<DrumBeat: September 19, 2006 The Oil Drum DrumBeat: September 20, 2006>

140 comments on The Forest and the Trees -- the Oil News Imbalance

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Don in Colorado on September 19, 2006 - 6:28pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
There's a disaster movie in there somewhere, Bob. :)
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totoneila on September 19, 2006 - 7:17pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Hello Don,

Check out this link on towing icebergs.  My guess is that this is extremely energy intensive because 90% of the berg is underwater.  Tugboats are basically dragging a huge underwater mass through billions of gallons of seawater--they won't move easily.  In rough seas, the berg may want to rock & tumble making it nearly impossible to keep the towline on.  The tugboat & berg have to move faster than the current they are both floating in to have any measureable effect if the current is headed towards an oil platform.  The tug operator also has to compensate for wind drift too.

How would you like to have the winter job of floating in a boat in frigid, tossing seas sledgehammering or hot-water spraying off the ice forming on the underside of an oil-rig?

Bob Shaw in Phx,Az  Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

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Don in Colorado on September 19, 2006 - 8:25pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I'm so distraught already I can't even thinking about hauling icebergs around the arctic in superblizzards.

Tell you what, Bob. You come up here and help me guard the gardens in the summer and I'll come down there and watch the fire tornados rage through Chandler in the winter with you.

We might as well have some fun with this!

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PeakPlus on September 20, 2006 - 7:33am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
How about putting a sail on em let mother nature blow em somewhere else?
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haggisbasher on September 20, 2006 - 8:53am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Spent some time drilling on the Grand Banks.  The recommended technique far smaller "bergy bits" was that the ice breaker on standby used their water cannon to shove the ice and divert it. The actual distance you need to move it is not great, just enough to clear the rig with a little bit of safety margin.  For anything too large to move, once it came within a certain distance, operations were suspended, riser disconnected.  Once collision was highly likely, we had weak links in the anchor chains so we could just drop them and move off location.  Works fine for the exploration phase, different story once you are producing. As for sledge hammering ice on the underside of a rig - might work in Hollywood.
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140 comments on The Forest and the Trees -- the Oil News Imbalance

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