Deepwater Horizon - Transocean Oil Rig Fire

[MichaelWSmith]

Please take note that the source you quote is the manufacturer of the product. Not exactly unbiased. Please show me a case where this dispersant has been used in these quantities, on this size of an oil spill. The fact of the matter is, we won't know its FULL effects in this situation for quite some time. It may turn out to be all roses and sunshine and I hope that is the case, but I'll reserve judgement.

I'm fine with "reserving judgment" -- what I object to is giving people the impression that there is no reason to believe this dispersant to be safe and that its use is a totally unknown risk. That is simply not true.

[MichaelWSmith]

Thanks for the info rlaNasa . . . . uh, I mean Michael.

I have no idea who rlaNasa is -- I am merely trying to correct the claim that we have NO IDEA of the effects of using this dispersant. We don't have a PERFECT idea of the effects, but we are not in a position of complete ignorance on the matter.

[MichaelWSmith]

Michael,
make sure you get paid before BP US entity have to seek protection by Chapter 11. The underwater usage of thes quantities of disperant will take BP down. this is 2010 and the environmental organizations are not going home any time soon. Its over.........

I have nothing to do with BP -- I am merely correcting the false claim that we have NO IDEA what the effects of this dispersant will be.

As far as BP "going down" -- well, that is indeed what the environmentalists want and perhaps yourself as well. However, when you succeed in destroying the oil industry, I don't think you'll enjoy what life will be like once they are gone.

[alvis]

Something strange is going on because the DD2 has moved closer to the DD3. What could it be?

What's the status of the DD2 now?

[penrod80]

Something strange is going on because the DD2 has moved closer to the DD3. What could it be?

Closer in terms of drilling depth or closer in proximity on the surface? Since you're out in the field, I'm guessing it's the latter...

Last I heard on Tuesday DD2 was at 12,090' and DD3 was at 8576'. I know DD2 stopped for a few days last week but I never heard why.

[MichaelWSmith]

Lessons learnt ?

I'd love to hear from some of the technically qualified people here regarding Maddow's assertion that "the only thing the oil companies have gotten better at is increasing the risks -- no technological improvments whatsoever have been made toward containing or mitigating the risks".

Maddow is a typical leftist -- anxious to slam the very industries on which her life depends.

[AHTS Master]

The DD2 was 3 miles from the DD3 and now it's a half a mile from the DD3. This took place last night.

[Observer]

The DD2 was 3 miles from the DD3 and now it's a half a mile from the DD3. This took place last night.

Where was DD2 when it started to drill the relief well? Could DD2 still be in the process of returning to its drilling site after drilling was suspended for the BOP on BOP option?


Flow out of the BOP stack (on the Maxx 3 ROV feed) seems to be way down right now and is very distinctly bicolored. About 1/3rd of the flow is orange-red while the other 2/3rds are dark brown. Any ideas?

[alvis]

Flow out of the BOP stack (on the Maxx 3 ROV feed) seems to be way down right now and is very distinctly bicolored. About 1/3rd of the flow is orange-red while the other 2/3rds are dark brown. Any ideas?

I think the lighter color is caused by the gas from the well mixing with the oil. You can see a tinge of white at the lip of the riser where the coloration starts. Would this be the liquid/gas interface?

[Alf]

Use your own judgement.

I watched the newscast, and couldn't agree more with her comparisons...

[AHTS Master]

I've been on location for 8 days and the DD2 has been 3 miles from the DD3 until last night.

Where was DD2 when it started to drill the relief well? Could DD2 still be in the process of returning to its drilling site after drilling was suspended for the BOP on BOP option?


Flow out of the BOP stack (on the Maxx 3 ROV feed) seems to be way down right now and is very distinctly bicolored. About 1/3rd of the flow is orange-red while the other 2/3rds are dark brown. Any ideas?

[CPTdrillersails]

Alvis, that was a very useful link. So they were preparing to put another BOP on top and stopped drilling at one of the relief wells to progress prep of the BOP. I also note that the depth of bore hole is quoted at 18,000 feet, which is about 3 1/2 miles . Now all is on for an LMRP cap or hat.

I am sure that firing another BOP would create a force that would threaten the integrity of the bore. With 3 1/2 miles of fast moving oil column to try and stop in a matter of seconds, I would not be surprised if it knocked the whole assembly off the ocean floor. As Newton said, every force must have an equal and opposite reaction. This length is greater and, given the greater diameters quoted of 36" down to 9", the impulse to overcome movement of the column will have to be several times greater than 16,800,000 kgm/s I estimated based on 9" throughout and only 2 miles long. Stopping that freight train quickly was never going to be an option. The force (and pressure) needed would be huge.

OK, I don't want to be critical, but I've seen this flawed theory on the oil drum and want to debunk it now. You are confusing what the mass is (force = mass * acceleration). The mass is not the mass in the column, it is the mass leaving the column. In other words, to find the force needed to stop the flow, you take the mass being ejected times its velocity and divide by the time you will take to stop it. This force is negligible compared to the reservoir pressure.

[geodude]

Yeah, maybe rlaNasa can figure out a way to reconcile these photos with his statement a couple hours ago that they were going to retrieve the shear again rather than use it right away. Lol.

For those who missed it live...

2 shots of the fish as seen looking into the lower end of the riser (the latest shear cut)

Thanks for catching this image. This observation may be the key to resolving several of the puzzles about this disaster. The mysterious second pipe would appear to be a section of the inner casing from the well which was blown up into the BOP and lower riser by the blowout. We may never know whether it was dislodged from the cement in its entirety or was torn in the middle and the upper section thrust upwards. Given that they had displaced the dense mud in the center casing with lower density seawater I would not be surprised if the differences with the elevated pressures outside the pipe from the gas kick caused it to mechanically fail, breaking the upper section loose to be thrust upwards like a rocket into the works. Given that the pressure differential would be greatest at depth, there might be a very long section of that casing trapped in the crumpled riser.

The presence of casing, with it's higher rated steel, inside the BOP and riser would explain why the rams could not close even though it sounds like they were triggered. It would explain why the rams could not be fully closed manually in the days after the rig sank. It would certainly explain why they had such trouble with the diamond wire cutter. It might also help explain why the top kill did not work, since the open connection through the trapped casing section allowed for pressure release from a point somewhere below the BOP straight out to the riser. There was no way you would ever get mud pushed down very far below the bottom of the broken casing or it would just turn and shoot up the inner pipe (remember the mud jets from the riser?).

It might even help explain the two-toned character of the current flow, since the composition of the fluid at the base of the trapped casing section may be different from what's coming out the outer pipe. The bottom of the pipe may be catching more or less of the exsolved gas than the average for the flow as a whole.

Let's hope they can catch most of the oil until the relief wells get down. Otherwise this is going to be a loooong summer.

[venturecapital]

They just put the cap on.

[alvis]

It's getting a little violent down there..

Those ROVs are going to be well lubricated.

[rlanasa]

And God took it off.....

Thanks for catching this image. This observation may be the key to resolving several of the puzzles about this disaster. The mysterious second pipe would appear to be a section of the inner casing from the well which was blown up into the BOP and lower riser by the blowout. We may never know whether it was dislodged from the cement in its entirety or was torn in the middle and the upper section thrust upwards. Given that they had displaced the dense mud in the center casing with lower density seawater I would not be surprised if the differences with the elevated pressures outside the pipe from the gas kick caused it to mechanically fail, breaking the upper section loose to be thrust upwards like a rocket into the works. Given that the pressure differential would be greatest at depth, there might be a very long section of that casing trapped in the crumpled riser.

The presence of casing, with it's higher rated steel, inside the BOP and riser would explain why the rams could not close even though it sounds like they were triggered. It would explain why the rams could not be fully closed manually in the days after the rig sank. It would certainly explain why they had such trouble with the diamond wire cutter. It might also help explain why the top kill did not work, since the open connection through the trapped casing section allowed for pressure release from a point somewhere below the BOP straight out to the riser. There was no way you would ever get mud pushed down very far below the bottom of the broken casing or it would just turn and shoot up the inner pipe (remember the mud jets from the riser?).

It might even help explain the two-toned character of the current flow, since the composition of the fluid at the base of the trapped casing section may be different from what's coming out the outer pipe. The bottom of the pipe may be catching more or less of the exsolved gas than the average for the flow as a whole.

Let's hope they can catch most of the oil until the relief wells get down. Otherwise this is going to be a loooong summer.

[bigmoose]

There are sure as h_ll two pipes within the riser. I blew the picture up, and tried to do some scaling. The resolution was not the best to determine if there was a fold over in the larger internal pipe to the right.

Scaling off the riser and assuming it was originally 21 inch pipe gives the two approximate sizes for the internal pipes:

Left internal pipe approximately 5.5 inches in diameter and the right internal pipe approximately 6.0 inches in diameter.

The larger DP per the BP document is 5.5 inches in diameter. That is likely the left internal pipe. The 6 incher is a bit of an anomaly, unless as others have said it is the 7 inch lower production liner. BP does say there was a 6 5/8 DP down to 4117 feet crossing to 5.5 inch to 7567 feet, crossing to 3.5 DP ending at 8367. The only two pieces of pipe near our measured 6 inch is the larger DP and the 7 inch lower production liner.

Either way, something has come apart in a significant way.

riser_fish1a..jpg

PS: Let's try to not let the astroturfers dilute this thread with their desired off topic "banter." Let's keep the course steady as she goes...

[ghorouter]

Does the DE have the valve open yet? BOPhat is on.
http://www.deepwaterbp.com/m_3.asp

[rlanasa]

OilDrum.com went down as soon as the action started tonight?

[venturecapital]

There are sure as h_ll two pipes within the riser. I blew the picture up, and tried to do some scaling. The resolution was not the best to determine if there was a fold over in the larger internal pipe to the right.

Scaling off the riser and assuming it was originally 21 inch pipe gives the two approximate sizes for the internal pipes:

Left internal pipe approximately 5.5 inches in diameter and the right internal pipe approximately 6.0 inches in diameter.

The larger DP per the BP document is 5.5 inches in diameter. That is likely the left internal pipe. The 6 incher is a bit of an anomaly, unless as others have said it is the 7 inch lower production liner. BP does say there was a 6 5/8 DP down to 4117 feet crossing to 5.5 inch to 7567 feet, crossing to 3.5 DP ending at 8367. The only two pieces of pipe near our measured 6 inch is the larger DP and the 7 inch lower production liner.

Either way, something has come apart in a significant way.

Attachment 932

PS: Let's try to not let the astroturfers dilute this thread with their desired off topic "banter." Let's keep the course steady as she goes...

Another unlikely scenario is that with other unknown items in the BOP (ie: casing) the sheers did cut through the DP, allowing this twin fish situation to happen.