Oil Rigs Just Don't Explode - Al Qaeda? 9/11-II?

today | epluribus_2

[epluribus_2]

If you wanted to punch the U.S. right now, that would have been one effective as H^^^ way to do it, with many bad consequences.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Right, with enough oxygen at the outset, oil will burn hot as sin. From a constant flow, it would be relentless too.

[XenaLee]

Pardon my ignorance, but why don’t all rigs have emergency evacuation plans and procedures? Hell, even an inflatable raft would be better than freezing in the water.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Fire doesn’t melt steel either.

Open hearth furnaces
Blast furnaces
Cupola furnace
Crucible furnace
Basic oxygen converter
Bessemer converter
Electric arc furnace
Induction furnace

All are capable of generating the 2500 or so degrees Fahrenheit needed to melt iron or steel. The first four do it by burning fuel (fire!). The two 'converters' actually convert iron into steel (lower the carbon content) by blowing either air or pure oxygen through molten iron. The air(O₂) blast burns the excess carbon in the iron, raising the temperature and produces steel (& CO/CO₂). The last two are electric furnaces although you could make a case for the arc furnace as using fire if you ever get the chance to see one in operation.

In a similar manner oxygen lances and oxy/acetylene torches are used to cut steel and other ferrous alloys by burning it away with an oxygen blast. Once the cut is started you can shut off the acetylene and continue cutting with just the O₂ as you are actually burning the steel.

Also, steel begins to loose strength long before it actually melts. That's why a blacksmith heats the metal before s/he forges it into shape. Steel becomes plastic at a dull red heat and will flow into complicated shapes with the application of force between hammer and anvil.

In a nut shell, fire melts steel every day. Steel burns under the proper conditions. Steel looses strength long before it melts. These thing are true and that's a good thing because otherwise we'd still be living in the 'stone age'!

Regards,
GtG

PS FTI Hobbyists make iron castings using their backyard crucible furnaces. Some use propane, others crankcase drain oil to fuel their micro furnaces.

[Bigun]

Sometimes, instead of attempting to solve the problems themselves the engineers would send an RFP to vendors and have the vendors solve the problem for them. They got a good grade but learned very little from the exercise.

I have learned to never underestimate the devious mind of a young engineer!

I would disagree with your assertion that they learned very little however. I think they learned a great deal and most of what they learned is wrong!

The best trained engineers I ever worked with were those who had gotten their start with companies who required, as a part of their training, that they work as operators on shift for a minimum of 6 months before they were assigned to any project.

[Bigun]

They do my dear! The problem is that things unforeseen sometimes make a shambles of them!

[IMR 4350]

They may listen to people that are at or above their level. Anyone below their level, forget about it.
People below them are not trying to give them advise on the big things, the actual engineering problems, they try to give them advise on the small things that they are experienced with, they don't listen. Exxon engineers were the worst. They were quick to let you know they were Exxon engineers and they were smarter than you.

My job was to make sure the pipe was inspected correctly before it went down hole. Exxon engineers came up with their own specs on how it should be done. One of the specs was you couldn't/t role a jt of pipe more than 3ft without a protector on the threads.

The crew I was monoriting was inspecting 20in. I had to point out to the Exxon engineer it was impossible to inspect the 20in by Exxon specs because it took more than 3ft to role the pipe just to inspect it.

I suggested to the Exxon engineer that we just ignore that part of the specs and inspect the pipe. Nope wasn't going to do it.

The entire operation had to be shut down until the Exxon engineers had a meeting to discuss how to go about inspecting a jt of pipe that you had to role more than 3ft without a protector on the threads.

It only took Exxon's engineers 3 DAYS to come up with the most brilliant solution you ever heard of. Rewrite the specs.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

When was the last time an oil platform sank and the blowout protector did not work and remote submermissibles couldn't shut it off either?

The boat sank because the BOP didn't work and the resultant fire caused structural weakening near the wellhead with the draw works and all the drill string pipe stacked as a dead load. I'd surmise that the platform sagged enough to cause the two hulls to twist until they started taking on water.

As to the BOP, The question is where was it? Normally the BOP is installed just below the 'Kelly table' which rotates the drill string. This is certainly true of wells drilled on dry land. If there is a different practice for deep water wells it probably was located 5000 feet down on the sea floor. The pile of debris from the sunken platform and the 5000 feet of pipe could be blocking any approach to the underwater wellhead by ROVs.

Regards,
GtG

[El Gato]

A foreign submarine in the Gulf of Mexico is not possible

Tell that to the Germans. They managed to sink 56 ships in the Gulf during 1942 and 1943. The only sub we sank was the U-166, about 45 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, not too far from where this rig exploded and sank.

Sure our ASW is much better now, but we don't have much, if any, in the Gulf. A small mini sub, like the North Koreans and Iranians have, could be carried as cargo (which we SHOULD have detected in route) to Cuba.

This is the Iranian model, carries mines or a torpedo.

With Guess Who doing an inspection

This is a google maps shot of the Bandar-e-Abbas naval base I see what appears to be six of the little forkers in the NE (upper right) section of the base, moored in 3 nests of 2 each.

It appears somewhat similar to the NK Sang-O class.

[IMR 4350]

I went to high school with a guy that lost part of a finger “BETTING” somebody he could move his hand before the other guy could sling the chain on the drill pipe and cut his hand off.

Since he only lost part of his finger and not his hand he won the bet. IIRC it was a couple of hundred bucks.

I’d rather have the finger.

[mnehring]

That thing looks like WWII surplus.

[mnehring]

why don’t all rigs have emergency evacuation plans and procedures?

They do, and pretty sophisticated life boats as well. From what I understand, most go through at least two evac drills every week.

[GonzoGOP]

Picky, picky, picky. It would be one Hell of a shot to launch a torpedo from a Cuban port and hit a drill stem one mile under water and a hundred or so miles away.

Well they supposedly bought four North Korean Sang-O class subs. They also had an old Foxtrot boat, but I think that is out of service. However since the Sang-O class was specifically designed to deliver commando and sabotage teams in shallow water I'm thinking that if they got one of those they wouldn't need to shoot from 100 miles away. Just drive up submerged and drop a mine.

BTW for the record I don't buy into the sabotage deal. Rigs have blown up in the past without the help of sabotage. They will do so again. My comment was that you somehow think that we could keep foreign subs out of the Gulf of Mexico. The Russians operated there during the cold war with the Cubans giving them a lane in. Subs are by their nature very hard to find. Especially when they can hide in Cuban or Mexican territorial waters where we can't even begging to look for them.

[texmexis best]

“Fire doesn’t melt steel either.”

Then explain:

Oxy-acetylene torch. I own and use one.

Bessemer converters that are heated with LPG.

You don’t know what you’re talking about.

[GonzoGOP]

Pardon my ignorance, but why don’t all rigs have emergency evacuation plans and procedures? Hell, even an inflatable raft would be better than freezing in the water.

Piper Alpha was the cause of most of the current safety regulations on oil rigs, kind of like how Titanic was the cause of the passenger liner regulations. On the Piper Alpha the life boats were on one side of the rig, the crews quarters were on the other. And the pipe lines carrying the natural gas and oil were between them. To say the least that was not a good design. Worse yet the PA was a collection point for several other rigs. So even after the explosion and fire the other rigs kept pumping more fuel into the conflagration for several more minutes. When the fire started they crew was cut off from the life boats. And in the North Sea a a life vest or a little rubber raft isn't going to be enough.

[GonzoGOP]

That thing looks like WWII surplus.

Look can be deceiving. Not very fast, but very quiet on batteries. And the entire upper hull is fiberglass. Darn near stealth when on the surface to put divers ashore. It isn't a fleet boat, but it is designed to deliver spies and commando teams into South Korea. They are built to be cheap and disposable. When one went aground in South Korea the crew killed themselves rather than get captured.

[El Gato]

That thing looks like WWII surplus.

Not really, it's much smaller than any U-boat. Maybe a bit like the sort of Japenese min-sub that was used on 7 Dec 1941, but more sophisticated

(This one is in the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg Texas, where I saw it up close and personal.

The Japanese built a potful of them,, of various models

[Hillbillary]

Any word yet on why this thing blew up?

With the current administration and the coincidence of the timing of this situation, I seriously doubt we will ever get any more info about this explosion, or the Ft. Hood shooter. I am completely baffled over the lack of media coverage "on the scene" anywhere near the area or the families of the missing. Why BP was drilling is also an enigma, they usually lease an area or lot and refuse to drill, thus not allowing someone to drill also.

[Semper Mark]

You’re welcome.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

We will never know until the media starts asking questions.

[RebelTex]

And some people wonder why oil field workers are called ‘roughnecks’. Could that be why they are among the highest paid manual labor?

Dangerous, hard, dirty, physically demanding, long hours, often harsh climate, unforgiving job.

My thanks and appreciation to those ‘roughnecks’ who make our lives easier.