Drama Under Water In The Gulf Of Mexico
Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 10:01AM 
One mile under water in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum is leading the effort to stave off an environmental disaster.
Oil is still escaping from the remains of a drilling rig in which 11 people lost their lives. (The New York Times does a great job of examining the companies involved in the drilling rig disaster.)
The short term focus is to stop the rapid spread of oil in the Gulf in an effort to save the environment. Normal well shutdown procedures have not worked and drilling a relief well to stop the oil leak will take months to complete.
So, technology is being used to try and avert an environmental disaster. Technology that has never been used so far under water before. Small robots tried to complete the oil shutoff but so far have failed. In addition, British Petroleum (BP) has built a 100 ton metal dome and lowered it into the Gulf over the broken rig in an attempt to capture the oil before it enters the sea.
The plan was for robots to fasten the dome on the seabed and for the dome to capture the oil. The oil would be pumped out of the dome into drums on a barge and the oil would then be sent to be refined. Recent reports indicate that gas hydrates, ice-like crystals lighter than water, had built up inside the metal container at the top of the dome as the dome was being moved into place. The problem has delayed the process and the dome has been for now moved to the side of the site.
The stakes of this solution are high as the fishing industry and the environment of the entire Gulf Coast is currently at risk. It is man and his cutting edge technology against potentially the worst oil spill in the nations history and time is running out.
There is drama under water in the Gulf Of Mexico this weekend. There are long term political and business ramifications for the Gulf coast, President Obama, BP and the entire oil and oil drilling industry. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.
(BP Plc ADR is a current holding in the Model Retirement Portfolio)
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