7 ms·

I’m dumbfounded that Texaco thought drilling there was a good idea.

gameswithgo 5y ago
It is a weird industry man, ceos of the big companies often talk about God and morals a lot but their actual behavior is reckless and greedy. See the decades of knowingly lying about climate change as well. Source: I worked for a big oil company
- taneq 5y ago
  I don’t want anyone who talks about God a lot running a big company, I want someone who takes responsibility for outcomes themselves.
  - vkou 5y ago
    1. What you want doesn't really matter, since you and I don't get to vote on company directorships. 2. You would want God on your side[1], if you're going to operate a controversial[2] business in his country. [1] Or at least claim loudly and frequently that he's on your side. [2] Resource extraction, even in resource-economy regions is always controversial, because of its impact on neighbouring properties. And when your business is controversial, having the clergy on your side can't hurt.
mannykannot 5y ago
And now: Since 1994, AGL Resources has used Lake Peigneur's underlying salt dome as a storage and hub facility for pressurized natural gas. There was concern from local residents in 2009 over the safety of storing the gas under the lake and nearby drilling operations. - Wikipedia. I can understand the residents' concerns!
- beerandt 5y ago
  The over-mining and removal of the salt is what leads to potential geological instability, not using the already excavated space for gas storage.
  - mannykannot 5y ago
    Well, as the incident here was caused by nearby drilling, an attitude of "once bitten, twice shy" is understandable. I am also curious about what happens to the water in the mine. Did the hole, big enough to swallow the drilling rig and several barges, seal up, and were the workings then pumped dry? If the water is still there, presumably it would become a saturated solution, but I am wondering if that could still erode the salt, on account of continual exchange of ions between the solution and crystals of salt? Or would the water be entirely absorbed into the salt crysyals, given that NaCl and other salts are hygroscopic? If I were a local resident, I would have more than a mild curiosity in these questions.
    - beerandt 5y ago
      Well the same mine, on the same 1300 ft level, had a water intrusion related collapse about 10 years prior that killed 4 miners. Without any oil drilling going on in the area. Part of the engineering involved in the design of these mines is based on leaving enough salt, such that X" of salt on the surfaces will be dissolved by the mine eventually being flooded, either intentionally or not. After that surface-salt is dissolved (and the water approaches being supersaturated brine), enough solid structural salt needs to be left to support all of the overburden, with some additional factor of safety. Worst case would be some sort of underground fresh water river flowing through indefinitely. But mine design incorporates ways to naturally seal off flooded areas, such that even if they are left "open" to some connection of water, the supersaturated brine will effectively plug that hole. Usually as simple as changing elevations so that a brine-water interface forms that blocks any natural flow. And once water is supersaturated with salt, salt is no longer "hygroscopic", in the sense that it's no longer water, but brine.
      - mannykannot 5y ago
        I said that I can understand the local residents' concerns, and I don't see how the fact of the prior event would do anything to alleviate those concerns. On the other hand, I see that the storage cavities were created independently of, and some distance (horizontally and vertically) away from the flooded mine, which should answer their concerns that the flooding had made the proposal risky. https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050528/http://www.aglresources.com/about/jish_qa.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050528/http://www.aglres...
adolph 5y ago
The development of salt domes can deform rock units into traps that hold oil and natural gas. https://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/ https://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/ Diamond Crystal sued the state because Louisiana owns and leases land on which the drilling took place. The company claimed the state was responsible for keeping the mining and drilling operations safely separated, Guste said. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/07/Settlement-reached-in-Jeff-Island-accident/4485426398400/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/07/Settlement-reached-i...
compiler-guy 5y ago
Drilling near mines of all sorts happens regularly without incident. This was a spectacular failure, but you don’t hear about the routine successes.
- beerandt 5y ago
  Even this failure was a success, in that the safety regulations worked well enough that no one was killed or injured.

It is a weird industry man, ceos of the big companies often talk about God and morals a lot but their actual behavior is reckless and greedy. See the decades of knowingly lying about climate change as well. Source: I worked for a big oil company

taneq 5y ago
I don’t want anyone who talks about God a lot running a big company, I want someone who takes responsibility for outcomes themselves.
- vkou 5y ago
  1. What you want doesn't really matter, since you and I don't get to vote on company directorships. 2. You would want God on your side[1], if you're going to operate a controversial[2] business in his country. [1] Or at least claim loudly and frequently that he's on your side. [2] Resource extraction, even in resource-economy regions is always controversial, because of its impact on neighbouring properties. And when your business is controversial, having the clergy on your side can't hurt.

mannykannot 5y ago

And now: Since 1994, AGL Resources has used Lake Peigneur's underlying salt dome as a storage and hub facility for pressurized natural gas. There was concern from local residents in 2009 over the safety of storing the gas under the lake and nearby drilling operations. - Wikipedia. I can understand the residents' concerns!

beerandt 5y ago
The over-mining and removal of the salt is what leads to potential geological instability, not using the already excavated space for gas storage.
- mannykannot 5y ago
  Well, as the incident here was caused by nearby drilling, an attitude of "once bitten, twice shy" is understandable. I am also curious about what happens to the water in the mine. Did the hole, big enough to swallow the drilling rig and several barges, seal up, and were the workings then pumped dry? If the water is still there, presumably it would become a saturated solution, but I am wondering if that could still erode the salt, on account of continual exchange of ions between the solution and crystals of salt? Or would the water be entirely absorbed into the salt crysyals, given that NaCl and other salts are hygroscopic? If I were a local resident, I would have more than a mild curiosity in these questions.
  - beerandt 5y ago
    Well the same mine, on the same 1300 ft level, had a water intrusion related collapse about 10 years prior that killed 4 miners. Without any oil drilling going on in the area. Part of the engineering involved in the design of these mines is based on leaving enough salt, such that X" of salt on the surfaces will be dissolved by the mine eventually being flooded, either intentionally or not. After that surface-salt is dissolved (and the water approaches being supersaturated brine), enough solid structural salt needs to be left to support all of the overburden, with some additional factor of safety. Worst case would be some sort of underground fresh water river flowing through indefinitely. But mine design incorporates ways to naturally seal off flooded areas, such that even if they are left "open" to some connection of water, the supersaturated brine will effectively plug that hole. Usually as simple as changing elevations so that a brine-water interface forms that blocks any natural flow. And once water is supersaturated with salt, salt is no longer "hygroscopic", in the sense that it's no longer water, but brine.
    - mannykannot 5y ago
      I said that I can understand the local residents' concerns, and I don't see how the fact of the prior event would do anything to alleviate those concerns. On the other hand, I see that the storage cavities were created independently of, and some distance (horizontally and vertically) away from the flooded mine, which should answer their concerns that the flooding had made the proposal risky. https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050528/http://www.aglresources.com/about/jish_qa.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050528/http://www.aglres...

adolph 5y ago

The development of salt domes can deform rock units into traps that hold oil and natural gas. https://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/ https://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/ Diamond Crystal sued the state because Louisiana owns and leases land on which the drilling took place. The company claimed the state was responsible for keeping the mining and drilling operations safely separated, Guste said. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/07/Settlement-reached-in-Jeff-Island-accident/4485426398400/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/07/Settlement-reached-i...

compiler-guy 5y ago

Drilling near mines of all sorts happens regularly without incident. This was a spectacular failure, but you don’t hear about the routine successes.

beerandt 5y ago
Even this failure was a success, in that the safety regulations worked well enough that no one was killed or injured.