Background and Technical Info on the Gulf Drilling Rig Incident incl BOP and ROV Site Info

Multiple ^ | May 1, 2010 | Self

[combat_boots]

Thank you.

[Yo-Yo]

Mark Levin radio program with a "Jim" who claimed to have been onboard the rig when it blew: Audio.

[cripplecreek]

Where my pie at?

[Bhoy]

The Gulf oil rig explosion – on the scene photosPosted on May 1, 2010 by Anthony Watts

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/01/the-gulf-oil-rig-explosion-on-the-scene-photos/#more-19096

[Windflier]

Where my pie at?

Here ya go. Now hush up and read.

LOL

[mosesdapoet]

This piece also deals with the torpedo accusation as well as other possibilities and the problems involved
http://www.theusmat.com/

[MrPiper]

This was not an accident. I’m sure zero is happy with the outcome.

[Bean Counter]

Outstanding job of putting this together; this is exactly what I was looking for and it’s of great help in understanding all of this.

Many, many thanks!

BC

[rlmorel]

Thanks for posting this great thread. With Freepers like you and Thackney posting energy related topics, we can be assured that we will be well informed.

As someone who believes that there are government entities who have both an ideological and financial interest in seeing energy costs skyrocket, I am withholding judgement at this time as to the cause.

I understand these types of fires (well, maybe not THIS big) are more common than one might think, but this is too convenient for me to rule it out of hand. I will keep an open mind.

[gunsequalfreedom]

You are a credit to FR. Your post is exactly what is best about this forum. Thanks for that work. I am now setting into reading the material.

[rlmorel]

Wow. In looking at the video of the submersible trying to close the valve, it looks the current is REALLY strong, the way the particulates fly by.

[Frantzie]

The NK sub sounds crazy but was it two weeks ago that a SK navy ship was blown up and sunk? Some think it was a mine or torpedo.

The drilling rig ship was built in SK by Hyundai and they may have still owned it and leased it to TransOcean.

[FreePaul]

I've not seen this discussed in any articles. All of the semi-submersible rigs that I'm familiar with are designed to be driven off location in an emergency in order to escape the consequences of a massive blowout. Was this rig an exception or did someone fail to activate the "drive off" system.

It takes quite a while for gas to rise five thousand feet in drilling mud. There are many early indications that gas is entering the casing and remedies for the situation before a disaster occurs. A "kick" is a pending blowout that is controlled before it becomes serious. A blowout is the result of multiple problems including human error and equipment failure.

If the gas came to the sea floor then to the surface from a leak outside of the surface casing the blowout preventers would not help. However, gas coming this way would start five thousand feet below the rig and probably would come to the surface somewhere other than under the rig because of currents.

So far all is speculation so I guess torpedoes and space aliens have to be included for consideration.

[ElenaM]

I suspect Earth First, Greenpeace or other such organizations had a hand in this event and am awaiting the results of a serious investigation.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Great Post,,,

IMHO : I think the BOP failed because it was fouled by

the packer that was being used near the BOP...

[TigersEye]

Great job! Thank you.

[rwh]

Excellent! This is a post that should be added to in order educate those that may not be familiar with the oil and gas industry as many posts on threads dealing with the deep horizon have a ton of misinformation in them!

[Smokin' Joe]

Two quick thoughts:

If the well is venting from the drill pipe, the float valve (provided there is one in the drill string) has failed.

If the well is venting oil from the riser, the BOP either did not actuate or the pipe is bent in the BOP and will not permit the rams to close effectively.

Lifting the pipe in the wellbore may permit the pipe rams to be closed, but would be an engineering marvel to accomplish.

While that would not address the problem of oil venting from the drill pipe, setting slips with an ROV to hold the drill pipe in place and cutting the pipe might permit better control of the outflow by tapping into the drill string (as one possibility), or if the blind rams can be actuated, cutting the pipe and dropping it into the wellbore would permit the blind rams to function if they are not damaged.

The riser would have to be stripped away first to permit this.

There is no simple fix to control the well—that would be as ‘easy’ as it gets at this point.

[Java4Jay]

ping