FOLIO LINE
Addressing critical questions on the causes, effects of the BP oil rig explosion
BY DANIEL CHANG
AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
McClatchy Newspapers
The April 20 rig explosion in
the Gulf of Mexico has left BP
officials and federal, state and
local government authorities with
an unprecedented ecological and
economic disaster.
The mission for those involved
is extensive. The oil must be
capped to keep hundreds of thou-
sands of gallons from continuing
to spill in the Gulf. That could
take months.
Containing the oil spill and
cleaning up the oil washing
ashore is a massive effort that is
expected to require people work-
ing from the delicate marshlands
of Louisiana to the white-sand
beaches of Florida. That could
last months, too.
The rig explosion also has set
off a national debate over the
future of offshore oil-drilling.
That debate has already begun
and could last for years to come.
It’s being argued on Capitol Hill
in Washington and in the state
capitals throughout the Gulf
coastal states.
Below, we have assembled a
list of some of the most pressing
questions and answers to this
unfolding story.
Q: When did the rig explode
and when did it sink?
A: The Deepwater Horizon
offshore drilling rig exploded at
approximately 10 p.m. on April
20. The rig was located in the
Gulf of Mexico, about 45 miles
southeast of Venice, La.
Of the 126 people on the rig at
the time of the explosion, 115
crew members were accounted
for. The Coast Guard actively
searched for 11 individuals.
Search and rescue was suspended
at 5 p.m. on April 23. None of the
11 were found.
At approximately 10:20 a.m.
April 22 the oil rig sank with
about 700,000 gallons of diesel
fuel. The rig was found on April
23, sunken and upside down
approximately 1,500 feet north-
west of the blowout preventer.
Q: How much oil is leaking?
A: Using satellite images and
computer models, oceanographers
with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration pre-
dict the ruptured well 5,000-feet
below the surface of the Gulf is
gushing about 210,000 gallons of
oil a day.
Q: Who is working on plans
to stop the leak?
A: An international team of
scientists, engineers and oil
drilling experts from the govern-
ment, private industry and acade-
mia are working round-the-clock
at BP offices in Houston to find a
solution to the leaking well.
However, BP Group CEO
Tony Hayward acknowledged the
spill and BP’s efforts to resolve it
are unprecedented.
“There is an enormous amount
of learning going on here because
we are doing it for real for the
first time,” he said.
Kent Wells, a BP senior vice
president, compared the efforts to
cap the leaking well to ‘‘trying to
do heart surgery at 5,000 feet.”
Q: How is the oil leak being
capped?
A: After failing to place a 78-
ton, 40-foot-tall steel and concrete
coffer dam over the largest leak
and into the seafloor, BP
announced two new efforts.
The first is called a “top hat’’
that engineers would try to place
over the main leaking pipe. The
oil captured inside would then be
pumped to a barge.
The strategy is similar to BP’s
first effort, but the “top hat,” four
feet in diameter and five feet
long, is only the size of a shed.
BP officials said the small size
should help avoid the formation
of the slush-like hydrates that
thwarted the earlier cofferdam
effort by clogging its opening and
FOLIO LINE M c C l a t c h y - Tr i b u n e
RICK LOOMIS/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig well swirls in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana on Thursday, May 6, 2010.
Rig disaster players
Companies involved with the Deepwater Horizon rig that
exploded, creating a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:
World’s third largest oil company, headquartered
in London; project operator with a working interest
in the well; hired Transocean’s rig to drill the well
World’s largest offshore drilling operator, based
in Switzerland and Houston; owned and operated the rig
JAMES EDWARDS BATES/BILOXI SUN-HERALD/MCT ASTRID REICKEN/MCT
Justin Main, a volunteer with From left, Lamar McKay,
the Institute for Marine president and chairman of
Houston-based manufacturer of oil and gas industry
equipment; provided the rig with a blowout preventer – Mammal Studies in Gulfport, BP America Inc., Steven
a device designed to stop uncontrolled flow of oil Miss., inspects the body of a Newman, president and
or gas – but the part apparently failed to operate sea turtle found dead on the chief executive, Transocean
beach in Pass Christian, Ltd., and Tim Probert, presi-
Miss., on May 2, 2010. An dent, global business lines
Oilfield services company based in Houston and Dubai;
provided several services to the rig, including cementing unusually high number of and chief health, safety and
on the well to stabilize its walls dead sea turtles have been environment officer of
found on beaches in Halliburton, testify before
Mississippi recently. the Senate on May 11, 2010.
South Korean company is the world’s largest shipbuilder;
built the Deepwater Horizon, completed in 2001 booms and skimming oily water. Commerce, Interior, and the
Controlled burns also have Environmental Protection Agency
been used to reduce the spread of have coordinated the federal
Anadarko, a large, independent, Texas-based petroleum oil, according to the Unified Area response and overseen BP’s
company; has nonoperating interest in the well Command, a coalition of federal, response. The government has set
Source: Reuters, Hoovers, the companies
Graphic: Pat Carr
state and local government agen- up 14 staging areas in four states
© 2010 MCT
cies working together with BP — Mississippi, Florida, Alabama
and other private parties. and Louisiana — to help protect
the coast line.
Q: What are the potential Authorities say more than 460
environmental impacts from vessels are responding on-site,
chemical dispersants? including skimmers, tugs, barges,
A: When the oil spill occurred, and recovery vessels to assist in
the U.S. Coast Guard and containment and cleanup efforts
Environmental Protection Agency — in addition to dozens of air-
authorized BP to use chemical craft, remotely operated vehicles,
dispersants on the surface of the and multiple mobile offshore
water. BP also was authorized to drilling units.
conduct tests using dispersants About 13,000 people are work-
underwater, at the source of the ing the on and offshore response
leak. to the oil spill, with an additional
The effects of those disper- 2,500 trained volunteers.
sants on the environment are still
widely unknown, however. Q: Who is responsible for
Evidence from spills treated paying the cost? Who is legally
with dispersants show dispersion responsible for the oil spill?
P E T T Y O F F I C E R 3 R D C L A S S TO M AT K E S O N / U. S . C O A S T G UA R D / M C T
of oil can reduce overall environ- A: So far, cleanup, drilling the
Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the mental impacts by limiting dam- relief well and other costs have
offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 21, 2010. The rig, age at the sea surface and shore. reached $350 million, according
located in the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles southeast of However, dispersants also can to a BP fact sheet.
Venice, La., exploded on April 20 at approximately 10 p.m. increase impacts on the upper 30 BP has repeatedly said the
feet of the water column because company is the responsiblity party
that is the area where the oil and will make sure the spill is
making it too buoyant to form a oil spill. The relief wells will breaks up. cleaned up fully.
watertight seal against the intercept the leaking well about Currently, there is a $75 mil-
seafloor. 3½ miles below the surface of the Q: What is the estimated lion cap on an oil company's lia-
To make certain, the “top hat’’ Gulf. Engineers would then inject economic impact on the Gulf bility for economic damages.
will be warmed with hot water cement to seal the leaking well. Coast states? The White House is asking
and injected with methanol, a sol- However, the effort will take A: Without knowing the extent Congress, as part of an oil
vent whose use underwater about 90 days to complete while of environmental damage, it is response package, to lift the $75
required EPA approval. the oil spill grows larger. impossible to assess the economic million cap on liability.
BP engineers plan to follow impact of the oil spill on the Gulf On Tuesday, Lamar McKay,
that effort with a so-called “junk Q: How many states are Coast states. Estimates are likely the president of BP's U.S. opera-
shot,” which foresees shooting affected? in the billions. tions, said: “Let me be really
shredded tires, golf balls and A: Four states are in the poten- The Gulf of Mexico boasts one clear: liability, blame, fault, put it
knotted rope into the well at high tial path of the spreading oil spill: of the world’s most productive over here. We are dealing with —
pressure to clog it and stop the Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi fisheries and a coastline ringed we are the — we are a responsi-
flow. That effort won’t be ready and Florida. Wind conditions and with rich, varied and fragile ble party. Our obligation is to deal
for two weeks, however. sea currents could spread the oil marine life. Tourist-magnet with the spill, clean it up, and
Engineers said they also want to any and all of the states. beaches also are at risk of being make sure the impacts of that spill
to tap into a section of the dam- adversely affected. are compensated, and we are
aged pipe, called a riser, and Q: What is being done to rid going to do that.”
siphon the oil before it reaches the oil from the water? Q: Who is leading the President Barack Obama has
the larger rupture. This method is A: To contain the oil slick and cleanup operation? said repeatedly that that BP and
called a “hot tap.” keep it from reaching shore, A: The cleanup operation is any other responsible party will
Lastly, BP has begun drilling response teams have deployed being coordinated by BP and fed- pay for all costs of stopping the
two relief wells, which most more than 460 vessels — includ- eral, local and state governments. spill and cleaning it up.
experts consider the best, ing airplanes spraying chemical The U.S. Coast Guard, depart- Daniel Chang and Jennifer Lebovich
longterm solution to stopping the dispersants and boats laying ments of Homeland Security, are reporters for the Miami Herald.
OIL SPILL
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