Hopefully no one is injured from this and thank God that hurricane is not in the gulf.

Hmmm? oil platforms mysteriously failing? Takeover anybody?

Didn't know that Louisiana had its own Coast Guard.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the Obama admin is under a lot of political pressure to lift the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf.

Two rig explosions in the last three months? Kind of makes one wonder if there is some hanky panky going on by the tree huggers

Hmm, no problems for years and then two in the same year. Anyone smell hanky panky? How long before junior in the whitehouse calls for nationalization?

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."

Must step away from the tinfoil...

The term "oil rig" is a misnomer, this was a "platform" used for production of oil and gas (not sure if this one was for gas or not). A production platform is a permanent structure (no drilling rig) a "rig" is usually a movable structure with a drilling rig on it(in shallow waters a rig may drill a well on a permanent structure and then be removed for production). This accident is similar to what would happen at a refinery. Not in any way similar to the Deepwater Horizion event. $hit happens!

howlongisit to november?
ol'
although it wouldn't be hard to sabotage a production platform or drilling rig for that matter.

Oh I forgot...the Coast Gaurd is picking people from the water now. Everyone is accounted for and in "gumby" suits.
ol'

This is even more interesting given there was an attempted suicide bombing (complete with actual hostage situation) by an enviro-terrorist in Silver Springs, MD yesterday (a Maryland "suburb" community in what is termed the "Greater DC area".)

Then today, a second oil facility goes boom.

"Interesting," Spock would say.

Once the state controlled media found out that there was no gas or oil being produced at that platform, they dropped it like a hot potato. Another case of nothing to see here, move along.

Looks like the platform was in the process of sand blasting and painting....prolly were welders workin'there also.....lil' gas leak....boom!

ol'

The amount of flat out wrong or mis-information on this post and comments is amazing. "No gas or oil being produced at the platform." According to the NT Times...."In a statement, Mariner said that during the last week of August, the platform had produced about 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate."
"The rig, which is in about 2,500 feet of water".... according to numerous reports including the NY Times "The production platform was positioned in relatively shallow waters -- 340 feet deep --"

"Turns out it was an oil platform, not a rig, so it wasn't active." Huh? Meaning what? There was not drilling going on? There is still at least one riser connected to the platform pumping gas or oil. What happens if the platform founders and the pipe is broken?
"Jindal said the platform was producing from seven active wells. He said the platform sent oil to shore through two pipelines, although only one was actively carrying oil."

But, hey this post goes hand in hand with a previous post about the previous oil spill http://wizbangblog.com/content/2010/07/26/where-is-the-oil.php saying that the oil has miraculously disappeared which is a load of bullshit.

look Jeff if you wanna sensationalize this go ahead...but...ya gotta at least know a little about the oil field. This was an accident on a PRODUCTION PLATFORM. There was production meaning oil flowing up from the ground..you know ..bubbling crude..from seven wells going on. 1,400 bls per day from 7 wells is a very low number which would normally require 2 or 3 people to be on the platform. The fact that 13 people there seems to backup the rumors I've heard that the platform was being blasted and painted and welders were also working. THERE.IS.NO.DRILLING.RIG.THERE! Welders..spark..no one monitoring for gas leak...boom! I work in the oilpatch my son worked on that platform last dec.

here's a little chant for ya jus like in the ol hippie days..goes like this....

hey..hey...ho...ho
1...2...3...4...take your liberal bullshit shove up your ass...and move to New York..

catchy ain't it,
ol'

olhardhead
Can you fucking read?
Learn how to read and interpet the english language because you obviously don't understand my post. Reread this part of my post "Turns out it was an oil platform, not a rig, so it wasn't active." Huh? Meaning what? There was not drilling going on?
Making any more sense to you now?

Sorry about that rant..ol jeffie boy jus ruffled ma feathers a bit. As I said in the last post I work in the oilpatch and what I've said about the cause of the accident is pure speculation on my part. News of the explosion was all around the "patch" less than one hour after it happened.
As with any accident but especially this one at this time rumors are everywhere. It does seem likely that the fire was an accident caused by the workers on the platform at the time. I'v heard from several people that the platform was undergoing a beautification program.

No.DRILLING.RIG.

ol'

jeffie...jeffie..jeffie...look ...sigh....
yeah...ya got me..you know so little that I just can't seem to make sense of anything you said.
I realize that you're having a hard time understandingthis...buuuut..THERE.IS.NO.DRILLING.GOING.ON.
THERE. ARE. PIPES. CONNECTING. THE. PLATFORM. TO. THE. SEVEN. WELLS. IF. THE. PLATFORM. COLLAPSES. OR. MELTS. OR. DISAPEARS. OR. IS. CAPTURED. BY. OUTERSPACE. ALIENS. THE. 7. WELLS
WILL. NOT. LEAK. INTO. THE. GOM. I realize that you really don't know anything about this and that's ok....If you have a real interest in the reality of the workin's of the oilpatch go here:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6538#more

this is a thread from early in the Deepwater Horizion spill.

If you want to know more click on the oil drum logo at the top.

OK....let's go again......

1...2...3...4....

ol'

1...2...3...4...go back and keep reading my post.....you will understand it eventually. Where do you read in my post where I say the well is a drill? Where do you read in my post where I say there is drilling going on the platform?

So in a worst case scenario there is no way pipes from the well or pipes leading to land won't leak? That sounds great but it does not seem too plausible.

Jeff,
If you really want to understand where the oil went go here:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6879#comments_top

scroll down to "Gobbets" post August 22, 2010 - 11:35am
follow the thread down and you will find a good discussion of the subject. Nue Yurk Times
my ass!

hey....hey....ehhh..nevermind,
ol'

From NOLA.com....."The Mariner Energy platform burning off Vermilion Bay was in fact producing oil and gas when it caught fire Thursday morning, the company and Coast Guard have confirmed."

Jeff,
I missed your reply above...
"Where do you read in my post where I say the well is a drill? Where do you read in my post where I say there is drilling going on the platform?"

Maybe here:

"Turns out it was an oil platform, not a rig, so it wasn't active." Huh? Meaning what? There was not drilling going on? There is still at least one riser connected to the platform pumping gas or oil."

I thought that the ?

after Huh? and "There was not drilling going on? "

Implied that you thought drilling was going on...ohh well I'm ol'

"So in a worst case scenario there is no way pipes from the well or pipes leading to land won't leak? That sounds great but it does not seem too plausible."

As the geniuses on ESPN say....Come On MAN!!
I don't think anyone can say anything with complete certainty, however it's very unlikely..this isn't the same situation as an active drilling situation where the BOP is the ultimate cutoff valve..think of it kinda as a on land refinery type situation.

Look, the oil industry is not yur enemy....read some of the material on the links above (it's a lot)...

sorry for the snorkyness...

ok...1.....just kiddin'

ol'

From NOLA.com "The platform is not a drilling rig and did not have a blowout preventer"

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf
/2010/09/coast_guard_confirms_burning_p.html

I don't understand there supposedly not being a blowout preventer. How would the flow of oil out of the well be stopped if somehow there was a break in the pipe?

olhardhead,
I know the oil industry is not the enemy. I have worked indirectly for the oil and gas industry doing construction work. I do believe that the industry could be doing a better job in regards to safety. Just like in my industry safety costs a lot of money, it slows production, costs money for extra equipment, but it is necessary.
In my original post here I was not taking about any of your posts. My main issue is with the original post's factual incorrectness.
I love the conspiracy theory's though. Anyone can just head on out there on their boat, hop onto the platform, head on up and commence the hanky panky. Right up there with the 9/11 conspiracy's.

Foreign or domestic (white house sponsored) terrorists actions?

Jeff,
I realize that you were not replying to my posts..I've worked in the oil patch for almost 40 years so I'm very defensive about things that are said that I know to be untrue. Maybe this will help...When a drilling rig is working, the hole bore is basically open to the world and the well is prevented from flowing by the weight of the drilling mud and last resort by the Blowout Preventer. A production platform is connected to the well (or wells) by a subsea concoction of pipes chokes valves hoodangers and whachmacallits and it's pressure and flow are regulated. Nothing in life is failsafe but I can't remember any production unit having a well/wells open to the sea (may have happened but I don't remember it).

"Anyone can just head on out there on their boat, hop onto the platform, head on up and commence the hanky panky. Right up there with the 9/11 conspiracy's."

Yup, and as a matter of fact people do just that everyday. The oil platforms in the gulf are man made "reefs" where thousands of fisherman fish everyday. You really wouldn't have to get up on the platform to explode a device that would devastate just about any structure out there. Offshore workers travel to and fro each crew change by boat and helicopter. Security at boat docks and heliports has been strengthened but IMO it's still not where it should be. A friend of mine told me this story. He was on one of the "big" deepwater rigs doing doing what he does and he overheard people on the rig asking about this one guy that had been on the rig for several days...who's this guy..where does he work...what does he do...turns out this guy was a drunk (apparently had worked offshore before) managed to get on a boat and on the rig. He said he couldn't afford food... nice huh..

again sorry for the snorkieness,
ol'

.... Another Oil Rig Explodes in the Gulf ....

Not true.

A pumping platform caught fire. Check the facts, why doncha?

[LOL. I love the "how could you????" attitude here. For the record the media outlets all reported it as "oil rig explodes" when it first happened. Why? Because it would have been huge ratings if we had oil spill disaster #2. Turns out it was a minor incident. The story was buried and they moved on. -DK]