Monday, June 28, 2010

BP, Shell evacuate Gulf of Mexico crews - BP and Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico, are evacuating crews from some offshore platforms in the region as a safety precaution because of Tropical Storm Alex. BP removed non-essential workers from its oil-production platforms in the western part of the Gulf. BP’s response to the record U.S. oil spill, located in northern and eastern parts of the Gulf, is unaffected by the evacuations. Shell evacuated 430 people. Alex is forecast to regain strength after moving back out over water. Mexico’s state oil company closed the Cayo Arcas and Dos Bocas export terminals and the Isla del Carmen and Campeche ports.

**Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.**
Confucius

LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.5 OFF COAST OF BIO-BIO, CHILE

Yesterday -
6/27/10 -
5.4 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.6 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.2 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
5.0 TAIWAN REGION
5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

ETHIOPIA - Scientists have seen amazing changes in Afar in the past five years, where the continent is cracking open, quite literally underneath their feet. In 2005, a 60km long stretch of the earth opened up to a width of eight metres over a period of just ten days. Hot, molten rock from deep within the Earth is trickling to the surface and creating the split. Underground eruptions are still continuing and, ultimately, the horn of Africa will fall away and a new ocean will form.
Parts of the region are below sea level and the ocean is only cut off by about a 20-metre block of land in Eritrea. "Eventually this will drift apart. The sea will flood in and will start to create this new ocean. It will pull apart, sink down deeper and deeper and eventually... parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia will drift off, create a new island, and we'll have a smaller Africa and a very big island that floats out into the Indian Ocean." (photo)

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical storm ALEX was 50 nmi WSW of Campeche, Mexico .
Tropical storm CELIA was 914 nmi WSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm DARBY was 216 nmi SW of Acapulco, Mexico.

Tropical storm Alex returns to kill 10 - Alex is again a tropical storm as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico and may become a hurricane. The first major storm of the Atlantic season was entering the Gulf of Mexico today after unleashing landslides and floods that killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Overnight, Alex, which had been downgraded earlier to a tropical depression, strengthened and regained its tropical storm status. "Additional strengthening is forecast - and Alex could become a hurricane within the next 48 hours."
Although it was not due to directly hit the massive BP oil spill off the southern US state of Louisiana, the storm could still generate waves that would hamper clean-up and containment efforts. Forecasters said the storm was expected to dump a total of 10-20cm of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and Guatemala by this afternoon. Up to 38cm of rain were possible in mountainous areas and forecasters warned of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".