BP warned last year a bigger spill was possible

[sabra]

Source: new mexico independent

You think the Deepwater Horizon spill is bad? You don’t know the half of it. BP’s June 2009 regional oil spill response plan for the Gulf of Mexico describes an “expected worst case scenario” that would dwarf the current disaster, dumping up to 250,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico.

The response plan was originally written in December 2000 and was last revised in June 2009 byThe Response Group of Houston, Texas. A redacted version of the plan was obtained by New Orleans freelance writer and blogger Karen Dalton Beninato, who posted the entire 582-page document online Friday.

The Deepwater Horizon mobile drilling rig platform’s leaks have spilled up to 1.1 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April 23, according to recent estimates. The worst-case scenario for an exploratory well could match the total size of the Deepwater Horizon spill in just four days, suggests the 2009 BP response plan scenario.

“BP has determined that its worst case scenario for discharge from a mobile drilling rig operation would occur from the Mississippi Canyon 462 lease,” the response plan states. “MC 462 is a planned exploration well targeted for Miocene oil reservoirs. Given the anticipated reservoir thickness and historical productivity index for the Miocene, worst case discharge is expected to be 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day.”

...

Jeff Marshall of The Response Group in Houston confirmed Monday that his company had updated the BP response plan in June 2009. Marshall told The Independent Monday morning the response plan is updated annually “as they (BP) change personnel and environmental conditions change.”

Read more: http://newmexicoindependent.com/56596/it-coulda-been-worse-bp-warned-last-year-a-bigger-spill-was-possible

[aquart]

1. And what did they plan to do about it?

[SkyDaddy7]

5. put a cork in it?

They probably never had to lay out how they would manage a worst case scenario all that mattered was that BP said it could.

If you think this is bad in 2005 Bush & the Republican Congress exempted the Oil & Gas Industry from having to comply with the Clean Water Act! This is the next oil & gas disaster looming over the horizon that no one is even talking about! This new technology for drilling for natural gas they use a technique called Fracking (I think that is the term) anyway they bust open shale rock to release the gas and in the process they inject water & chemicals that help relaese the gas. So, it could flow into the water table and ruin drinking water! I think there was already a big fight in New York about this!

[wordpix]

2. obviously their "planning" did not involve testing equipment or safety a mile down

even BP's admitted that.

[obxhead]

3. The size of this spill is just now being realized as they actually capture

some of this oil as well. So if you look at their estimates to date of this spill, which is now 5 times larger than their original estimates, where does that leave their estimates of this potentially much larger spill? Based on their estimating track record a million barrels a day?

[Karenina]

4. SHUT DOWN BP's ATLANTIS RIG NOW!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37199423#37199423