My g/f just called me and told me that you can smell it in the city. The news was saying it smells like fuel in the air. I can't smell it at my house so I don't know.

QA,
Yeah the ROV's are trying to shut off the oil, it has failed but they are going to retry it im sure. Those machines are able to do a lot of things at great depths. They have a relief well out there and they are going to try and drill it but that could be some time before that happens(as stated before).

Quack it will take more than the hyd. lines to kill this well. I hope it works. If they have to drill to kill the well it will take a long time.

Development Driller III is going to drill the relief well. Going to be a while to get to that depth though.

We had some Cameron hands over here helping us, and they got called back to Houston to help trouble shoot.

My suspision is that the problems is something on the block.

US shrimpers file lawsuit over oil spill
09:44 AEST Fri Apr 30 2010
2 hours 39 minutes ago
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Two US shrimpers have filed a lawsuit against the rig operators behind a Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
________________________________________

Apr 30, 2010


Two Louisiana shrimpers have filed a lawsuit accusing the operators of the rig behind a Gulf of Mexico oil spill of negligence, seeking millions of dollars in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court late on Wednesday, alleges that "the fire, explosion and resulting oil spill was caused by the joint negligence and fault" of the defendants, a copy of the document read.
The shrimpers are seeking class-action status on behalf of "all Louisiana residents who live or work in, or derive income from," the Louisiana coastal zone, and who have sustained losses as a result of the oil spill.
Defendants in the suit include British energy giant BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon platform which sank last week causing the spill, rig owner Transocean, and Cameron International, the company which manufactured a key safety valve that failed to fully shut off the oil.
The plaintiffs are seeking "economic and compensatory damages in amounts to be determined at trial, but not less than $US5 million ($A5.4 million)," the legal minimum, the document said.
A BP executive on Thursday agreed with a US government estimate that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could be pumping up to 5000 barrels a day of crude into the ocean, far more than previously thought.
The Deepwater Horizon platform sank April 22, two days after a huge explosion that killed 11 workers, and a giant oil slick from the site threatens to pollute Louisiana's fragile wetlands.
Among other things, the lawsuit claims that the defendants failed to operate the oil rig properly; failed to properly inspect the rig "to assure that its equipment and personnel were fit for the intended purpose"; acted "in a careless and negligent manner without due regard for the safety of others"; failed to "react to danger signs"; and employed "untrained or poorly trained employees."
Furthermore, "the fire, explosion, sinking and resulting oil spill were caused by defective equipment," and the defendants "knew or should have known of these defects and... are therefore liable for them."
Daniel Becnel, a Louisiana-based trial lawyer who filed the suit, saying the plaintiffs "have a whistleblower on an adjoining rig saying 85 per cent of the drilling pipe was not properly inspected" by the US Minerals Management Service.
"We knew that BP and Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon, weren't telling the truth," said Becnel.
According to Becnel, the suit was filed "on behalf of all class members who have been adversely affected in Louisiana - fishers, shrimpers, oystermen and others like... guides into the marshes."
Becnel also alleged the oil slick could wreak havoc on US shipping entering and leaving the Mississippi River.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is leading the government's response to the disaster, warned that if the well is not secured the spill could end up being one of the worst in US history.

Two questions....

1. Do ya'll think the oil is gonna make its way over to the texas coast?

2. Is there opportunity for anybody to volunteer?

It looks like the jet stream is going to keep it off of the Texas coast and push the oil towards Florida and the on into the Atlantic and then up the east coast

The local paper here in west central florida had a marine biologist warning the keys and east florida of possible oil contamination. His theory is that the oil slick will hit the Loop current and push the slick south and east around the florida keys.

Also, do you guys know about these "sonar bouy's" that are mandatory for the European rigs? I heard the lobbyist here in the U.S. Convinced the gov't that we didn't need them!

I hear from a co-worker that he was reading on a blog ( lots of speculating still obviously) that someone had posted some pics from one of those ROV's and it appeared to be a piece of tooling coming out of the tree on the ocean floor right at the point where the BOP's would shear/close off the well. His point was if that was the case then, it may explain why the BOP's failed. They arent designed to cut through solid tooling but rather tubing etc. He was saying that tubing/stem has a wall thickness of approx 1" and the tooling was dang near a solid piece. I have not seen any pics, just saying what a guy from work said he read on the www.

Apparently they've stopped 1 of the 3 leaks...

Why did the "dome" thay lowered down not work ?

They would of had a better chance of that thing working if the top would of been made like a dome instead of flat

It's good to here from you Chicklet and thanks fo the input.

I've been thankin' 'bout you and Preston since all this happened. I knows ya'lls gots alot of friends that have been affected by this and we all have our thots and prayers with ya'll.

With the amount of oil that has been lost trying all these different things, maybe they should ahve just took the riser off, cut the drillpipe and then added another BOP stack ontop of the non working one. Maybe this could have worked then maybe it wouldn't have.

BTW............................

Venezuelan gas rig sinks in Caribbean, no leaks
Frank Jack Daniel and Marianna Parraga
CARACAS
Thu May 13, 2010 2:34pm EDT
FACTBOX
• Factbox: Two sunken rigs had some similar traits
Thu, May 13 2010
(Reuters) - A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig sank in the Caribbean sea early on Thursday, but all 95 workers were evacuated safely and there was no leakage, the government said.
WORLD
The accident came less than a month after a rig owned by BP exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering one of the world's worst-ever oil spills.
Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said no gas was escaping from the Aban Pearl rig site after the platform disappeared beneath the waves near the northeast coast of the OPEC nation, close to the Trinidad and Tobago islands.
"At 2:20 a.m. (0650 GMT) the rig sunk completely. I flew over it this morning and there is nothing to see," Ramirez told Reuters.
The government had been proud of the Aban Pearl, which was the first offshore gas rig operated by state oil company PDVSA. State television frequently portrayed the platform as evidence of Venezuela's engineering prowess.
PDVSA said the Dragon 6 oil field where the rig was working had been successfully sealed after the accident.
Critics of President Hugo Chavez say he weakened state-oil company PDVSA by firing thousands of managers and technicians several years ago. The company is the main financier of his socialist revolution and has suffered cash flow problems on lower oil prices.
Venezuela, one of the world's leading oil exporters, has endured a series of fires and maintenance problems at its network of refineries in recent years, although the nationalization of foreign-owned projects and higher taxes have bolstered PDVSA's coffers.
Chavez broke news of the accident at the rig -- owned India's Aban Offshore in alliance with Singapore-based company Petromarine Energy Services Ltd -- from his Twitter account, @chavezcandanga.
He said all the workers had been rescued at the exploration site, which is run by PDVSA. "They were evacuated and now two Navy patrols are moving to the area," the president tweeted at 3:11 a.m. local time (3:41 a.m. ET).
RAFT PROBLEM BLAMED
Venezuela sits on some of the world's largest offshore natural gas reserves, but fears of rule changes and pricing issues mean PDVSA has struggled to attract extraction investment from foreign companies with the right experience. It is not yet producing offshore gas.

Some of you may already be seeing the video feeds but for those who can't find it,
http://mms.piersystem.com/deepwater1

11 guys all drill crew lost thier lives the explosion hit the shakers pits pump room then the rotary table it all happened like BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM 3 secs
A buddy of mine was A.D. on tour he died and my dad was on it he lived.

Haven't been on here in a while, but i thought I would check in with the Southern LA members to see what the damage has been to the duck marshes down there. Especially around Cameron Parish. etc. Thinking of you guys for sure!

Cameron is fine right now..... the marshes east of the atchafalaya bay are dieing.... oils is mostly around sw pass of the river to grand isle.... spotty around the isle deneieres and point au fer.... but it wont be long and it will be there too...

Man that is sad to say the least. First Katrina and now this. I am a strong believer in the imprinting of birds during their migration. What I mean is that Birds tend to go back to the last place they had a successful wintering. Migration patterns change as a result. Hopefully they can get this mess cleaned up!

It will likely be August when they will stop the leak.... when the relief wells are drilled and they can back the pressure down on the main well... then they will perform the "top kill" method again and flood the existing well with mud and concrete....