Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma

247 Pages·2012·4.155 MB·English

by  Joseph A. Tainter, Tadeusz W. Patzek (auth.)

Drilling Down
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Joseph A. Tainter Tadeusz W. Patzek
(cid:76)
Drilling Down
The Gulf Oil Debacle
and Our Energy Dilemma
Joseph A. Tainter Tadeusz W. Patzek
Department of Environment and Society Department of Petroleum
Utah State University and Geosystems Engineering
Logan, UT 84322 USA The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712 USA
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published in the United States by Copernicus Books,
an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media.
Copernicus Books
Springer Science+Business Media
233 Spring Street
New York, NY 10013
www.springer.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011935227
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Printed on acid-free paper
ISBN 978-1-4419-7676-5 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-7677-2
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-7677-2
In memory of Anne O’Rourke
– JAT
For my wife, Joanna, and my children, Lucas, Sophie,
and Julie
–TWP
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Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the many people who encouraged us and
helped with this book. Myrna and Charles Hall of the State University of
New York at Syracuse suggested that we write it, and this project would not
have been undertaken without their foresight. Joyce Vandewater prepared a
number of illustrations, excellently as always. Steve Balogh kindly provided
the data for Fig. 5.9.
Joseph Tainter is particularly pleased to acknowledge the support and
sharp observations of his wife, Bonnie Bagley, who has been a true intellec-
tual partner in all of his work.
Tad Patzek would like to thank Dr. Paul Bommer of the University of
Texas, Austin, for numerous discussions, corrections, and help with the vari-
ous technical aspects of the Macondo saga. He also wants to thank his son,
Lucas, for ample feedback and editorial suggestions, and his wife, Joanna, for
saintly patience.
Finally, it is a particular pleasure to thank Dr. David Packer for being the
best editor either of us has worked with. David improved the text greatly, and
if what you see here achieves its purpose, it is largely thanks to him.
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Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1
2 The Significance of Oil in the Gulf of Mexico ................................ 7
3 The Energy That Runs the World ......................................................... 23
4 Offshore Drilling and Production: A Short History ....................... 53
5 The Energy-Complexity Spiral .............................................................. 65
6 The Benefits and Costs of Complexity ................................................ 97
7 What Happened at the Macondo Well ................................................ 135
8 Why the Gulf Disaster Happened ........................................................ 159
9 Our Energy and Complexity Dilemma: Prospects
for the Future .............................................................................................. 185
Appendix A: Glossary ....................................................................................... 215
Appendix B: Offshore Production ................................................................ 219
Appendix C: Operating an Offshore Platform .......................................... 231
About the Authors ............................................................................................. 235
Index ...................................................................................................................... 239
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