QUICK NEWS, 5-17: OIL SPILL KNOWNS & HYPOTHESES; CLIMATE BILLS COMPARED; ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL ENDORSED; ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL DISSECTED, APPROVED

OIL SPILL KNOWNS & HYPOTHESES
BP spill: Lists reveal what is known, what could have happened
May 14, 2010 (Oil & Gas Journal)

[“What We Know” from the US Oversight and Investigations subcommittee inquiring into the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil spill:] "[1] Before, during, or after the cement job, an undetected influx of hydrocarbons entered the wellbore…[2] The 9-7/8-in. casing was tested, the 9-7/8-in. casing hanger packoff was set and tested, and the entire system was tested…[3] After 16½ hr waiting on cement, a test was performed on the wellbore below the blowout preventer (BOP)…[4] During this test, 1,400 psi was observed on the drill pipe while 0 psi was observed on the kill and the choke lines.

"…[5] Following the test, hydrocarbons were unknowingly circulated to surface while displacing the riser with seawater…[6] As hydrocarbons rose to the surface, they expanded, further reducing the hydrostatic pressure. The well flowed and witness accounts suggest that the annular preventer in the BOP and the diverter were activated…[7] An explosion occurred, followed by a power failure…[8] Witness accounts that the emergency disconnect system was activated."

From National Geographic - click to enlarge

The best reporting so far. Go to the 60 Minutes website for the complete story. From iykfga via YouTube

"…[9] The rig was evacuated…[10] The BOP system failed to work as intended. Flow was not contained and the lower marine riser package did not disconnect…[11] Modification have been discovered in the BOP system…[12] Leaks have been discovered in the BOP hydraulics system…[13] BP launched an investigation, which is ongoing.

"Investigation themes…[1] Cementing—design and execution…[2] Casing—design and installation…[3] Casing hanger—design and installation…[4] BOP—configuration, maintenance, and operation…[5] Well control practices."

From National Geographic - click to enlarge

The best reporting so far. Go to the 60 Minutes website for the complete story. From iykfga via YouTube

['What Could Have Happened' from the US Oversight and Investigations subcommittee inquiring into the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil spill:] "[1] Before or during the cement job, an influx of hydrocarbon enters the wellbore…[2] Influx is circulated during cement job to wellhead and BOP…[3] 9-7/8-in. casing hanger packoff set and positively tested to 6,500 psi…[4] After 16½ hr waiting on cement, a negative test performed on wellbore below BOP. (~1,400 psi differential pressure on 9-7/8-in. casing hanger packoff and ~2,350 psi on double-valve float collar)…

"[5] Packoff leaks allowing hydrocarbon to enter wellbore below BOP. 1,400 psi shut in pressure observed on drill pipe (no flow or pressure observed on kill line)…[6] Hydrocarbon below BOP is unknowingly circulated to surface while finishing displacing the riser…[7] As hydrocarbon rises to surface, gas break out of solution further reduces hydrostatic pressure in well. Well begin to flow, BOPs and emergency disconnect system (EDS) activated but failed…[8] Packoff continues to leak allowing further influx from bottom."


CLIMATE BILLS COMPARED
The Climate Bills, Side by Side
Sindya N. Bhanoo, May 14, 2010 (NY Times)

"Many of the differences between the House and Senate climate and energy bills are so slight that you could almost call them similarities, judging from a side-by-side comparison put together by the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan advisory group.

"One of the more concrete differences lies in the floor and ceiling that each bill sets for the price that companies will have to pay for permits to emit greenhouse gases under a proposed cap and trade system. The House bill, approved last June, says the permit cost would be $10 to $28 per ton…[Kerry-Lieberman] calls for a range of $12 to $25 per ton."

click through for the complete comparison

"That disparity may seem slight to the layman. But the potential range in costs, $18 in the House bill and $13 in the Senate bill, is of great interest to investors, who might prefer a narrow band so they can better understand and predict the permits’ potential effects on the market…[But] both bills set out to keep the prices contained."

[Paul Bledsoe, spokesman/strategist, National Commission on Energy Policy:] “It’s important for the market, for the investors…You want predictability…The bills do have a price floor and a price ceiling, and I think that’s worth pointing out…”


ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL ENDORSED
Flawed energy bill beats current policies
Editorial, May 15, 2010 (Detroit Free Press)

"Congress should tune out the naysayers and skeptics who suggest the timing is all wrong for an energy bill...Continued dithering will do more harm than almost any change in policy...

"...Senate action on the Kerry-Lieberman bill...would end the uncertainty that is delaying decisions in some cases and prompting rash actions in others. The bill attempts both to cut down on global warming gases and to limit the country's dependence on oil, and, with some quickly inserted new safety provisions, even includes offshore drilling in U.S. waters."

click to enlarge

"Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have come up with a decent framework for ratcheting back on carbon dioxide emissions through a well-regulated cap-and-trade system. Much of the increased costs to utilities for participating would be rebated back to customers, greatly minimizing the impact on everyone's electric bills.

"In other respects, the American Power Act is a sort of feeding frenzy for energy interests, with chum for the nuclear power industry, farmers, natural gas producers, spurious clean-coal development and alternative energy boosters...Americans probably would rebel at anything that smacked of more detailed planning."

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"Americans, at least as Congress perceives the country, also are allergic to anything that threatens access to cheap energy. Hence the costs will be routed through subsidies, research grants and tax credits. This disguises the economic impact without giving consumers the price signals that might actually help them modify behavior -- but it apparently is the best that can be hoped for.

"Flawed as all this may seem, the bill is far superior to the status quo. Enactment of an energy plan, besides giving U.S. industries the certainty they need, would commit the country to serious work on alternative forms of energy -- a realm in which the U.S. has fallen increasingly behind other countries and which is expected to generate a strong wave of new jobs...The energy bill should stay on the Senate's front burner."


ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL DISSECTED, APPROVED
Digging Into The Senate Climate Bill
Joseph Romm, May 13, 2010 (Forbes)

"…[ Analyses of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act] have shown how clean energy legislation will create 1.7 million jobs and opportunities for low-income families, including lower energy bills…[Two-thirds of revenues not dedicated to reducing the deficit will be rebated to consumers.] The rest goes to low-carbon energy development and deployment along with things to aid industries in transition to a low carbon economy.

"In the later years, every penny not spent to reduce the deficit will go directly back to consumers…You might call it cap-and-dividend, were the name not taken…[M]uch of this money goes back to consumers through the local regulated utilities, but that was not only inevitable from a political perspective — to keep utilities and Senators from the mid-west and south from immediately bolting — it’s actually a good idea from the perspective of regional equity…"

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"The auctioning…floor price starts at $12 in 2013 and rises 3% plus inflation each year. The ceiling starts at $25 increasing 5% plus inflation annually…[A]fter the regular allowances are auctioned off — and then after the strategic reserve is auctioned off…the hard ceiling is maintained by providing unlimited new allowances…[But] I can’t see us getting near the ceiling price until well into the 2020s since the emissions targets are so weak compared to where we are today…

"…[T]here are still 2 billion offsets, but they won’t vitiate the 2020 target because, again, it’s too easy to meet with efficiency, conservation, renewables, and natural gas fuel switching. Large quantities of offsets aren’t gonna be cheaper those solutions…I doubt offsets will comprise even 3% out of the 17% target achieved by emitters in 2020…The oversight provision seems pretty solid…[M]ost of the offsets sold will be domestic ones…The domestic offsets do represent the opportunity for some real income by farmers….A pay check for leasing a small portion of land for sustainable energy development like putting in a wind turbine that can earn them $3,000 to $15,000 per year…A paycheck for sequestering carbon in their soils by engaging in more sustainable and productive farming practices, and…A paycheck for producing 2nd generation biofuel crops…"

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"The bill has restrictions on new drilling…The bill does set aside a considerable amount of allowances to improve energy efficiency and promote renewable energy…The bill starts with capping the utility sector in 2013…Industrial sources will not enter the program until 2016…[when] energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries receive allowances to upset both their direct and indirect compliance costs. This assistance will be distributed in a way that rewards efficiency investment and make their manufacturing facilities more competitive…There are a number of provisions to block market manipulation…The bill creates…[incentives for researching and developing 72 GW of effective carbon capture and sequestration but since] I don’t expect we will see 72 GW of CCS until well past 2030, this isn’t going to cost taxpayers very much money…[T]he bill does flush a fair amount of money down the toilet incentivizing nuclear power…

"…[The bill ensures] that by the 2020s that we have…substantially dropped below the business-as-usual emissions path…started every major business planning for much deeper reductions ..goosed the cleantech venture and financing community…put in place the entire framework for U.S. climate regulations…accelerated many tens of gigawatts of different types of low-carbon energy into the marketplace…put billions into developing advanced low-carbon technology…started building out the smart, green grid of the 21st century…trained and created millions of clean energy jobs…negotiated a working innternational climate regime…brought China into the process…There really is no Plan B. Certainly leaving this to the EPA and a few states won’t [work]…Sadly, the conventional wisdom is that even this moderate bill has no chance — and I certainly think it doesn’t have very much chance if Obama doesn’t start pushing for it as hard as he pushed for healthcare…"