Posted on 05/07/2010 12:55:44 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand
“I think the post is addressing the the issue of the specific gravity of the oil captured in the dome possibly making the dome bouyant.”
The “dome” weighs in at 100 tonne, that a lot of ballast.
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The dome is actually a FUNNEL with a flanged hole at thge top. The Flange will have pipe/tubing/hose connected to it UP to the surface.
The will treat the pipe/tubing/hose as if it were a wellbore.
They will then place inside that pipe/tubing/hose “coiled tubing” that will be pumping down warm water into the temporary pipe/tubing/hose...to keep the contents flowing and circulating. There is an additional fear that the oil will get thick (coagulate) and possible clog the pipe/tubing/hose.
So I suspect they will try to keep the contents in the funnel (coffer dam) and pipe/tubing/hose constantly circulating.
OIf anyone is interested you could read up on “Velocity strings” (hang offs) that are performed with coiled tubing.
Since they have a huge CT reel and string on location that is now directing “dispersant” directly at the source near the gulf floor...once they have the coffer dam in place and pipe/tubing/hose...they can reel in the ct...and then place it in the temp pipe/tubing/hose and better direct the dispersant and use it as circulation material. BUT it would ruin the oil they are trying to collect...BUT maybe they aren’t concerned with gather oil as much as limiting the damaging effects...there is no profit window here at this time.
Don’t be surprised that in the next few days they kill this well with a “TOP KILL”...where they pump garbage and other debris into the well with extremely heavy mud.
They could accomplish that rather quickly and give the crews the time they will need in the upcoming hurricane season to drill a relief well safely.
Damn good work. I WANT FOOTAGE! lol
It will be a geezer!
how far is the practical distance limit for drilling, since you seem to know what your talking about?
“the pressure of the sea water at that depth has to be taken into consideration”
Yup, but not in the way a lot of people are thinking. This isn’t a “crush depth” problem except maybe for the robots.
Submarines crush because they have to maintain a relatively low pressure inside for the crew.
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closed objects that can not exert the same outward pressure as the weight of the water upon.
SO the coffer dam, if you noticed had wings on 4 sides...
mass to allow the ocean to PUSH DOWN...as for the pressure coming up...it isn’t like they are going to open the BOPS and place this baby over a huge gusher...
They are placing this over the worst of two leaks in the riser.
Think of the riser as crumbled garden hose with bends in it...even tho the water force at the sill cock is fully on, the bends have diminished some of the psi.
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Blow out and well control has become a lost art on land...so many safety devices to be had and employed.
I have my money on that we don’t only have a blow out from the BOP and higher...
MY money is on a breach in the pipe below the mud...
NOW that will be some fancy problem solving that can only be resolved with a relief well.
you mean as a lateral into the existing well...as in a horizontal well?
what I really mean is how long before Chile (say) starts boring into our wells...
Correct, most of the structure is “foundation” for stability and bulk. The true functionality occurs at the funnel at it’s apex.
crane keeps it from going lower...that sucker ain’t floating on its own....
the wings are to collect WEIGHT from the ocean...and hold it down and stable
It’s over 2200 PSI. I’ve heard that the ship on the surface will be creating suction to pull the oil/water mix in the dome up to the surface. There will be an outer pipe that will pump warm surface water around the inner suction pipe to keep it from freezing (something about expanding nat. gas cooling things too much). They are also going to push methanol down to mix with the oil/water coming up the inner pipe as antifreeze.
A lot of planning and good engineering has gone into this. If they get this thing 80% contained before big slicks start hitting the coast that will be a big P.R. win in a situation that the entire Obama team has really stacked against them.
I ran some calculations on the extent of the slick. As big as it supposedly is, even if the 5000 bbl. per day number is right, then the average oil coverage over the entire slick is one teaspool of oil per square yard. Is is mostly, mostly oil sheen. The Coast Guard and other officials on the ground even admit this.
5,0000 bbl/day times 15 days = 75,000 bbl of total oil so far. BP says that it has collected over 30,000 bbl of oil so far. That makes my numbers 1/2 teaspoon per sq.yd.
Due to the currents and the dispersants the great majority of this oil will never reach shore. If the dome works (high confidence by the engineers) until a relief well is drilled this will be the biggest natural crisis that never happened. I think that once again Obama and team will badly overplay this.
ahh haa haa haaaa
boring into wells bring bad consequences...if it happens by mistake...but to do so intentionally would bring many problems especially is trying to be sneaky....
you have to plug zones before doing that and the original owner would “sort of” know.
NOW drilling into a similar “Play in a basin”....everyone does it. That is why leases are managed as they are...trust me the GOV’T (fed / state) really WILL get their cut....
light sweet crude has its benefits besides easier refining...
a lot of this really does evaporate from the surface and is very much NOT like the black gloppy oil from other plays.
thanks goodness.
Can't be. No significant difference in pressure between top and bottom of flap. That's like saying something stays on the ground (earth) because of weight of the atmosphere above it. Nope, it's gravity that holds it down. The flaps must be to prevent sinking further into the mud.
Yep, the flaps are to prevent sinkage further than 15 feet.
This is an environmental problem, no doubt. But 75,000 bbl 50-100 miles offshore doesn’t compare to the Exxon Valdez spilling 250,000 bbl only two miles offshore. Fortunately, this has been 50% picked up or hit with disbursants. Also, the currents are not moving it any particular direction; low winds and good weather are making it a lot easier to pick up or burn a lot of the bigger concentrations. And, face it, BP and the U.S. Government are taking this situation a lot more seriously than past spills.
I just pray that “the Eagle has landed” and that we get some very good news over the weekend that the oil escaping is down to 1,000 bbl/day or less.
Very good stuff.
Twice the Valdez spill’s worth of oil naturally seeps into the Gulf each year http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/01/000127082228.htm 500,000 bbls/year divided by 365 days equals about 1,400 bbls of oil a day naturally seeping into the Gulf. IOW, at 1,000 bbls a day or less, the spill is reduced to less than the natural seepage.
That’s amazing! And great news for the Gulf Coast.
Maybe not so good for obozo et al, though, because this crisis will then be harder to exploit. Also the fact that BP is doing this so rapidly while obozo dwaddles and plays golf won’t exactly help with the “oil companies are eeeevvvviiiillllllll” and “only the government can save you” memes.
For the (amazingly) knowledgable Freepers here, I have two questions:
(1) Why wasn’t the coffer dam cyclindrical? Seems a better shape than a box for dealing with the forces involved.
(2) Why didn’t they drop this over the well head and cut off all the oil flow? After all, this thing would certain have cut through any pipe there. Too much oil pressure involved there?
1) no clue
2) the cofferdam wasn’t desiged to sever the pipe. It has a ‘window’ that fits over the pipe to encase it. they are targeting the biggest leak, by my understanding is they have another ready to go if this one works.
I'm not one of the knowledgeable ones but it seems it would take way longer to fabricate a curved shape -- rather than just welding flat steel stock.
I understand they didn't sever flow right above the BOP because the flow there -- if unrestrained -- would be full force and uncontrollable. The length and friction inside of the riser pipe give a lot of resistance.
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