What types of jobs may become available as a result of the spill?
1. Cleanup personnel
The cleanup effort with require Hazmat-trained workers who will deal directly with the oil cleanup, veterinarian medicine professionals who will take care of the animal life, and environmental engineers, microbiologists, and biologists who will manage the cleanup in the marsh areas.
2. Government-appointed personnel
The government will need to hire damage-assessment officials to evaluate the damage to harbors and waste-water treatment facilities. These jobs may be through FEMA or the EPA.
3. Scientists including ecotoxicologists, marine and fresh water scientists
Teams will be needed to monitor the ecosystem following the disaster for at least 20 years. There are still scientists assessing the damage of the Exxon Valdez spill that occurred over 20 years ago.
4. Landfill waste management personnel
Since the oil waste will have to be disposed of in a landfill, there will be a growing need for waste management.
5. Forensic investigators
Safety experts, structural engineers, and process engineers will be needed to perform a failure analysis and determine what happened to the rig to cause the disaster.
6. Economists
Economists will be needed to analyze the economic impact of the spill.
-- See average salaries for a veterinarian, marine biologist and a Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) engineer.
Where will the jobs be posted?
British Petroleum will list a number of environmental subcontractors that will be part of the effort. The Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana State Labor Departments also have information on many of these jobs as well as information on how to apply for Hazmat training. CareerBuilder is also listing many jobs relevant to the cleanup or you can check out this information on 400 positions open for oil spill clean up.
How important/marketable are the Hazmat skills?
Anyone dealing with the oil spill will need some level of Hazmat training. And these skills will continue to be in high demand in the future. These skills may be quite transferable to other positions such as working with environmental contractors on emergency response efforts, or in manufacturing facilities, mining facilities, energy plants, or military bases where contamination has occurred.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, environmental technicians will be among the top 10 fastest growing occupations over the next decade with a projected 30 percent growth. As we continue to become more environmentally conscious, these jobs will continue to grow.
Will this job growth have a ripple effect on the economy?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Hurricane Alex Slows Oil Spill Cleanup
High winds and large waves expected in the Gulf of Mexico as the first named storm of the hurricane season passes to the west are likely to hamper efforts to contain the BP oil spill.
Tropical Storm Alex, which is reported to have killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, is forecast to reach hurricane strength on Tuesday.
It is projected to travel well west and south of the spill, which lies about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, but BP's plans to move a third containment vessel to the site of the leak could be pushed back by about a week by high waves, a company spokesman said on Monday.
US government officials estimate that 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil are gushing from the blown-out well each day.
BP's current containment system can handle up to 28,000 barrels daily. The planned addition would have raised that to 53,000 bpd, BP said.
BP shares opened on Tuesday down 2.6pc at 300.1p.
BP admitted that the cost of the clean-up has now soared to $100m (£66m) a day, taking the total to $2.65bn. The daily rate has risen from $3m at the beginning of the crisis.
Tony Hayward's future at the helm of the oil giant was called into question on Monday after Russia's deputy prime minister claimed the beleagured oil boss is on the brink of resignation.
BP put the comment down to a "misquote" during Mr Hayward's official trip to Russia and denied that he is making way for new blood after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Igor Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister told reporters: "We know that Tony Hayward is leaving his position and he will introduce his successor."
The comment triggered fevered speculation that BP has privately briefed Moscow that there will be change at the top of the oil company.
Mr Sechin later appeared to backtrack, saying the BP chief's future had not been discussed at a meeting on the company's TNK-BP joint venture with Russian oligarchs.
Russia's interest will add to pressure on Mr Hayward, after US President Barack Obama said last month that he would already have fired the BP boss for his handling of the crisis.
BP has frequently had a tense relationship with Russia over TNK-BP, which produces a third of the company's oil. Last week, the Russian ambassador to the UK stated Moscow would seek "guarantees that [the partnership] will continue to work", and President Dmitry Medvedev said that he fears the spill could "annihilate" BP.
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has learnt that a group of oil majors, thought to include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, is preparing to present the US government with proposed changes to deepwater safety rules. The move is understood to be an attempt to pre-empt any move by America to insist on relief wells for all drilling.
BP says the leak will be plugged with a relief well by August, but the method takes several months after a spill occurs. US politicians have been calling for all operators to drill relief wells in case of an accident. This could double the cost of deepwater drilling, according to Geoffrey Maitland, professor of energy engineering at Imperial College.
Tropical Storm Alex, which is reported to have killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, is forecast to reach hurricane strength on Tuesday.
It is projected to travel well west and south of the spill, which lies about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, but BP's plans to move a third containment vessel to the site of the leak could be pushed back by about a week by high waves, a company spokesman said on Monday.
US government officials estimate that 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil are gushing from the blown-out well each day.
BP's current containment system can handle up to 28,000 barrels daily. The planned addition would have raised that to 53,000 bpd, BP said.
BP shares opened on Tuesday down 2.6pc at 300.1p.
BP admitted that the cost of the clean-up has now soared to $100m (£66m) a day, taking the total to $2.65bn. The daily rate has risen from $3m at the beginning of the crisis.
Tony Hayward's future at the helm of the oil giant was called into question on Monday after Russia's deputy prime minister claimed the beleagured oil boss is on the brink of resignation.
BP put the comment down to a "misquote" during Mr Hayward's official trip to Russia and denied that he is making way for new blood after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Igor Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister told reporters: "We know that Tony Hayward is leaving his position and he will introduce his successor."
The comment triggered fevered speculation that BP has privately briefed Moscow that there will be change at the top of the oil company.
Mr Sechin later appeared to backtrack, saying the BP chief's future had not been discussed at a meeting on the company's TNK-BP joint venture with Russian oligarchs.
Russia's interest will add to pressure on Mr Hayward, after US President Barack Obama said last month that he would already have fired the BP boss for his handling of the crisis.
BP has frequently had a tense relationship with Russia over TNK-BP, which produces a third of the company's oil. Last week, the Russian ambassador to the UK stated Moscow would seek "guarantees that [the partnership] will continue to work", and President Dmitry Medvedev said that he fears the spill could "annihilate" BP.
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has learnt that a group of oil majors, thought to include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, is preparing to present the US government with proposed changes to deepwater safety rules. The move is understood to be an attempt to pre-empt any move by America to insist on relief wells for all drilling.
BP says the leak will be plugged with a relief well by August, but the method takes several months after a spill occurs. US politicians have been calling for all operators to drill relief wells in case of an accident. This could double the cost of deepwater drilling, according to Geoffrey Maitland, professor of energy engineering at Imperial College.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tropical Storm Alex Spells Trouble
Oil cleanup could be delayed 5+ days in the gulf. The logistics of containing the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico are mind-boggling even in ideal conditions. Add a tropical storm like the one swirling in the Caribbean and things get even more complicated.
Any system with winds over 46 mph could force BP to abandon efforts to contain the flow for up to two weeks and delay the drilling of two relief wells that are the best hope of stopping it, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Saturday, shortly after Alex became the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasts show Alex churning toward Mexico and missing the northern Gulf Coast and the spill, but officials are watching closely anyway.
"We all know the weather is unpredictable and we could have a sudden, last-minute change," Allen said.
Reuters reported that Shell Oil Co said non-essential workers from production platforms and drilling rigs in U.S.-regulated areas of Gulf of Mexico farther west were being evacuated on Saturday.
Emergency plans call for moving workers and equipment five days before gale-force winds are forecast to arrive at the half-square mile containment operation surrounding the blown-out well. Oil has been gushing since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, killing 11 workers.
Any system with winds over 46 mph could force BP to abandon efforts to contain the flow for up to two weeks and delay the drilling of two relief wells that are the best hope of stopping it, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Saturday, shortly after Alex became the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasts show Alex churning toward Mexico and missing the northern Gulf Coast and the spill, but officials are watching closely anyway.
"We all know the weather is unpredictable and we could have a sudden, last-minute change," Allen said.
Reuters reported that Shell Oil Co said non-essential workers from production platforms and drilling rigs in U.S.-regulated areas of Gulf of Mexico farther west were being evacuated on Saturday.
Emergency plans call for moving workers and equipment five days before gale-force winds are forecast to arrive at the half-square mile containment operation surrounding the blown-out well. Oil has been gushing since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, killing 11 workers.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Gulf Braces For Another Blow.
As if the recent oil spill wasn't bad enough, now the gulf braces for possible hurricane weather, as tropical storm Alex gets fired up.
(June 26) -- Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic basin hurricane season, has formed in the northwestern Caribbean. The storm will bring heavy rain and wind to parts of Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula and western Caribbean islands this weekend and will likely redevelop in the southern Gulf of Mexico next week, possibly becoming the first hurricane of the season.
As of Saturday afternoon, Alex, located 310 miles south-southwest of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Tropical Storm warnings are in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the the coast of Belize, as well as some of islands in the western Caribbean.
Heavy rain is often the greatest threat to life and property with a tropical storm, and that's the case with Tropical Storm Alex. As it slowly moves northwestward toward a landfall in northern Belize or the Yucatan Peninsula, more than six inches of rain is possible over a broad area in the Yucatan, Central America and Caribbean Islands. Local amounts of greater than 10 inches are possible.
This amount of rain falling during a relatively short time can result in serious flash flooding and mudslides.
Questions for U.S. interests include where the storm will re-emerge after landfall, whether the system will be able to then intensify into the first hurricane of the season and whether it will affect the region of the Gulf dealing with the massive oil spill.
Meteorologists do not have the answers to those questions yet.
(June 26) -- Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic basin hurricane season, has formed in the northwestern Caribbean. The storm will bring heavy rain and wind to parts of Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula and western Caribbean islands this weekend and will likely redevelop in the southern Gulf of Mexico next week, possibly becoming the first hurricane of the season.
As of Saturday afternoon, Alex, located 310 miles south-southwest of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Tropical Storm warnings are in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the the coast of Belize, as well as some of islands in the western Caribbean.
Heavy rain is often the greatest threat to life and property with a tropical storm, and that's the case with Tropical Storm Alex. As it slowly moves northwestward toward a landfall in northern Belize or the Yucatan Peninsula, more than six inches of rain is possible over a broad area in the Yucatan, Central America and Caribbean Islands. Local amounts of greater than 10 inches are possible.
This amount of rain falling during a relatively short time can result in serious flash flooding and mudslides.
Questions for U.S. interests include where the storm will re-emerge after landfall, whether the system will be able to then intensify into the first hurricane of the season and whether it will affect the region of the Gulf dealing with the massive oil spill.
Meteorologists do not have the answers to those questions yet.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Oil Spill Disaster 2010
The worst oil spill ever, is what some are saying about the gulf of Mexico's off shore oil spill. Will the environment be able to make a rebound after such a devastating blow? The spill stems from a sea floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others.
The gusher, now estimated by the quasi-official Flow Rate Technical Group to be flowing at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels (1,500,000 to 2,500,000 US gallons; 5,600 to 9,500 cubic metres) of crude oil per day, originates from a deepwater wellhead 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface.The exact spill flow rate is uncertain due to the difficulty of installing measurement devices at that depth and is a matter of ongoing debate.The resulting oil slick covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2), with the exact size and location of the slick fluctuating from day to day depending on weather conditions. Scientists have also reported immense underwater plumes of oil not visible at the surface.
During March and April 2010, several platform workers and supervisors expressed concerns with well control. At approximately 9:45 p.m. CDT on April 20, 2010, methane gas from the well, under high pressure, shot up and out of the drill column marine riser, expanded onto the platform, and then ignited and exploded.Fire then engulfed the platform.Most of the workers were evacuated by lifeboats or were airlifted out by helicopter,but eleven workers were never found despite a three-day Coast Guard search operation, and are presumed to have died in the explosion.Efforts by multiple ships to douse the flames were unsuccessful. After burning furiously for approximately 36 hours, the Deepwater Horizon sank on the morning of April 22, 2010.
On the afternoon of April 22, a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site.Two remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) unsuccessfully attempted to cap the well.BP announced that it was deploying a ROV to the site to assess whether oil was flowing from the well.On April 23, a ROV reportedly found no oil leaking from the sunken rig and no oil flowing from the well.Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry expressed cautious optimism of zero environmental impact, stating that no oil was emanating from either the wellhead or the broken pipes and that oil spilled from the explosion and sinking was being contained.The following day, April 24, Landry announced that a damaged wellhead was indeed leaking oil into the Gulf and described it as "a very serious spill".
As of June 25, BP has not given a cause for the explosion.
Short-term efforts:
Oil containment dome under construction in Port Fourchon, Louisiana at Wild Well Control on April 26.BP engineers have attempted a number of techniques to control or stop the oil spill. The first and fastest was to place a 125-tonne (280,000 lb) container dome over the largest of the well leaks and pipe the oil to a storage vessel on the surface. BP deployed the system on May 7–8 but it failed when gas leaking from the pipe combined with cold water to form methane hydrate crystals that blocked up the steel canopy at the top of the dome. The excess buoyancy of the crystals clogged the opening at the top of the dome where the riser was to be connected.
Following the failure, on May 11 a smaller containment dome, dubbed a "top hat", was lowered to the seabed. Like the first containment dome, the dome has been deployed successfully in the past but not at such a depth. The "top hat" dome originally was planned as BP's next attempt to control the spill and there has been no explanation for why BP engineers decided to try the insertion tube first.
On May 14 engineers began the process of positioning a 4-inch (100 mm) wide riser insertion tube tool into the 21-inch (530 mm) wide burst pipe. After three days, BP reported the tube was working. Collection rates varied daily between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels (42,000 and 210,000 US gallons; 160 and 790 cubic metres), the average being 2,000 barrels (84,000 US gallons; 320 cubic metres) a day, as of May 21. The collected gas rate ranged between 4 and 17 million cubic feet per day (110×10^3 and 480×10^3 m3/d). The gas was flared and oil stored on the board of drillship Discoverer Enterprise. 924,000 US gallons (22,000 barrels) of oil was collected before removal of the tube so shutdown efforts could begin.
BP next tried to shut down the well completely using a technique called "top kill". The process involves pumping heavy drilling fluids through two 3-inch (7.6 cm) lines into the blowout preventer that sits on top of the wellhead. This would first restrict the flow of oil from the well, which then could be sealed permanently with cement. The top kill procedure, approved by the Coast Guard on May 25, commenced on May 26 and, according to BP sources, while failure could be evident in minutes or hours it might take "a day or two" before its success could be determined. On May 27 Admiral Thad Allen indicated that engineers had succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico. He further stated that the well still had low pressure, but cement would be used to cap the well permanently as soon as the pressure hit zero. However, BP officials said it was not possible to tell how far down the well the mud may have reached and declined to speculate on the odds of actually stopping the flow. "We have some indications of partial bridging which is good news. I think it's probably 48 hours before we have a conclusive view." On May 29 BP announced that the attempt to clog the ruptured oil well with "junk" had failed.
The Q4000 and the Discoverer Enterprise during the failed top kill procedureAfter three consecutive failed attempts at the top kill, on May 29 BP moved on to their next contingency option, the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System. The operational plan first involved cutting and then removing the damaged riser from the top of the failed blowout preventer to leave a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP's LMRP. The cap is designed to be placed over the pipe and connected to a riser from the Discoverer Enterprise drillship, with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well. During the cutting of the pipe, the diamond blade saw became stuck and was later freed, but BP had to use shears instead and the cut is "ragged", meaning the cap would be harder to fit. The cap was finally attached on June 3. By June 6, Adm. Thad Allen estimated that the amount of oil captured had increased to 10,000 barrels (420,000 US gallons; 1,600 cubic metres) per day. BP's CEO Tony Hayward stated his opinion that the amount captured was "probably the vast majority of the oil." However, the live stream of the oil escaping from the capped pipe did not appear to be substantially reduced and Ira Leifer, a member of the government team that estimated the flow rate, claimed that the well pipe was clearly gushing more oil than before the cutting of the pipe to put the cap in place.
Only time will tell if the leak can be stopped, but at what cost to the environment.
The gusher, now estimated by the quasi-official Flow Rate Technical Group to be flowing at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels (1,500,000 to 2,500,000 US gallons; 5,600 to 9,500 cubic metres) of crude oil per day, originates from a deepwater wellhead 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface.The exact spill flow rate is uncertain due to the difficulty of installing measurement devices at that depth and is a matter of ongoing debate.The resulting oil slick covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2), with the exact size and location of the slick fluctuating from day to day depending on weather conditions. Scientists have also reported immense underwater plumes of oil not visible at the surface.
During March and April 2010, several platform workers and supervisors expressed concerns with well control. At approximately 9:45 p.m. CDT on April 20, 2010, methane gas from the well, under high pressure, shot up and out of the drill column marine riser, expanded onto the platform, and then ignited and exploded.Fire then engulfed the platform.Most of the workers were evacuated by lifeboats or were airlifted out by helicopter,but eleven workers were never found despite a three-day Coast Guard search operation, and are presumed to have died in the explosion.Efforts by multiple ships to douse the flames were unsuccessful. After burning furiously for approximately 36 hours, the Deepwater Horizon sank on the morning of April 22, 2010.
On the afternoon of April 22, a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site.Two remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) unsuccessfully attempted to cap the well.BP announced that it was deploying a ROV to the site to assess whether oil was flowing from the well.On April 23, a ROV reportedly found no oil leaking from the sunken rig and no oil flowing from the well.Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry expressed cautious optimism of zero environmental impact, stating that no oil was emanating from either the wellhead or the broken pipes and that oil spilled from the explosion and sinking was being contained.The following day, April 24, Landry announced that a damaged wellhead was indeed leaking oil into the Gulf and described it as "a very serious spill".
As of June 25, BP has not given a cause for the explosion.
Short-term efforts:
Oil containment dome under construction in Port Fourchon, Louisiana at Wild Well Control on April 26.BP engineers have attempted a number of techniques to control or stop the oil spill. The first and fastest was to place a 125-tonne (280,000 lb) container dome over the largest of the well leaks and pipe the oil to a storage vessel on the surface. BP deployed the system on May 7–8 but it failed when gas leaking from the pipe combined with cold water to form methane hydrate crystals that blocked up the steel canopy at the top of the dome. The excess buoyancy of the crystals clogged the opening at the top of the dome where the riser was to be connected.
Following the failure, on May 11 a smaller containment dome, dubbed a "top hat", was lowered to the seabed. Like the first containment dome, the dome has been deployed successfully in the past but not at such a depth. The "top hat" dome originally was planned as BP's next attempt to control the spill and there has been no explanation for why BP engineers decided to try the insertion tube first.
On May 14 engineers began the process of positioning a 4-inch (100 mm) wide riser insertion tube tool into the 21-inch (530 mm) wide burst pipe. After three days, BP reported the tube was working. Collection rates varied daily between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels (42,000 and 210,000 US gallons; 160 and 790 cubic metres), the average being 2,000 barrels (84,000 US gallons; 320 cubic metres) a day, as of May 21. The collected gas rate ranged between 4 and 17 million cubic feet per day (110×10^3 and 480×10^3 m3/d). The gas was flared and oil stored on the board of drillship Discoverer Enterprise. 924,000 US gallons (22,000 barrels) of oil was collected before removal of the tube so shutdown efforts could begin.
BP next tried to shut down the well completely using a technique called "top kill". The process involves pumping heavy drilling fluids through two 3-inch (7.6 cm) lines into the blowout preventer that sits on top of the wellhead. This would first restrict the flow of oil from the well, which then could be sealed permanently with cement. The top kill procedure, approved by the Coast Guard on May 25, commenced on May 26 and, according to BP sources, while failure could be evident in minutes or hours it might take "a day or two" before its success could be determined. On May 27 Admiral Thad Allen indicated that engineers had succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico. He further stated that the well still had low pressure, but cement would be used to cap the well permanently as soon as the pressure hit zero. However, BP officials said it was not possible to tell how far down the well the mud may have reached and declined to speculate on the odds of actually stopping the flow. "We have some indications of partial bridging which is good news. I think it's probably 48 hours before we have a conclusive view." On May 29 BP announced that the attempt to clog the ruptured oil well with "junk" had failed.
The Q4000 and the Discoverer Enterprise during the failed top kill procedureAfter three consecutive failed attempts at the top kill, on May 29 BP moved on to their next contingency option, the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System. The operational plan first involved cutting and then removing the damaged riser from the top of the failed blowout preventer to leave a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP's LMRP. The cap is designed to be placed over the pipe and connected to a riser from the Discoverer Enterprise drillship, with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well. During the cutting of the pipe, the diamond blade saw became stuck and was later freed, but BP had to use shears instead and the cut is "ragged", meaning the cap would be harder to fit. The cap was finally attached on June 3. By June 6, Adm. Thad Allen estimated that the amount of oil captured had increased to 10,000 barrels (420,000 US gallons; 1,600 cubic metres) per day. BP's CEO Tony Hayward stated his opinion that the amount captured was "probably the vast majority of the oil." However, the live stream of the oil escaping from the capped pipe did not appear to be substantially reduced and Ira Leifer, a member of the government team that estimated the flow rate, claimed that the well pipe was clearly gushing more oil than before the cutting of the pipe to put the cap in place.
Only time will tell if the leak can be stopped, but at what cost to the environment.
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