Katrina pipeline damage more than first thought

Reuters ^

[nwctwx]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina did more damage to underwater oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico than previously thought, according to the U.S. agency that oversees offshore energy production.

The head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, Johnnie Burton, said two weeks ago that Katrina did not do as much damage to offshore pipelines as Hurricane Ivan did a year earlier.

However, Burton's estimate turned out to be too optimistic, and the damage is much worse. "It appears that way," said MMS spokesman Gary Strasburg, who pointed out that Burton's comments were based on initial data available at the time.

"I think in her remarks she said that it was preliminary information," he said.

Strasburg could not elaborate on how much worse the damage is from Katrina, saying the agency is still trying to figure out the impact of Hurricane Rita.

[nwctwx]

ping

[Blood of Tyrants]

Gasoline prices just jumped another 30 cents a gallon.

[DoughtyOne]

Katrina will desimate U.S. fuel production capabilites...

Katrina did less damage than expected to U.S. fuel production capabilities...

Katrina did more damage than first thought to U.S. fuel production capabilities...

And the winner is...

Truth? Fact? LOL, sure...

[WasDougsLamb]

Hurricane Katrina did more damage to underwater oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico than previously thought, according to the U.S. agency that oversees offshore energy production.

Just keeps changing. Who knows what to believe?

[benjaminjjones]

I forget where I found it and wish I had bookmarked it, but there was a great online map of the Gulf oil facilities.

It had clickable checkboxes that allowed you to turn on and off various features, such as underwater pipelines, oil platforms, etc.

It was amazing how many underwater pipelines linking platforms to shore there are.

[Dog Gone]

The reports always get worse after a storm of this nature. The pipelines were all shut in prior to the arrival of the storm, and you just don't get a good early assessment. It takes time.

How long do you think it takes a mini-sub to do a thorough investigation of a pipeline several thousand feet below the ocean surface? Especially when it may be several hundred miles long?

[nwctwx]

I don't think anyone really knew until recently. I would expect the recent reports to be along the correct lines. Kat and Rita were monsters, and both went over some bad areas for oil production/transport/etc. After being fully closed down the past 5 days, we are back up to just over 1% capability in the GOM.

[WasDougsLamb]

I hadn't thought about that. Please pardon my ignorance. I see what you are saying. Thank you both for explaining. I feel so dumb. :p

[the_Watchman]

I started my engineering career working for an oil company. Part of the assignment was pipeline maintenance. Pipelines buried in soil are wrapped in insulating tapes to prevent corrosion. Devices called "sacrificial anodes" are buried at intervals along the pipeline in order to make sure that electrical current flow from the pipe to the soil will protect the pipe from corrosion if there is a break in the tape.

We would measure the currents to tell the state of the tape. Occasionally, lengths of pipe would have to be dug up and re-taped based on the current flow indicating that there was a breach in the insulator.

I never worked on pipe submerged in salt water, but I would suspect that they have the same "insulate, protect using reverse currents, and monitor the currents" strategy.

In soil even slight dings in the tape would require a re-wrap. I suspect that highly turbulent waters with additional stuff floating around might do significant damage and require a lot of insulation to be fixed. There might also be disruption to the sacrificial anode system.

So damage might not immediately disrupt oil supply while still requiring a lot of expensive maintenance.

[Decepticon]

How long do you think it takes a mini-sub to do a thorough investigation of a pipeline several thousand feet below the ocean surface?

? Have links?

[Dog Gone]

No, do not apologize or feel embarrassed about learning something new here at FR. We have a few know-it-all jerkfaces here at the forum, but the rest of us are glad to learn things from the wealth of knowledge our members willingly share.

One of the best things any freeper can do is ask a reasonably intelligent question. It will be answered. Some wrong answers may be offered, but the truth always becomes apparent as the thread goes on.

[Dog Gone]

Links for what? What does your common sense tell you about inspecting pipelines at great depths underwater?

I've worked for a major oil companies for over 25 years. We don't have any subs that can make an inspection of a 100 mile pipeline in an hour or two.

[Decepticon]

Links for what? What does your common sense tell you about inspecting pipelines at great depths underwater? I've worked for a major oil companies for over 25 years. We don't have any subs that can make an inspection of a 100 mile pipeline in an hour or two.

Glad to have an expert on the thread. Is your company using ROV's in addition to manned subs and how do the submersibles carry out the required inspections? Optopig? Ultrasonics?

[grey_whiskers]

I've worked for a major oil companies for over 25 years. We don't have any subs that can make an inspection of a 100 mile pipeline in an hour or two.

Anti-MSM-blame-mongering Sarcasm Torpedo ARMED. FIRE!!

Sure we do. They're the ones accompanying those aircraft carriers which were supposed to make it from halfway around the world to New Orleans in just 24 hours!

[jeffers]

Talked to a friend the other day, who used to be a shuttle boat captain, hauling crews and small equipment in and out of the Gulf. His information is 20 years out of date, but I suspect it gives an overview of what to expect.

Several well heads will be serviced by a single production platform, what most people refer to as an offshore platform. (Not the same as a drilling rig, I don't think.) Two main types of production platforms, fixed and semi submersible. The fixed platforms have extendable legs and sit on the bottom, while the semi submersible have large flotation tanks and fill them to increase stability, and, I believe, are anchored to the ocean floor.

Smaller pipelines run from each wellhead to larger collection pipelines 6 feet in diameter or larger. From there, they run towards a point nearer to shore called a distribution point. From here, smaller pipelines split off and run to various refineries, Shell, Exxon, etc.

Per my friend, the company he worked for had four distribution points, all of which were underwater, and he's never heard of a distribution point that wasn't underwater.

From earlier news reports, at least one of these distribution points was damaged, with gas making a fountain at the surface. Approaching damaged gas pipelines or distribution points is said to be dangerous and even proscribed by law as the gas becomes entrained in the surrounding sea water, affecting a ship's bouyancy to the point it can sink. Divers are used from a standoff position.

The pipeline flow is turned off at two different valves on either side of the break, and the gas affecting the seawater's density will bleed off over a 72 hour period.

My friend's best guess is that a damaged distribution point could not be repaired sooner than 72 hours after the repair barge arrived on the scene.

Additionally, I've seen images of the damage to the MARS production platform, one of the largest. Katrina hit it hard, dislodging the main platform from its support structure, and wedging it sideways in the superstructure. Assuming that crew quarters, support facilities like kitchens and hospital and recreation facilities, along with control, monitoring, and the supporting wiring and pipelines, both for the platform and the supported wellheads are on the main platform, repairing it will take a considerable period of time.

Many of the platforms are missing or have washed up on the beach, per recent news reports.

The mechanism for damaging underwater pipelines seems to be no more than underwater current flow beyond a certain design limit. It flexes the pipelines over a long section, and ruptures them. Pipeline repair is probably the easiest repair, usually a matter of replacing a coupling and one or two sections of pipe. My friend's position is that they will run a pipeline right up to the point of failure, as long as they believe they aren't losing product.

[Dog Gone]

I'm no expert on how we do it. I know we use both subs and pigs. If we use other techniques, I'm not aware of it, but I don't work that end of the business.

Our first indication of the damage from Katrina was that we'd escaped major damage. We were wrong.

It took a couple of days to figure out that the reason we didn't see damage on some platforms is because those platforms were no longer there to be seen. There are literally thousands of miles of infrastructure to be assessed, and the first glance always looks more optimistic than it really is, especially with a major hurricane.

[Decepticon]

Excellent info, thanks.

[Decepticon]

It took a couple of days to figure out that the reason we didn't see damage on some platforms is because those platforms were no longer there to be seen.

Wow. Interesting information. Thanks.