Patterico's Pontifications

7/15/2010

BP Caps Leaking Macondo Well

Filed under: Environment — DRJ @ 12:59 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

BP announced it successfully stopped the oil leak, which is good news. You can watch a live ROV feeds here. I’m also curious about the status of the bottom kill. However they did it, I’m sure there are lots of happy engineers in Houston and even more happy Gulf Coast residents.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports BP may conclude as early as next week its all-cash sale of assets to Apache, including half of BP’s interest in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay.

— DRJ

36 Responses to “BP Caps Leaking Macondo Well”

  1. BP is selling its American assets?

    I am just floored! Why on Earth would they do such a thing? LOL.

    God Bless the people who fixed this mess, to the extent that they have.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  2. Twenty-four hour warning; actually, until Tuesday morning. This was exceedingly tricky and well done, even if it fails to stop the leak.

    htom (412a17)

  3. Obama tackles the nearest news crew to take credit in 3, 2, 1…

    Frank Drebbin (8096f2)

  4. Or the EPA will make them remove the cap because they did not do an environmental impact study first.

    Machinist (497786)

  5. Obama tackles the nearest news crew to take credit in 3, 2, 1…
    Comment by Frank Drebbin — 7/15/2010 @ 2:50 pm

    Frank, he can’t, he’ll either be on vacation or playing golf.

    GM Roper (a0b04a)

  6. Or because it is stopping 99.964% instead of the mandatory 99.965%

    JD (5e5cad)

  7. Didn’t Barcky’s DOJ demand notice and approval of any sale of BP’s American assets?

    If/when Barcky takes credit, does that not also make him responsible for everything that happened in between?

    JD (5e5cad)

  8. No, JD, lightbringers only take credit for good, never for the bad. That is what blame shifting is for.

    From what I understand, BP and the Admin types are about the test if they can stop the flow now. Not forever, just for when there’s a storm. I am not a scientist nor do I play one on the internet, but…What I understand is that closing off the flow could cause cracks in the seafloor over the reservoir to leave, which would make the leak unstoppable. Bottom kill is still an option as long as the seafloor remains intact.

    I fully expect this to be bungled as thoroughly as the rest of it has been.

    Vivian Louise (643333)

  9. LightWorker, Vivian. But good point 😉

    JD (5e5cad)

  10. Rumour is that BP may lose it’s license to operate in the US based on other safety problems; a la Texas City. This well blowout may have just been the icing on the cake. The asset sale may be preemptive of losing the ability to operate the licenses; hence lowering their asking price.

    rudytbone (a7c723)

  11. Last sentence should have read:
    The asset sale may be preemptive of losing the ability to operate the assets; hence lowering their asking price.

    rudytbone (a7c723)

  12. The U.K. needs to pull some American business licenses I think. Maybe they could start with Apple.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  13. BP is also Amoco, Arco, Sohio and Sonoco and all those customers and stockholders bu mainly the reail customers

    So in the utmost outrage of ourages of the handful of commerical fishing captains that are left in the gulf after the Democrats made them use the TED’s and all the money that is supposedly due people who can really own something in international waters

    I guess the point is you will pay at the pump any fine – think of it as a tax a permanent tax forever a new raised bar in gasoline and peroleum prices that will be added forever despite economic conditions or conservative wins in all branches of government

    EricPWJohnson (cedf1d)

  14. ^^^^^^ = PWI.

    Eric Blair (d7ba5c)

  15. Good.

    Patricia (358f54)

  16. “hence lowering their asking price”

    Not if there are enough bidders.

    daleyrocks (1d0d98)

  17. Interesting valuation by the gov as to the value of he Louisiana fishing industry..

    http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/?id=1239

    EricPWJohnson (cedf1d)

  18. True about the # of bidders…but if BP “needed” to sell, it’s a buyers market.

    rudytbone (4d0a5c)

  19. I’m glad to see it too but I am really concerned, as I live in FL, with what the long term effects will be. What will all those chemicals in the Gulf do to sea food and how will storms coming off the Gulf affect us as they pick up stuff from the Gulf and then dump it on us?

    Hal (RSA) (1dec4d)

  20. Much as I hate to see another company undergo a shakedown, BP is rapidly becoming an all – world pariah at this point. They just admitted going all – in to convince the court to release the Lockerbie scumbag bomber, because of the perils to their business interests in Libya. The last reservoirs of my sympathy have been drained – call it corporate ineptitude or extreme arrogance, I don’t care what happens to them anymore.

    Dmac (d61c0d)

  21. Dmac, you have to admit that there is a great convergence of weirdness involving BP. Paranoid? Well, as my father always tells me, just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you!

    Eric Blair (d7ba5c)

  22. BP also being known as a corporation getting into Green politics and kissing up to anti-Western leftists by making nice-nice with Libya and the Lockerbie terrorist, and then schmoozing with politicians like Obama, and then making a mess of the Gulf of Mexico, truly is a perfect circle.

    Mark (411533)

  23. I don’t really want to BP doing anything in the USA again either. I still really appreciate the employees who probably poured the heart into plugging this hole.

    And they will probably be out of work if Obama has his way.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  24. Well, they elected to dance with the Devil, now they’re getting paid back in spades. I never understood the Chamber of Commerce’s buddying up to POTUS, when he never gave any indication of supporting small businesses during the campaign.

    Dmac (d61c0d)

  25. BP had every right to petition the British government. It was a bunch of cowardly stupid Scots and English what were responsible for the decision to let the terrorist guy go, not BP. For U.S. senators to challenge BP’s right to petition another democratic government shows just how ardently the senate of our once-great once-proud once-honorable little country yearns for fascism.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  26. And if we ban BP from doing business in America I should hope Britain tells many American businesses to eff the hell off.

    Cowardly drill-fearing America is most definitely NOT too good for BP. Quite the contrary. Any business enterprise with a dash of self-respect and a decent respect for free enterprise is too good for the antics of this pathetic sad and pitiful pitiful pitiful formerly-capitalist broke-ass laughingstock America we find ourselves living in today.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  27. happyfeet,

    I am not asking for some arbitrary ban. While I don’t like seeing politicians hide behind the mistakes BP has made, as a company, the fact is, they have seriously and totally screwed up. Not just in this case.

    If Britain wants to stand with BP, that’s on them. I think Britain SHOULD treat any American business very harshly if it behaves the way BP has.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  28. yes they screwed up but it was an accident and not anywhere near as egregious as perverting a healthcare system with socialisms or wasting a trillion dollars on a phony stimulus or stealing a car company to give to illiterate fat disgusting dirty smelly UAW slobs or leveraging an oil spill to destroy the domestic offshore drilling industry.

    Compared to our sad depraved dishonorable little country BP is the effing gold standard.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  29. happyfeet, perhaps you are right that BP, compared to much of the political corruption in this country, is not all that bad.

    But I’m assuming BP was very negligent. I think this should be determined by a court instead of some shakedown crew, and if I’m wrong… well, then I’ve been a jerk and I’ll let Joe Barton take it from there for me.

    But BP lobbied to get mass murderers set free. They were not careful enough and caused a huge mess. When they are playing with something this perilous, they need to be careful. I don’t want a nanny government, but at some point ‘accidents’ cross the line.

    Just the way I see it.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  30. BP was very negligent, but they’re making it right. As hordes of mewling no pride-having victimy American trash line up looking for a handout, BP is doing their best to keep a straight face and pay the pitiful losers off. They’ve done an admirable good job of making a show of respectfulness I think while being perfectly aware that the truth is that the damage caused by our opportunistic dirty socialist Chicago street trash president’s job killing moratorium dwarfs the damage of the oil spill by an order of magnitude.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  31. And BP quite simply had every right to ask the government to help them grow and prosper as a company. The British are a cowardly shell of a formerly once stalwart people, and the terrorist was not facing any threat of harm or hardship or even any discomfort whatsoever whilst in British custody. There was a case to be made that letting the man go so as to develop many billions of dollars of wealth-generating oil resources just made sense, and BP made that case. And apparently they were very persuasive. And apparently the U.S. government was terribly unpersuasive in its petition for continued incarceration.

    And now at this late date America wants to whine whine whine about it.

    Pathetic.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  32. I just don’t like their logo very much.

    Actually, I completely agree that the US Government is causing tremendous damage… seemingly on purpose sometimes, but their negligence is also extremely harmful. And it’s not like letting a damn skimmer skim up the oil is complicated. At least BP screwed up trying to do something that is difficult.

    But I think BP is part of the corruption in the US Government. I’m not sure they can really make this right, and if the accusations I’ve read are accurate, they were unforgivably reckless with my country’s waters.

    It’s not just about cash. BP has a lot of heroes making this right. But I don’t want any company to dare let this happen again. Just a gut thing, and I hope there is a real fact finding process to iron this out (I am not betting on it).

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  33. BP, being cowardly Brits, have been very very loath to take complete responsibility for their negligence and so even at this late date they keep pointing fingers. Silly British. They are also a notably passive people, and can’t help but be anything but complicit in any and all schemes what are proposed to them by the dirty socialist American authorities.

    But the world is watching. And how we treat BP will have consequences and ramifications at which we can only guess.

    We’re not off to a propitious start.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  34. In particular I get very upset with BP when they point fingers at Transocean, whose good decent skilled hard-working American employees were slaughtered by negligent stupid BP well-design and management.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  35. Did you see where the A Whale thingy was a bust? They’re saying it can’t skim oils if dispersant is involved.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  36. NOT British… they’re Danish actually and they are Cooler Than You.

    happyfeet (19c1da)


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