"Obama? He's over they-ah -- walkin' on water."
Posted on 05/27/2010 12:05:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
British Petroleum and the federal government are both claiming victory today after an experimental process to stop the flow of oil from a blowout in the Gulf appears to have succeeded. The “top kill” process dumped mud into the broken pipe, effectively snuffing out the spewing of thousands of barrels of oil (via Instapundit):
Engineers have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government’s top oil spill commander, Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.
The so-called “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers in Houston, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well is very low, but persistent, he said.
Once engineers have reduced the well pressure to zero, they will begin to pump cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help that effort, he said, engineers are also pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.
That’s pretty good timing for today’s presser, but undeniably just great news altogether. It verifies a more or less speculative solution that apparently was the last guess at stopping the oil. “Top kill” had worked at much shallower depths in the past, but so had the bell cap process, too, which turned out to be unsuitable for 5,000 feet.
However, the trouble may not yet be past. The ship pumping the mud has run out of material; a second ship is on the way. The shell of mud may still blow open from the upward pressure, but that could be resolved by more applications of “top kill.”
Now all that is left is the cleanup — and that will take much, much longer than plugging the leak did. Expect this to drag on for months and perhaps years.
I'm so happy you have finally caught up with the thread...
But don't jump for joy yet people, mud is highly abrasive, so now it is a race against the clock to keep pressure on the leak, not blow the BOP or manifold to pieces or erode them to the point of uselessness and pump cement down hole. 52 posted on Thursday, May 27, 2010 2:24:40 PM by ScreamingFist [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
And, if you were the post, I'd win. Quit while you're behind. This is just a case of premature celebration based on what some thought was new information, but wasn't.
I found nothing new in the article or any of the links. Just Admiral Allen from early morning, and no one is providing links to any new information.
It only gets worse when you get a nutball like Obama in as President because he's appointing people who are so incapable they can push the sociopathy job requirement all the way down into the ranks of the GS-15s.
This, BTW, is a doggone good reason to BAN government medicine in this country ~ not just repeal Obamakkkare but BAN government involvement in medicine ~ maybe with the death penalty.
I don’t think so, I still believe that it is a better situation than 24 hours ago.
Do you believe the situation is no better than when they started?
"Obama? He's over they-ah -- walkin' on water."
Odd, you have links to theolidrum.com, where petroleum engineers, finite analysis and fluid dynamic engineers are posting like mad, along with twitter feeds from people on a dozen ships are posting live from the Gulf...and you can't find any new info?
Do your own research and quit whining.
It'd be even better if you could catch up, and stop trying to save face and admit that nothing has changed since this morning and the early statements of Admiral Allen which others have declined to agree with.
Saying that plugging the leaks is a long process is not some profound statement. We've been told that by BP all along, for weeks, for each attempt they've made.
My statements, which are entirely correct, have been that we have no new information since this morning, and that success has not been declared by those in a position to judge the success or failure.
Obama said ‘Plug that hole!’, and Bill Clinton got right to work.
Yes dufuss, I said that way back in post 52, handed you links and information as to why it isn't done yet and you still seem to have a comprehension problem. I'll tell you what, just sit there with your thumb in your mouth and I'll post back to you when the engineers say the well is capped.....fair enough?
Let’s go back to your post # 67. It shows a lack of understanding of what is going on. Your statements have said exactly nothing since your constant reference to the Admiral’s statement of this morning.
This whole operation may go to hell at some later time, but I believe that what you are seeing “gushing out” of that whole is the mud which is being pumped down the well to counter the blowout.
Thank you sir.
I don’t know what to believe. The Oil drum is saying otherwise:
Bad news......we are back to golf balls. Its leaking way more than they thought........
So, we get the “junk shot” as well as the top kill. It seems a good idea, except that it allows Mr. Murphy a little more room to horn in here.
Does anyone else have a concern that shooting the junk in could make things worse? Is there any chance that it would increase pressure at the BOP beyond its uncertain ability to hold on?
The cement problem seems obvious to anyone with basic knowledge of fluids, so the reason to make the attempt to slow the leakage is apparant (just looking at the video above clarifies that). I’d bet the PTB at BP are sweating right now!
“BP sets stage for Disaster”
No oil and gas well ever drilled has gone exactly to plan, or without mistakes being made. The Upstream Industry has learned the hard way. The path to todays drilling (well construction) approach is littered with terible loss events, and awash with lessons. But the fact is that todays drilling approach allows for mistakes to be made, simply because wells do not always behave as planned, and the execution of each step of the well construction plan relies on people. Contingency measure after contingency measure is layered over the average well construction plan such that if one, two, three, or even more consecutive issues occur and stack up against the well construction team there remains the cability on hand to identify there is a problem, to secure the well, and to plan and effect an appropriate remedial plan.
Yes a number of issues were stacking up against the well contruction team on Mississippi Canyon 252 #1-01 well on the night of the tradgey. Issues such as a communication path between the reservoir (oil and gas) and the well bore, the choice of casing plan and related well barriers, etc. However up until around 21:45 there remained the cability on hand to identify there was a problem, to secure the well, and to plan and effect an appropriate remedial plan to deal with the issues that had stacked up.
Unfortunately, at around 21:47 the Annular BOP opened releasing the immense energy that had accumulated beneath it (gas), energy that on release evacuated (ejected) the drilling riser of fluids in seconds. Thousands of gallons of fluids entering the workspace (drill floor) at almost jet force would have made any subsequent action to try to regain control of the well very difficult.
Much has been made about the issues that stacked up against the well construction team on that night, the cement program, the cement quality, the casing program, the testing program, etc etc, however the point remains that until around 21:45 the team still had the ability on hand to identify there was a problem, to secure the well, and to plan and effect an appropriate remedial plan to deal with the issues that had stacked up. The BOP Annular was closed and was capable of containing pressure build up as a result of the leak path between the reservoir and the well bore. There were other BOP Ram Preventers available of high pressure rating than the BOP Annular Preventer to call upon if required. With this contingency at hand (the last layer of contingency in any well construction plan), why did it still go so wrong?
I would offer that the real question is why did the BOP annular open? Did it fail? Was it opened by mistake? Was it opened thinking there was no hazardous gas build up below it? The investigation team will undoubtedly determine the truth.
I can also offer that in the Drilling Industry the Driller (the man that operates the drilling machine integrated into the rig structure) has two Golden Rules when it comes to well control:
#1, if there is any doubt whatsoever about a possible influx of formation fluid into the well bore then the well must be shut in (close the BOP), he requires approval from no-man for this action
#2, if the BOP has been closed for whatever well activity the Driller must be assured that doing so will not result in a hazardous situation for him, his team and all with him at the worksite. He requires approval from the worksite supervisors for this action.
The mud logger charts (main drilling parameter record) for the period 20:00hrs through 21:50hrs as presented at the Senate hearing show clear indicators of a problem with the well. There was more flow coming back from the well than going in, there was additional pressure where there should not have been. Evaluation and interpretation of these charts is an essential part fo providing the Driller the assurance he needs that opening the BOP Annular will not result in a hazardous situation.
If the BOP Annular was opened by the well construction team the other question undoubtedly being asked by the investigation team is whether suitable and sufficient evaluation and interpretation of the drilling parameter records was undertaken prior to authorising the opening of the BOP Annular?
The time line on the mud logger chart suggests around 15 minutes (from 21:30hrs to around 21:45hrs) may have been available for the well construction team to evaluate and interpret why there was pressure under the BOP Annular when there shouldnt have been.
15 minutes is not a long time to consider this kind of situation. Given that there had been a number of issues going on with this well since the casing was run and cemented (a lot of red flags were flying) there should have been the highest degree of awareness on every subsequent step of the operation. This means the full attention of all supervisors at all times. So, assuming again that the BOP Annular was opened by the team, why was there only a few minutes spent deciding the next step when the biggest red flag of them all (pressure under the BOP Annular) was waving.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6516
New York Times:
Setback Delays ‘Top Kill’ Effort to Seal Leaking Oil Well in Gulf
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, JOHN M. BRODER and LIZ ROBBINS 15 minutes ago
BP had to temporarily stop its effort to plug the well when engineers saw that too much of the fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil.
Lol, what a character you are. Rather than crowing about all the information you claim to have, post specific links and share with the readers of FR.
And, show us how this headline is correct as of almost two hours ago:
Breaking: “Top kill” worked !! (BP Engineers succeed in stopping oil flow in Gulf of Mexico)
That's what my posts have been about, that the headline is wrong and there was no new information in the article. You are off on wild tangents, but have provided nothing to disprove my very simple statements about the conclusions being assumed in the thread are premature and unsupported.
Who cares what links are in some other thread you linked to. If they are worth looking at, provide the links yourself.
Now, they need to let Kevin Costner & his brother use the centrifuge they have developed to separate the oil from the water.
NOW.
If they pumped in 30,000 barrels of mud, and the drilled chamber only needs about 1300 barrels of mud to fill up, where did the other 28,700+ barrels of mud go in the last day? Did it leak out the riser?
New York Times:
Setback Delays ‘Top Kill’ Effort to Seal Leaking Oil Well in Gulf
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, JOHN M. BRODER and LIZ ROBBINS 15 minutes ago
BP had to temporarily stop its effort to plug the well when engineers saw that too much of the fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil.
How in the world did BP fail to have more than enough mud on hand to finish the job? Ineptitude on their part if you ask me!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.