Confirmed BP Gulf Oil Spill Tar Balls Hit Two Locations Along The Texas Coast
Posted by Alexander Higgins - July 5, 2010 at 7:14 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Over 7 gallons of Tar balls from the BP Gulf Oil Spill have washed up in two separate location along the Texas coast.
The tar balls are reported to be between the size of dimes and ping pong balls.
Officials quickly explained that it was possible that the tar balls where carried by ships working on the BP Gulf Oil Spill but stated that there is no way to be certain how the tarballs reached the Texas Coast.
Personally I think that’s an awful lot of tarballs to be carried by ship but you just have to love the “Move along folks, nothing to see here attitude”.
Interestingly enough the LA Times reports that 35 Gallons of oiled material has been collected from two the Texas beaches which contradicts the 7 Gallon figure reported by the Associated Press.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/07/gulf-oil-spill-tar-balls-found-on-texas-beaches-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29&utm_content=FeedBurner
Tar balls from Gulf oil spill turn up in Texas
Published – Jul 05 2010 05:21PM EST
By JUAN A. LOZANO – Associated Press Writer
TEXAS CITY, Texas — A Texas official said Monday that tar balls from the Gulf oil spill were found on a pair of state beaches, becoming the first known evidence that gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well has reached all the Gulf states.
The amount of tar balls is tiny in comparison to what has coated beaches so far in the hardest-hit parts of the Gulf coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
About five gallons of tar balls were found Saturday on the Bolivar Peninsula, northeast of Galveston, said Capt. Marcus Woodring, the Coast Guard commander for the Houston/Galveston sector. Another two gallons were found Sunday on the peninsula and Galveston Island.
Woodring said the consistency of the tar balls indicates it’s possible they could have been spread to Texas water by ships that have worked out in the spill, rather hitching a ride naturally through currents. But there’s no way to confirm the way they got there.
The largest tar balls found Saturday were the size of ping-pong balls, while the ones found Sunday were the size of nickels and dimes.
Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski said he believed the tar balls were a fluke, rather than a sign of what’s to come.
“This is good news,” he said. “The water looks good. We’re cautiously optimistic this is an anomaly.”
“We’ve said since day one that if and when we have an impact from Deepwater Horizon, it would be in the form of tarballs,” Texas Land Commissoner Jerry Patterson said in a news release. “This shows that our modeling is accurate. Any Texas shores impacted by the Deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab.”
The distance between the western reach of the tar balls in Texas and the most eastern reports of oil in Florida is about 550 miles. Oil was first spotted on land near the mouth of the Mississippi River on April 29.
And the spill is reaching deeper into Louisiana. Strings of oil were seen Monday in the Rigolets, one of two waterways that connect Lake Ponchartrain, the large lake north of New Orleans, with the Gulf.
“So far it’s scattered stuff showing up, mostly tar balls,” said Louisiana Office of Fisheries Assistant Secretary Randy Pausina. “It will pull out with the tide, and then show back up.”
Pausina said he expected the oil to clear the passes and move directly into the lake, taking a backdoor route to New Orleans.
The news of the spill’s reach comes at a time that most of the offshore skimming operations in the Gulf have been halted by choppy seas and high winds. A tropical system that had been lingering off Louisiana flared up Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rain and winds.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said there was a 60 percent of the storm becoming a tropical cyclone.
Last week, the faraway Hurricane Alex idled the skimming fleet off Alabama, Florida and Mississippi with choppy seas and stiff winds. Now they’re stymied by a succession of smaller storms that could last well into this week.
Officials have plans for the worst-case scenario: a hurricane barreling up the Gulf toward the spill site. But the less-dramatic weather conditions have been met with a more makeshift response.
Skimming operations across the Gulf have scooped up about 23.5 million gallons of oil-fouled water so far, but officials say it’s impossible to know how much crude could have been skimmed in good weather because of the fluctuating number of vessels and other variables.
The British company has now seen its costs from the spill reach $3.12 billion, a figure that doesn’t include a $20 billion fund for damages the company created last month.
The storms have not affected drilling work on a relief well that BP says is the best chance for finally plugging the leak. The company expects drilling to be finished by mid-August.
___
Associated Press writers Tom Breen and Mary Foster in New Orleans contributed to this report.
The American Chronicle Reports:
About 10-12 tar balls washed up on Crystal Beach on Saturday. On Sunday, 5 gallons of oil were also found on the same beach.
The tar balls ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball.
After workers cleaned the beach, the tar balls and oil were sent to labs to be analyzed. Officials confirmed that the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
However, officials said the makeup of the oil was not consistent with having traveled 400 miles in the ocean. Investigators are looking it into the possibility that the oil might have been carried on the side of a ship or in the bilge of a ship that had taken in water.
More tar balls were found scattered along 1.5 miles on East Galveston Beach on Sunday. Officials have not confirmed the source of those tar balls, and are expecting test results on Tuesday.
If the tar balls are related to the oil spill, the key will be figuring out how they got here, said Roschelle Gaskins, a spokeswoman for the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Coast Guard, as late as last week, had told the bureau that oil from the spill was not predicted to reach Galveston, she said.
The bureau’s beach patrol had spotted tar balls on East Beach Sunday, she said, but noted that “tar balls are not uncommon on our beaches, especially when we’ve had such high tides.”
Meanwhile, as the Coast Guard continues its investigations, the beaches are still open and safe to swim in, she said.
Again I find it hard to imagine that 1.5 miles of beached tarballs came from a ship.
It is also funny that while the Associated press leads one to believe that the source of the tar balls on both beaches could be the ship the Chronicles write up seems to indicate that only the one beach was affected by the tar balls from a ship while the Galveston tarballs seem not to be from a ship.
Forbes.com also points out that a NOAA Forecast issued Friday gave a 40% prediction that the Tar balls would hit the Texas coast.
The oil’s arrival in Texas was predicted Friday by an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which gave a 40 percent chance of crude reaching the area.
Update: 11:49 PM July 5th
A Huge tarball found on Crystal Beach, Texas today.
I totally believe that this was carried along carried all the way to Texas alongside of a boat. NOT!!
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Obama told America that if we can win WWII and put a man on the moon, we can plug this leak and solve our dependency on fossil fuels.
But there’s a missing piece: the soldiers in WWII had the Pentagon and Neil Armstrong had NASA. What’s the man on the street supposed to do to solve the fossil fuel problem? Is it time for an organized, funded effort?
The following link is to a satirical video, but it underscores this issue in real terms.
Link: You’re Soaking In It
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Katy's Exposure. Katy's Exposure said: Confirmed BP Gulf Oil Spill Tar Balls Hit Two Locations Along The Texas Coast | Alexander Higgins Blog http://goo.gl/Rpxp [...]
regarding the quote;
"Texas Land Commissoner Jerry Patterson said in a news release, "Any Texas shores impacted by the Deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab.”
How Patterson can say this is beyond me. Cleaning up any shoreline effected by the spill is futile until further notice. BP certainly knows this and could explain why the clean-up operations they're staging are little more than a PR Potemkin Village.
Talking about things found on a beach , did you see the story from WKRG.com about the 3 foot wide , 500 pound underwater bomb found at Orange Beach Ala at 9am today ? Help me out but why would a 500 lb underwater bomb suddenly wash up in Alabama – leftover bombs from the japanese or german navies ? I think not….. Did the US undertake offshore bombing missions near the Ala coast – sounds improbable ? So , what the heck is an underwater bomb doing there ? Just asking…..
Issac;
Thank you for the important contribution here but at the same time would you interpret in layman's terms what this means? It seems to be a game-plan for exploratory drilling but there's the contradictory statement about the Macondo being beyond well control.
Thanks a simple summation…that is, apart from
"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
Fred..try these links. They should answer some questions you have, they’re interactive weapons dump maps that show who where and what was dumped in the world’s oceans ……that’s been admitted to and mapped.
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/411.shtml
http://cns.miis.edu/multimedia/interactive_files/cw_dumping.htm
—————–
Next..here’s the truth about the sub-floor geology in the Macondo..make sure you read the text beside figure 10 in the document. It reveals what they are hiding.
” Hydrocarbon Systems Analysis of the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Delineation of Hydrocarbon Migration Pathways Using Seeps and Seismic Imaging ”
Kenneth C. Hood , L. M. Wenger, O. P. Gross, S. C. Harrison
Exxon Exploration Company Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
” Widespread oil and gas seepage in the offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico has allowed the extension of hydrocarbon systems and maturity maps far beyond well control. ”
http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/hood/images/hood.pdf
Isaac thanks for the material referenced – I did read the Hood , Wenger et all piece . So , my quick read of the info in figure ten is that oil and gas will seep / are seeping presently up through the salt stack and eventually exit at the seabed. This won't change whether the relief wells work or don't work , correct ? BY , the way , what is your informed view as to whether the initial relief well(s) will work ? We have heard the infamous 90 / 95 percent chance the relief wells will stop the gusher , which for every prior tactic has been 90 to 95 percent wrong. And looking at the historical precedent of Ixtoc , I think this will be a much longer drawn out processs then BP and the USCG are promoting presently . Thanks for your input.
Dear Issac and Fred, too,for that matter,
Thank you for your response & I wish I had more time this morn to respond…
but, I don't.
Will ketchup, later, with relish.
Gotta go,
Mak
Mak, cheers….I’ll try this..
The current event in the Gulf of Mexico is directly related to a series of other events.
In the study of natural systems, It is proven that all processes are dependent on the other processes they come in contact with. Trying to hold one action responsible for one outcome holds water like pantyhose.
Fluid migrations in underground pathways are intertwined. Brine and water table pathways help push oil into reservoirs/traps.
Read up a little on salt dome storage and solution mining, …where the majority of our strategic petroleum reserves are…and how deep they are contained. You have lighter vs heavier hydrocarbons. At a deeper level underground when they leak from storage, they will follow the path of least resistance. For hydrocarbons and the process of fractionating, it’s dependent on several things as well. Microbial life in sub-strata, heat, pressures.
these factors all dictate what happens underground. Many complex changes happen under these conditions.
In addition, things like the Ursa-Princess Waterflood, one of the largest construction projects on an existing platform in the Gulf of Mexico, are also partly responsible.
Ursa is in 3800 feet (1158 metres) of water and is made up of the Mississippi Canyon blocks 808, 809, 810, 852, 853 and 854.
Princess is in Mississippi Canyon blocks 765 and 766, in about 3650 feet of water.
Shell is operator of this project with 45%; BP Exploration & Production has 23%; ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips each have 16%.
Pumping high-pressure fluids,.. most likely expanding polymers…(TIRCO/STEPAN), into a massive deposit to force oil into traps/deposits underground in forcing fluid migrations in natural pathways. Those natural pathways that oil companies tap into are fractures extending off of fault-lines.
They know this. It’s only a manipulation of a natural system.
Ask yourself why nobody has asked any questions about the giant water-flooding project that has been underway for 2 years now…
Ask yourself why everybody is so focused on BP, yet completely ignoring the fact that most of the other companies in the world, are partnered with BP in a great number of their projects. The G.o.M. being a prime example.
Ask yourself many other questions, my friend.
I weigh these factors.
Oil companies have immense operating capitol, incredible sciences, massive amounts of information and endless resources.All corporate actions/products in the world, for the most part,..are first reviewed and considered in light of the risk/profit ratio. Food, medicine, technology, etc, etc.
Yes, this will cause problems.
divided by
How much money can we make ?
= risk/return ratio
I have to say, given the current situation in the world in terms of oil companies’ actions…my experience with systems management says either…
immense ineptitude or willing disregard.
Either one in this case is a crime, because it cannot be argued that ignorance was a mitigating factor here.
Without getting too out of line here, ..lol…
Keep in mind the old saying ” **** rolls downhill ”
I believe this only happens when there is a big pile of it.
We are ALL seeing that now.
It’s disengaging from the ” regularly scheduled programming ”
…..waking up, …I hope.
Issac,
Thanks for the time & labor it took post all that information, not just for my sake, but for the record here at Higgins.
Regarding this part of it;
“Pumping high-pressure fluids,.. most likely expanding polymers…(TIRCO/STEPAN), into a massive deposit to force oil into traps/deposits underground in forcing fluid migrations in natural pathways. Those natural pathways that oil companies tap into are fractures extending off of fault-lines.”
Is what you refer to integrate in any way to the following observation by a physicist;
(small excerpt from a larger article)
“Fracking can proceed to where many of the so-called oil wells are joined, since there is only one really big deposit underlying the entire GoM shelf. All the platforms are really sucking teats from a single sow. A chain reaction is possible, eroding all the walls, going down to as far as Venezuela as a worst-case scenario.”
Is fracking & polymer use the same or accomplish the same result?
p.s.
about polymer use by oil companies…I’ve heard of this thing and that it was unacceptably toxic for the environment.
Fracking, fractionating, cracking ..they are basically all the same thing. As far as seeps and erosion.
Seeps occur through natural fractures in the rock. These fractures lead back to reservoirs. Normally, the process is very slow and kept in check by the environmental conditions. However, when you disturb the pressure in an environment where elements are held in triple point, pressure immediately goes up, due to the release of gas through phase transitions.
Erosion is a self-sustaining process that feeds itself through it’s own actions. The more fluid flow, the more erosion.Ad infinitum.
I have reason to believe that the Ursa-Princess water-flood project might be contributing to this disaster. It is , after all, …a project that BP is partnered in.
Here are some map comparisons I did. Something is not right. I’ll quote Mr Hendrix here
” We all know something’s wrong ”
http://mentaljudo.blogspot.com/2010/07/ursa-princess-waterflood-project.html
…on the topic of relief wells.
The ability of water based mud to overcome pressures in a fluid column is dependent on the law of inverses proportions
2 additional well-bores coming in at both above and below, the only way to rapidly overtake opposing pressure is by producing stronger opposing pressure in a 3 dimensional space. It is what allows the rapid transit of waves, the rate of travel is determined by opposition of the intensity of the wave to the density of the fluid., …the law of inverse proportion.
It seems that you can change the density in non-Newtonian fluids with Faraday waves
Water based mud could be considered to be a Non-Newtonian fluid at the point that it starts to ” gel ”
The effectiveness is determined by the foot-per-second settling rate. In order for it to work, the bulk weight of the mud must first overcome the pressure being produced from the reservoir. A bottom kill would inject the mud into the wellbore from the bottom, and allow the pressure of the deposit to push it up the bore….once a significant amount is on top of the oil column, it will start to settle and “gel”.
…however…the FPS settling rate for the heaviest WBM is around 14 fps, and lighter liquids can easily force their way past heavier fluids,.. the casing is damaged or non-resistant ……so we will see.
If they instead injected the mud in from the upper relief well ( 13k’) and introduce Faraday waves in the fluid at the front of the flow, it would create erratic structuring in the mud.
Waves will travel through a solid very fast.
NN fluids are particle equidistant. That means all particles are at equal distance from each other..that’s why it’s more like a solid and less like a fluid.
Pressure waves/gravity waves in a fluid column would have great difficulty in traveling through an erratically structured NN fluid.
The oil would have nowhere to go but to the other relief well at 18k’.
Watch this video on NN fluids, and you will understand what I am getting at here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDzampa3xrc&feature=player_embedded
—–
Polymers.
Polymers for E.O.R. come in all flavors. Some absorb water, some invade porous rock , some are used for plugs, others bind with clays, etc, etc, .They are only for recovery, not for inducing chemical processes in a deposit or field.
Here’s TIORCO’s website.
http://www.tiorco.com/eorsolutions.php
…and yes…they are very toxic.
TIORCO’s partner STEPAN….used to be called STEPANFOAM before the NALCO merger.
” Foam ” being the keyword here.
I’m not a violent person…..but I would smack a chemical engineer right about …..”looks at watch “……now.
I will add to that, as an afterthought, that traditional waterflooding uses a process n which..
1: Sea Water is chlorinated.
2: Oxygen is removed.
3: Sulfate-reducting Bacteria is filtered.
The sea water is treated to kill as many Sulfate-reducing bacteria as possible. Oxygen is removed in order to create an environment where they can not live. This is done to prevent the well from becoming sour(indicating the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas)
However, ommunities of microbes that permeate the ground all live in harmonious function with each other, just like all natural systems. Cyclical sub-strata feeding colonies are easily knocked out-of-whack. When you alter the environment in any area, you alter the proliferation rates of other organisms in the area due to a massive change in how they function together. So it’s a given that microbiological hydrocarbon fractionation processes would be radically altered too. Alter the community…and you alter the total products and processes within.
….lol….I knew way back when, in high-school, from the disinterest my fellow students had towards the sciences, that it would prove to be not good in the long run. It would seem that many people are having a reawakening towards the interest of science these days.
Good. I love to see people take responsibility for their own level of intelligence.
Thanks to Homeric efforts of Alexander and contributions such as yours, Issac (and others), the Higgins report is becoming one of the few significant compilations of the Gulf disaster.
Regarding your post 11 herein and also your Ursa – Princess post at the Other News site , a few questions which I hope you can clear up for me. Regarding drilling to a depth of 35,050 feet ( noted in the Ursa -Princess report , my understanding was that depth was reached at Tiber Prospect in Keathley Canyon – block 102 , rather than the Macondo Prospect – is my understanding incorrect ? regarding the Tiber Prospect , this info came from a 9/02/09 press release from bp – are you setting forth that Macondo was also drilled to the same approximate depth as Tiber ? Second , regarding the instant relief wells , my understanding is that the deeper relief well is to be finished first , then the second well will be completed – again , my understanding is the kill would be attempted initially from the deeper of the two wells. I’m note sure whether your belief is that the deeper well versus the more shallow well has a better chance of success or vice versa – I’m not an engineer but I’m trying to grasp what your view here may be. Third , is the jist of your concern regarding U-P is that by massive wateflooding , numerous wells in essence have been interconnected ? If so , how do you gauge oil and gas flows ( volumes / length of time flow could continue at present rate , psi at kill well intersection )? hopefully , my questions are too misguided or ill-informed , but just trying to wrap my brain around this ! thanks for your patience….
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