Oil Rig Explosion: Mariner Energy At Fault, No Oil Spill

According to Russia Today and The New York Times, an oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico and just west of the British Petroleum TransOcean Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded six months ago, exploded.

The rig, owned by Mariner Energy , which says it accepts full responsibility for the accident and will work with officials, was reported not to be “actively drilling” according to The New York Times. It was not part of the deepwater drilling moratorium set by President Obama after the BP Oil explosion and spill.

Moreover, it was reported, in the same NY Times article, to have been producing 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate.

But at the time the facility was being painted and sandblasted. It’s not known what caused the accident.

Mariner Energy stock dropped four percent on news of the explosion.

Stay tuned.

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Posted By: Zennie62 (Email) | September 02 2010 at 01:09 PM

Listed Under: World Issues / News

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Congress isn’t wasting any time. With another oil rig explosion, some House Democrats are already demanding answers.

Just hours after a Mariner Energy rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the House Energy and Commerce committee is asking Scott Josey, the president and CEO of the company, for a briefing on the incident.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are leading the investigation in two subcommittees.

The explosion will almost certainly bolster Democrats’ contention that off-shore drilling is not yet safe enough. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster earlier this year, Republicans said offshore drilling should not be halted, but safety measures should be improved. This incident will likely give both sides more ammo going into an election season where Democrats are furiously trying to paint Republicans as friends of Big Oil.

Congress has spent a good chunk of the last half-year investigating offshore drilling, holding several duplicative hearings on the BP disaster.

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Your favorite TV show may not be fortunate to contain five or six digits that could one day become a date, but “Beverly Hills 90210″ celebrates its special day today, and while some have embraced this cosmic coincidence, others in the comics world are less impressed.

Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, a new oil rig explosion prompted some panic in the feed. This anxiety was accompanied by varies reactions to Apple’s new socialized Ping addition to iTunes, Brian Michael Bendis’ testimony that he does not use a ghost writer, and Jimmy Palmiotti on the state of decompressed storytelling in comics.

I’m [at]brianwarmoth, and this is the 9/02/10 Twitter Report.

[at]g_willow God save the gulf coast…ANOTHER oil rig has exploded?!
-G. Willow Wilson, Writer (“Air,” “Vixen: Return of the Lion”)

[at]BRIANMBENDIS i see some interwebby douchetools are spreading the rumor that i have ghost writers. i never ever ever have or will. i write every word.
-Brian Michael Bendis, Writer (“New Avengers,” “Ultimate Spider-Man”)

90210 Day pt. 1: [at]neilkleid Apparently today’s 90210 Day? Screw that — tell me when it’s Quantum Leap Day
-Neil Kleid, Writer (“Ursa Minors,” “Action, Ohio”)

90210 Day pt. 2: [at]CBCebulski My 90210 connection? Gabrielle “Andrea” Carteris did the voices of Elektra & the Enchantress in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which I wrote.
-C.B. Cebulski, Sr. VP, Creator and Content Development (Marvel)

90210 Day pt. 3: [at]ronmarz People are pointing out that today is 90210. I would like to point out that I have never, ever seen an episode of that show.
-Ron Marz, Writer (“Green Lantern,” “Witchblade”)

[at]joe_hill Robert De Niro has twice won the Oscar. By coincidence, Danny Trejo cut a guy named Oscar in jail, a couple times. #factsaboutmachete
-Joe Hill, Writer (“Locke & Key”)

[at]eliopoulos All signed up on Ping and know that if anyone sees my musical choices, they will decide not to follow. Huey Lewis, really?!
-Chris Eliopoulos, Artist/Writer/Letterer (“Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers,” “Misery Loves Sherman”)

Parting Wisdom for the Day:

[at]jpalmiotti I really believe that comics have become so decompressed that when certain people have to actually read , they dont want to.
-Jimmy Palmiotti, Writer (“Jonah Hex,” “Painkiller Jane”)

Be sure to follow [at]MTVSplashPage on Twitter for up-to-the-minute breaking news in the world of comics and movies.

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Dell threw in the towel after a two-week battle with Hewlett-Packard for ownership of data storage firm 3Par.

Dell ( DELL – news – people ) announced Thursday that it will not increase its most recent proposal of $32 per share to acquire 3Par ( PAR – news – people ), and that Dell has ended its discussions regarding a potential acquisition. Dell says it is entitled to receive a $72 million break-up fee from 3Par upon the termination of its merger agreement.

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“We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions,” said Dave Johnson, senior vice president, corporate strategy.

The announcement came after Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ – news – people ) raised its offer to $33 per share, just shy of $2.1 billion. (See “3Par Battle: Bids Raised, Dell Bows Out.”) Its failure to win the bidding war is awkward for Dell as it put forth a strong argument for why it wanted the company in the first place. (See “What Will Dell Do?”)

Brain Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer, says that the company “will continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront of all our decisions.”

Instead of being upset though, investors appeared pleased with the news, as shares of Dell increased 2.3%, or 28 cents, to $12.40 in midday trading, while Hewlett-Packard ticked up 0.5%, or 21 cents, to $39.42. Shares of 3Par meanwhile settled at $32.84, representing an increase of 2.4%, or 76 cents, from Wednesday’s closing price. Prior to Dell’s initial offer 3Par traded at $9.65.

Meanwhile, the energy sector was given an unpleasant jolt on the news that an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded west of the Deepwater Horizon disaster site. Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.

Ranel says it hasn’t been determined whether the structure is a production platform or a drilling rig or whether workers were aboard. Ranel says smoke was reported but it is unclear whether the rig is still burning.

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Another BP spill

You may already have heard about an oil rig explosion that occurred this morning near the site of the fateful Deepwater Horizon explosion in April. But you probably haven’t heard that even BP’s rig spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf this summer, a BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, was pouring 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, into the air.

Michael Stravato / The New York Times

BP neglected to inform residents or local officials. It also failed to shut down the malfunctioning plant, attempting instead to burn off the leaking chemicals. But more than half a million pounds escaped anyway, according to BP’s own estimate, making it one of the largest spills in the history of the oil-loving state.

Residents have filed a $10-billion class-action lawsuit after many fell ill without knowing why. Local officials finally learned of the spill after it had ended.

The conservative state Attorney General is also suing BP for $600,000 in fines. Although state officials were told of the spill as the law requires, they allege that the problem stemmed — wait for it — from negligent maintenance. The plant has a history of violations.

Posted By: Cameron Scott (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | September 02 2010 at 10:31 AM

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(CNN) — A man who said he saw the oil platform blast in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday reported suddenly seeing “a bunch of smoke” coming up from the platform.

David Reed said he is a paramedic on board an oil rig about 14 miles from the site of the explosion and fire on an oil platform owned by Mariner Energy.

“We were up here in the radio room and all of a sudden we saw a whole bunch of smoke coming from the platform,” he told CNN. “Shortly after, all radios started lighting up like a Christmas tree.”

Reed sent a photo of the platform to CNN’s iReport program, which lets anyone share photos, videos and information.

“The fact that this has happened again so soon after the Deepwater Horizon is surprising,” he told CNN.

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A well connected to an oil and gas production platform caught on fire in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, engulfing the vessel in flames about 100 miles off the central coast of Louisiana and forcing 13 people overboard, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

All 13 people have been accounted for, said Petty Officer Bill Colclough of the Coast Guard. They were found floating on a raft, officials said. Mariner Energy, which owns the Vermilion Oil Rig 380, said none of the crew members was hurt in the incident, despite earlier reports of a single injured worker.

Also, Mariner indicated that the fire—which was first reported to the Coast Guard by workers on a nearby rig around 9:20 a.m. (10:20 a.m. ET)—was not sparked by an explosion. It started at one of the platform’s seven active wells, the company said, though its cause is under investigation.

The company said an initial flyover of the site indicated “no hydrocarbon spill.” However, Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon said there is a sheen on the water at the site of the platform, measuring about 100-feet wide and stretching for one mile.

The fire at the platform is not out yet, but it has been contained, she said.

Jindal said that Mariner has told him that all seven wells have been closed off and that what is burning now is from fuel in storage, and not from an active leak.

During the last week of August, production from the platform averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and 1,400 barrels (58,800 gallons) of oil, the company said.

David Reed, a paramedic on board a nearby oil rig, said he suddenly saw “a bunch of smoke” from the direction of the Vermilion platform, and radios in his rig’s control room started “lighting up like a Christmas tree” soon after.

The incident comes nearly five months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and causing a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico—one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

That oil rig, contracted by BP, had 126 workers. It burned for three days before finally sinking.

Thursday’s incident took place aboard a production platform, which is built after a well is drilled and remains in place for years. Oil rigs drill the wells. The platforms pump pressure down the hole to keep the well flowing, and sometimes collect the oil or gas, or both.

U.S. agencies and BP capped the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well July 15, stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf. The effects of the huge spill could hurt the region for years.

The failure of the well’s blowout preventer triggered the April 20 explosion, and crews are expected to remove the equipment from the well since it may hold valuable forensic evidence as to why it failed.

The Obama administration tried to impose a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon in April, but the ban is currently in legal limbo.

A group of companies that provide boats and equipment to the deepwater drilling industry sued to overturn the ban and won in June.

The government tried again in July, imposing a new moratorium and asking for the suit to be thrown out. A federal judge refused this week to dismiss it.

The Vermilion platform did not violate the moratorium, said Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which replaced the Minerals Management Service.

“This was an oil and gas production platform in approximately 340 feet of water, 102 miles offshore Louisiana (80 nautical miles),” she said. “This platform was authorized to produce oil and gas at this water depth. The current suspension involves drilling rigs in water depths greater than 500 feet,” she said.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the federal government has “assets ready” to respond to any environmental problems resulting from the fire on the Vermilion structure.

Mariner Energy describes itself as one of the leading independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said it had interests in about 350 federal offshore leases last year, with more than 110 of the 350 in development.

The company has about 300 employees. Its most recent quarterly net income was $1.7 million.

Shares of Mariner Energy slipped 5 percent Thursday after the fire was reported. Shares of Mariner Energy fell $1.16 to $22.19.

The company is in the process of a planned merger with a larger company, Apache Corporation. The merger is about four to six weeks away from completion, an Apache spokesman said.

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BP Resumes Work on Failed Gulf Oil Well

VOA News 02 September 2010

Oil company BP has begun removing a temporary cap and failed safety valve from the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Company spokesman Neil Chapman told VOA the work began shortly before midday Thursday.  He said he expects the procedure to take most of the day.

The safety valve, known as a blowout preventer, is a device designed to shut down an oil well in the event of an accident such as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion April 20 that resulted in the Gulf oil spill.

National Incident Commander retired Admiral Thad Allen told reporters Wednesday that after the blowout preventer is removed, it will be brought to the surface and examined by investigators.  Allen said that when the new blowout preventer is in place, work on a relief well will resume, eventually allowing for crews to permanently seal the well from the bottom with mud and cement.

If all goes well, Allen expects that process to be completed sometime next week.

Work to remove the well cap and blowout preventer was halted Monday because of high seas in the area.

The April 20 explosion killed 11 people and ruptured the well.  An estimated 5 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf, fouling beaches and marshlands and devastating the region’s fishing and tourism industries.  

The temporary cap put in place in mid-July halted that oil flow.

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T.I. is in trouble with the law. Again.

By Chris Richards

Just moments ago, Click Track asked who’s missing from this year’s Virgin Mobile FreeFest line-up. Now, an act currently booked for the mega-fest may or may not be showing up: T.I.

The Georgia rapper and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, were arrested in Hollywood Wednesday night on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines. The arrest comes just five months after T.I was released from prison on weapons charges.

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