Another oil rig explosion in Gulf happened today

[eggcited2]

Here is link to news of a another oil rig explosion that just happened today, Thursday - Sept 2.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38973757

 

[EweSheep]

Oh No!

 

[Whispering Winds]

I have two theories on this: either God is really trying hard to tell us something, or we are just having these oil rigs run by a bunch of idiot bureaucrats.

 

[EweSheep]

I bet it is a bunch of idiots running the oil rigs or an accident waiting to happen!

 

[KCchickens]

Quote:
my thoughts exactly! Maybe it's both?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just posted this in another thread.

I had not heard about it. Thanks for alerting me.

From a quick google search, it looks like it was a production platform shut down for maintenance that had a fire and explosion. Apparently all workers have been safely recovered. No oil sheen was reported but it is still early. Accurate information is hard to get quickly in something like this.

If it really is a production platform with no drilling going on (they seemed to have enough details that I believe that to be true) and the wells were shut in, it is not as risky a situation as it could have been as far as possible pollution. The wells were probably shut in by closing a valve on the Christmas tree on the platform, so there is some risk there if the Christmas tree burns, but they are also supposed to have a subsurface safety valve that will automatically close in case of loss of pressure on the surface. I know, BP was supposed to have a blow out preventer that worked too, but not every producer is a BP just like not every driver is a drunk driver. Most are actually responsible. Part of the procedure for abandoning the platform is to hit a button that closes the subsurface safety valves. Since the crew had time to get into their survival suits, they should have had time to hit the platform emergency shutdown button.

They were almost certainly using propane cutting torches and welding on the eqipment. If some of the equipment was not vented or isolated properly before they started cutting or welding, this can happen easily. There is a lot of highly explosive natural gas inthe vesselsand piping on those platforms.

While there is nothing good about something like this happening, I think you will find this to be pretty much a non-event except for the people directly involved. And a very expensive non-event for the small independent oil compny involved.