On the old news front, we all knew this, uh right?!
"BP oil leak: Fallen Deepwater Horizon was tapping second largest oil deposit in the world
If there is a single aspect to the dangers of the BP oil leak, it lies in the question CEO Tony Hayward and other BP executives have been avoiding since the first drop of oil went rogue: How much oil is leaking? The real answer is - more than anyone wants to admit, because the well holds enough oil to make Saudi Arabian drillers jealous.
The oil field the Deepwater Horizon had tapped is said to be the second largest deposit in the world. Viewzone.com reports, “The site covers an estimated 25,000 square miles, extending from the inlands of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. “ The oil deposit is so large, it could produce 500,000 barrels of a day for more than a decade.
Part of the reason the well exploded is because the site also contains large deposits of natural gas. Speculation as to why BP has tried to hide the amount of oil spilling may be two-fold. There are legal issues and lawsuits in the works. The less said by BP now, the better it may play out for them in the future. The other, more alarming aspect, is the event of total wellhead failure before relief wells are completed in August.
Considering the size of the deposit, if BP loses control of the flow completely, the scope of the disaster would be unfathomable. The New York Times has reported that scientists suspect the leak is thousands of times larger than what BP has been reporting. Some estimates are as high as one million gallons a day."
Continued at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Poli...t-in-the-world
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Hope they come up with something before the following to cap the release of oil. As awful a prospect of waiting until August (longer?) for the intercept wells, I sure hope those work.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nat...358101.graphic
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"Day 43 of Gulf Oil Spill: Countdown to Pipe Cutting, New Dome
On First Day of Hurricane Season BP Prepares to Cut the Pipe, Move in New Dome
As early as today a scalpel-sharp saw studded with industrial diamonds will be lowered to a 22-inch riser in an attempt to slice off the main oil pipe so engineers can lower a dome over the spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico . It's plan seven in BP's growing list of strategies to stop the leak, already the worst ever in the U.S.
Latest plan will temporarily increase the flow of gushing oil before capping it.
A squad of underwater robots are sawing, hacking and grappling in a pre-op for the complex underwater surgery.
Once the pipe has been cut the oil will spew into the Gulf of Mexico unobstructed, enough to fill an average swimming pool every hour.
Then engineers will then lower a dome—the third to be tried at the site of the collapsed rig—over the geyser in an effort to contain and siphon the oil to the surface."
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/bp-gulf-oi...ry?id=10793342