrill and recover oil from the site.

reply to post by snowspirit


Indeed it does.....but this story has me really concerned. I am trying to contact some people who know....and some of the people from my Mega Thread I decided to start a new thread because that thread got so huge that this may get lost if I put it in that one.

latimesblogs.latimes.com...

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said that BP met more stringent safety requirements devised by the federal government in the aftermath of the disaster. The company also planned to follow even tougher voluntary standards that exceeded the government’s rules.

“This permit was approved only after thorough well design, blowout preventer, and containment capability reviews,” said bureau director Michael R. Bromwich.

At more than 6,000 feet, the proposed well would be in deeper water than the Macondo well. It is part of the company’s Kaskida prospect located in an area called the Keathley canyon about 250 miles south of Lafayette, La. The company submitted the application to drill in January.

They say they're going to do it better this time.
It's also in deeper water.

We'll see....

reply to post by kdog1982


There have been new oil slicks for weeks now....that's what has me alarmed about this.

reply to post by CaptChaos


Thank you for that! I am also trying to find my video of the ROV footage where you can see the oil coming from deep fissures. Yes, that is a natural occurance....but this is due to fracturing of the sea floor. What I want to know is .....why are the ships there? BP for the past month has been swearing the fresh oil is not theirs....(not true BTW....it was proven in a lab)....so why have they contracted these ships. I need to get Ektar on this with me....she's great at this ship tracking thing. I'm off to try and find new info.....

reply to post by snowspirit


**cough sputter choke** I was eating when I read that and almost choked to death laughing! Yep... I believe em alright!

reply to post by StealthyKat

The company also planned to follow even tougher voluntary standards that exceeded the government’s rules

Tougher "voluntary" standards. Like that's going to be an improvement
"Planned to follow". We all know how the best laid "plans" work out....

Scary.

Originally posted by snowspirit
money.cnn.com...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- 554 days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP is back in action in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company announced Wednesday that it had earned its first permit to drill for oil in the Gulf since last year's oil spill disaster, and says that a resumption of drilling is imminent.

It seems BP is back in action again.

That is great news if it is true. It will put people back to work at high paying jobs. It will increase domestic oil production and lessen our need to import oil. I hope BP can succeed at this as its good for jobs and good for the country.

reply to post by snowspirit


Drilling deeper than before.....more unknowns, more danger. You know what they say about best laid plans.....sigh. I need to learn how to find out the coordinates of these ships as of now.....that was 2 days ago. Do you know anything about that?

reply to post by TheChamelon


That depends....money and jobs won't do you much good if you're dead. I live on the gulf coast so I know our economy is oil driven.....but this company does not have my trust or anyone else I know. They have not even finished cleaning up this mess yet. So "good news"? Not where i'm looking from.

reply to post by StealthyKat


Don't worry. They now know how to cap a well at that depth. They aren't stupid. They will have learned from the mistakes of the past. I hope that we see lots of new wells opened in the gulf. We need them. This green energy hype is not ready to meet our needs. It will probably be at least 50-100 years until we have green tech that can meet our needs.

reply to post by TheChamelon


Yeah...thanks. That sets my mind at ease....THANK GOD they know what they're doing....whew....I guess it was all a bad dream. We can agree to disagree....you're entiltled to your opinion.....but this thread isn't about BP making more money....it's about a mess that STILL has not been handled and is still in progress.....and it's about the fact that there are oil slicks at THEIR well site, and they have ships at a well that is supposedly capped. If they knew what they were doing, we wouldn't have people STILL waiting to be compensated for their livelihoods being destroyed, still seeing wildlife dying, and still be seeing and smelling oil on our shores. So, let's get back on topic.....the financial benefits of BP drilling again is for another thread. Perhaps you can start one on that subject.

reply to post by StealthyKat


Sorry. It seems to me that according to the reports they arent there because of a leak but to start drilling again.

Originally posted by TheChamelon
reply to post by StealthyKat

 

Don't worry. They now know how to cap a well at that depth. They aren't stupid. They will have learned from the mistakes of the past. I hope that we see lots of new wells opened in the gulf. We need them. This green energy hype is not ready to meet our needs. It will probably be at least 50-100 years until we have green tech that can meet our needs.

I sure HOPE you are kidding. Even if you are, most morons probably do think this makes sense.