Another Gulf Oil Rig Explodes

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Another Gulf Oil Rig Explodes

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 2, 2010 @04:20AM from the here-we-go-again dept.

A few readers have noted that another gulf oil rig has exploded. This one is off the coast of Lousiana. So far all the workers are accounted for, but they are in immersion suits waiting for rescue.

15 of 423 comments (clear)

BP by UncleWilly · 2010-09-02 04:25 · Score: 5, Funny

I wonder if BP execs will give themselves a bonus.
"Hey! It wasn't one of ours!" bonus.
1. Re:BP by Applekid · 2010-09-02 05:26 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Her comment on the BP disaster was, "Well, at least we are not responsible for the biggest ecological catastrophe any more"
  There there, buck up. You'll get them next year.
  
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  More Twoson than Cupertino
Maybe by moogied · 2010-09-02 04:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

JUST MAYBE, we should look into this stuff.. I know, it happens off of the land so "civilians" are safe, but I am about 99% sure when big metal buildings *EXPLODE*, something is wrong. Once in a year? Extremely bad. Twice in a year? Something is broken.

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So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
1. Re:Maybe by jpapon · 2010-09-02 04:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Just to back up my own argument that this is nothing new:
  
  The U.S. Minerals Management Service reported 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injuries, and 858 fires and explosions on offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from 2001 to 2010. [wikipedia.org]
  
  We're only hearing about every new fire/explosion now because of the massive spill. Give it a few months, and nobody will be reporting on these types of stories.
  
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  -- Let us endeavor so to live that when we pass even the undertaker shall be sorry. -- M. Twain
2. Re:Maybe by omglolbah · 2010-09-02 04:50 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I've worked on the safety system of some major rigs in the Norwegian sections of the North Sea and I cannot see how this could happen if proper procedures and sane safety systems were in place...
  Hell, there are so many sensors and so strict procedures in place that alarms go off like mad if there is even a tiny leak somewhere...
3. Re:Maybe by dkleinsc · 2010-09-02 05:05 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Maybe, just maybe, safety standards for places like mines and oil rigs go down when the people appointed to head the inspection agencies for mines and oil rigs were former executives for mine and oil companies. And even if a new guy gets in charge, it can take a long time before their changes take any effect.
  
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4. Re:Maybe by RobVB · 2010-09-02 05:37 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  There's a difference between malfunctioning alarms and very sensitive alarms. If there's a tiny little problem that could turn into something (even remotely) potentially catastrophic, it needs to be fixed. If people ignore it, that's because of a bad safety policy or being dangerously understaffed. Both of these are easily fixed if capable people are in charge, and both of these are inexcusable in this kind of environment.
  
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5. Re:Maybe by suomynonAyletamitlU · 2010-09-02 05:41 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Hell, there are so many sensors and so strict procedures in place that alarms go off like mad if there is even a tiny leak somewhere...
  ...And you don't think that could be part of the problem? Whenever alarms sound for tiny little problems, people grow deaf to them.
  Only if they're not required to fix every one of them.
  If the system is that sensitive, they're probably supposed to be, or they may actually be, fixing something every time an alarm goes off.
  You know, in order to prevent explosions.
  Just sayin'.
6. Re:Maybe by nacturation · 2010-09-02 05:45 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Hell, there are so many sensors and so strict procedures in place that alarms go off like mad if there is even a tiny leak somewhere...
  ...And you don't think that could be part of the problem? Whenever alarms sound for tiny little problems, people grow deaf to them.
  Only if those tiny little alarms happen quite a lot, and when no action is taken as a result. If you get a tiny little alarm once a week which is responded to promptly, professionally, and in such a manner that the alarm is silenced because the problem was properly fixed according to the strict procedures... I can't see how that would be an issue.
  
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7. Re:Maybe by ultranova · 2010-09-02 06:14 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, it's dangerous work.
  
  No, it's not. The only way to get oil to explode is to vaporize it, mix it with air in the exact right concentration, and then set it on fire - and forget the movies, a cigarette is not going to do it; your car needs a spark of 20,000+ volts for reliable inginiton, and it's using a near-optimal concentration of fuel vapor, and that's easily-burning gasoline vapor, not crude oil.
  Something is very wrong here.
  
  --
  Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
8. Re:Maybe by NeutronCowboy · 2010-09-02 06:51 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It's called Methane. A lot of rigs burn off the Methane that comes with many oil deposits. But sometimes, Methane accumulates for whatever reason, isn't burned off in a controlled fashion, and explodes instead. And then ignites the oil. Methane/oil compositions are a bitch.
  
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  Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Drilling Moratorium by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-02 04:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

Oh yeah, that 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling seems like an overreaction now...
Oil industry accidents are now 'newsworthy' by JohnnyKnoxville · 2010-09-02 04:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

Remember after the massive earthquake in Haiti, the news started reporting earthquakes about once a week? Accidents and casualties are nothing new to the oil industry.
Re:Fuck The Ecomaniacs by Nadaka · 2010-09-02 04:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

Clean coal? I hate to tell you this... No, actually, I love to tell you this. Clean coal is a lie.
You would get more energy out of coal if you were to filter the radioactive particles from it and use that in a nuclear reactor than if you had burned the coal normally.
All that ash and coke, full of mercury, heavy metals and other toxic stuff has to go somewhere, It either goes in the air for us all to breath or it gets stored and eventually makes its way into our soil and water supply.
CO2 sequestration can not work, you are talking about pumping billions of tons of gas underground into pockets in the rock. This has been shown to cause minor earthquakes, those earthquakes will eventually result in a blowout event, a blowout event will kill everyone in the area as the CO2 suffocates everyone, similar events happen all the time in Africa with natural CO2 sources.
Nuclear? sure, but we need to reprocess waste instead of storing it, preferably inside the reactor.
Solar? sure.
Wind? Ok, but it is unreliable so you can't rely on it for than a relatively small amount of the grid power.
Clean Coal? make me laugh.
Re:Fuck The Ecomaniacs by Spectre · 2010-09-02 05:45 · Score: 5, Funny

What do you think that keyboard you type on is made of?
I don't know about your keyboard, but mine has the main body of the keyboard painstakingly shaped from the horn of a rhinoceros.
The keys carved from ivory obtained by hunting elephants for their tusks.
The ink to label the tops of the keys comes from finely dicing baby octopuses then running them through a centrifuge.
The springiness of the keys is particularly effective, to get the proper resistance for each key the sinews of baby seals is used.

--
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"