Huge Gas Cloud Building Around Rig In North Sea.

reply to post by poet1b

They don't really want to know because it makes them liable. Many Execs spend a lot of time playing golf and traveling all over meeting with clients and haven't a clue what is taking place. They hire people under them to handle the business. A good exec usually knows how to talk and make contacts, they aren't oil men they are PR men.

Oil field people talking at this at TheOilDrum

Est flow at 9 to 12MMCF/day from the casing below the wellhead.

Hainsworth said the problems had occurred during operations to plug and abandon the field’s G4 well.

“On Sunday there was quite a sudden rise in pressure and they were finding it difficult to bleed off this rise in pressure,” he said.

“That initiated what followed. Witnesses who were working on the well saw a release of what we expect is mud from just below the wellhead at the top of the casing followed by gas.”

Hainsworth said that gas is being released on the Elgin wellhead platform at low pressure – about five bar - and that it is coming from a non-producing reservoir above the Elgin formation.

And the flare...

Total, the French oil company that operates the platform, first disclosed that the flare was still burning late on Tuesday night. The wind is blowing the gas in the opposite direction but, if it should come into contact with the flare, there is a high risk of explosion.

Originally posted by jollyjollyjolly
reply to post by TheMindWar

 

LMFAO really! Wow gas prices are going to spike again when this puppy breaks even though it's only natural gas.

i dont think common sense matters when it comes to gas prices.

Originally posted by FraternitasSaturni

Originally posted by NoHierarchy

Originally posted by Dbriefed
For those who say this is horrible for the earth, just keep in mind whatever comes out is natural, and from the earth itself. Oil and gas have been leaking from the depths of the earth and sea naturally for eons. The earth has ways to deal with natural things that come out of itself. It's not like we're talking about kryptonite or alien or man-made chemicals.

The fact that everything is "natural" still has nothing to do with the fact that some natural things are HAZARDOUS, POISONOUS, and/or DANGEROUS to introduce in large amounts into the atmosphere, water, land, or other ecosystems. Perhaps the CONTENTS are natural, but it was man who released these poisons/chemicals which were locked up for millions of years. Now... in the blink of an historical eye, we are releasing massive quantities of poisons and destabilizing GHGs into our biosphere... we're literally playing with fire (or shall I say, internal combustion?).

edit on 26-3-2012 by NoHierarchy because: (no reason given)

Well... what he meant actually was that those gases are HAZARDOUS, POISONOUS and/or DANGEROUS....... to YOU. Not to the planet.

The planet was fine billions of years before life... I guess it can live without us or life in general for a billion more. So its OUR problem, not a PLANET's problem. See the difference?

The phrase "the planet" usually includes all lifeforms/ecosystems... so yeah, it's our problem, along with the rest of the biosphere.

It costs around £30 Billion to decommision these rigs.

They left the flare stack burning, its still burning. They decided not to tell anyone for the first two days.

The naked flame is still burning but the wind direction is blowing the gas away from the flame at the moment.

Why did they want to keep the flare secret?

They cant find "buyers" for tOhe rigs because of the decommisioning costs.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Some of the rigs are soon due to be decommisioned.

I am really angry about this...not because it has happened but because the media are keeping another incident quiet. I flagged it earlier today and did not comment because it would have been full of expletives...

we are totally screwed. Media has the power over us... and they can manipulate wtf ever they like...and then you have monsanto friggen planning to kill off bees and introduce a new breed... give it time and their will be another new breed of humans...and maybe that is really what happened to the Neaderthals?

and maybe even the dinosaurs... omg now this is turning into a rant...

grrr

What gets me about all this is. If I had an old car or the like, which was poluting the air ect. Then the govt would be arround double sharpish and have me arrested, or fined and my poluting machine confiscated. yet these people or companys, can do it on a very large scale and no one in govt blinks an eye. They have also left a flare alight? Yes it would be good for them if the whole thing just blew up and then they could no doubt claim compensation or insurance.

Hello

Original leak was found this morning at about 90 meters from the platform...Four emergency boats have been called on the spot to watch how the situation is evolving...

Total said also that this leak is right above the surface of the sea and luckily the flare is at the highest point of the platform...Winds are in a good direction for the moment to avoid contact between the gas cloud and the flare but for how long?

Last thing Total said , oil leak from sunday is under control and is not significant with an amount of pollution about the size of a "big swimming-pool"...


Here are latest news we get here in France today about this crisis...

latest info update from:hisz.rsoe.hu...

A ship carrying the remote-controlled sub, as well as two firefighting ships, have sailed into the vicinity of the Elgin platform, which lies 150 miles (241 kilometres) off the coast of eastern Scotland.

And about the explosion risk.

The risk is that if the wind currently blowing the gas away from the flare dropped, the gas could ignite, said Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at Southampton University in southeast England. "The chances are the gas will disperse quite quickly," Boxall told AFP. "But if the wind stops completely, gas will build up towards the flame. This could create an explosion.

The wind at the moment seems to continue untill monday.
www.metoffice.gov.uk...

If all you armchair judges took the time to read the actual thread, someone who actually WORKS on rigs posted exactly why the flare was left burning earlier. Apparently if they turned it off, there would have been a buildup of backpressure in the pipes, which was more dangerous than leaving it burning.

Read back a few pages for his actual explanation.

Originally posted by Thurisaz
I am really angry about this...not because it has happened but because the media are keeping another incident quiet. I flagged it earlier today and did not comment because it would have been full of expletives...

we are totally screwed. Media has the power over us... and they can manipulate wtf ever they like...and then you have monsanto friggen planning to kill off bees and introduce a new breed... give it time and their will be another new breed of humans...and maybe that is really what happened to the Neaderthals?

and maybe even the dinosaurs... omg now this is turning into a rant...

grrr

Agreed, but the media is starting to crumble, and take heart it will be an exponential crumble. The more people who wake up to the lies the better. Mainstream media is a dead horse and the elite are flogging it to try and keep control of peoples minds.

Total seeks ways to douse Elgin gas platform flare

"The flare is still burning but is not posing a risk. The leak is on the wellhead platform and the flare is on the Processing, Utilities and Quarters platform. There is a gap of 90 metres (300 feet) between the two," he said.

Total said it expected the flare to exhaust itself and burn out. The company was looking at ways to extinguish the flare if this did not happen.

David Hainsworth, a health, safety and environment manager at Total, told the BBC the priority had been the safety of the 238 staff of the platform when it was evacuated on Sunday.

Hainsworth could not say how long it would take to extinguish the flame, and whether that would be "an hour, or 24 hours or two days" - or even longer.

More

So, if it blows up, and it will eventually, and it somehow gets into the reservoir and that ignites. Would it then be an extinction level event, or at least on the local stage for Europe ? Gotta wonder.

reply to post by Fromabove


No chance of an ELE - it is one reservoir.

IF it blew up (huge if) you may get a large wave and you may not want to be in the immediate vicinity - basically lots of ifs and maybes but certainly nothing that threatens humanity.

reply to post by Fromabove


unless there is an Oxygen it will not ignite.

Fascinating...

"People seven miles away can see a gas cloud coming from the Total rig," said Jake Molloy, the head of the section of the UK union that represents offshore oil and gas workers.

...yet, not one picture by the OP or on the entire front page.

Lesseee... flame on top, gas coming up from below.
Intrptr licks finger and holds it in the wind.

Waiting...

Originally posted by NoHierarchy

Originally posted by FraternitasSaturni

Originally posted by NoHierarchy

Originally posted by Dbriefed
For those who say this is horrible for the earth, just keep in mind whatever comes out is natural, and from the earth itself. Oil and gas have been leaking from the depths of the earth and sea naturally for eons. The earth has ways to deal with natural things that come out of itself. It's not like we're talking about kryptonite or alien or man-made chemicals.

The fact that everything is "natural" still has nothing to do with the fact that some natural things are HAZARDOUS, POISONOUS, and/or DANGEROUS to introduce in large amounts into the atmosphere, water, land, or other ecosystems. Perhaps the CONTENTS are natural, but it was man who released these poisons/chemicals which were locked up for millions of years. Now... in the blink of an historical eye, we are releasing massive quantities of poisons and destabilizing GHGs into our biosphere... we're literally playing with fire (or shall I say, internal combustion?).

edit on 26-3-2012 by NoHierarchy because: (no reason given)

Well... what he meant actually was that those gases are HAZARDOUS, POISONOUS and/or DANGEROUS....... to YOU. Not to the planet.

The planet was fine billions of years before life... I guess it can live without us or life in general for a billion more. So its OUR problem, not a PLANET's problem. See the difference?

The phrase "the planet" usually includes all lifeforms/ecosystems... so yeah, it's our problem, along with the rest of the biosphere.

The point is that oil and gasses are natural and comes from of the earth, and the earth can't be poisoned by what is already part of the earth. Even radioactive material comes from the earth. You can't hurt the earth, it's arrogant of us humans to think we can. The most humans can hope do is to create a temporary imbalance. Nature is all about a self-balancing system, imbalances are unnatural. In the near future human overpopulation will be balanced out by nature, most probably by the increasingly drug-resistent bacterias or viruses.

Certainly many things about earth are certainly not healthy for all lifeforms. Even a pristine north sea will kill a human in minutes. You can't kill nature, but nature will most likely cause your death, as the vast majority of human deaths are naturally caused.

this is not a gas cloud it was a respponse most likely to an attack on the oil rig with the goverment using this excuse to keep the media away

reply to post by intrptr

This is the best preventative measure I've seen. www.bisntechnologies.com...

There are two high pressure/high temperature gas fields, Elgin and Franklin, each with several wells leading into two wellhead platforms both linked to a large production platform. On the Elgin wellhead platform closest to the production platform well 4 has blown off the wellhead.

They drilled through a thick layer of impermeable rock then a thick layer of chalk, then a thinner layer of impermeable rock then into one of the highest temp/pressure gas deposits ever tapped. The concrete and steel elements of the well separated due to the temperature and vibration. On the platform equipment suffered stress fractures due to the vibration. 40% extra accommodation had to be added for the people who fixed the stuff that rattled to bits.

They tried to block the well but the gas travelled up the side of the well through the thinner impermeable layer into the chalk. Now the gas in the chalk is coming into the sides of the well and presumably blew the pipe away from the wellhead.

All the wells at the two wellheads have to be constantly monitored and adjusted to stop them misbehaving. That was done remotely from the production platform. There is no one on the production platform now. A team is at the Franklin wellhead. Having both fields served by one production platform has involved two fields in the crisis with other fields affected by their proximity.


Some in the oil and gas industry are delighted, prices go up and new technology is created. They see this as a necessary learning experience and a step towards tapping high pressure gas fields without the equipment falling apart.

If sand starts blowing out it's coming from the main reservoir and it will scour the hole bigger. Please note, in the interests of keeping calm and carrying on I didn't mention a flame 500 feet tall burning for several years.