Posted on 07/15/2010 5:24:07 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
This is a second thread for this post. Please see http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6731 for previous comments.
Update Thursday Afternoon, 4:00 pm : BP has at least temporarily capped the well, and oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf. BP will now be carefully monitoring the pressure levels. Admiral Allen reports:
"We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore and options for temporary shut in of the well during a hurricane. It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."
Original post
When things are going well down at the Deepwater oil spill site in the Gulf there are press conferences, data flows in a timely manner and the public can understand what is going on. When there are problems, these get delayed.
(Excerpt) Read more at theoildrum.com ...
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FintanDunne on July 15, 2010 - 7:22pm
Your report confirmed by the Wash Post:
Tom Hunter, retired director of the Sandia National Laboratories and a member of the federal government's scientific team, witnessed the test inside BP's war room in Houston and told The Washington Post that the pressure rose to about 6700 psi and appeared to be likely to level out "closer to 7000." He said scientists will labor to understand the meaning of such pressures. One possibility, he said, is that the well has simply depleted itself to a certain degree over the course of nearly three months.
"It's just premature to tell. We just don't know whether something is leaking or not," Hunter said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071500642.html?hpid=topnews
If one understands 2 words, one understands these sleights of hand: venturi principle.
We're screwed...
“We’re screwed... “
Yep. They will find some excuse to open the valves back up. It hasn’t served their purposes yet.
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raygonzo on July 15, 2010 - 8:25pm
From what I can tell -- with a 6700 - 7000 PSI reading -- the result is inconclusive. If the readings are 8000-9000 - then they keep it shut in as long as possible. 4000-6000 they stop testing and start collecting. So what's next - some thoughts:
* They run the 48 hour test
* Re-connect to the choke and kill lines (not the top)and capture "up to 80,000 boe/d"
* Run Seismic to check the seabed
* Restart RW1
* When RW1 ready - disconnect capture - and close valves as necessary to inject mud/cement
Of course this is jmho....
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Not necessarily, what we're going to do is we're going to test for 48 hours, and every six hours, we're going to evaluate all of the information we have available. At the end of 48 hours, we're going to take down the system, go back to containment, or production, as you say, and then we're going to get a new seismic reading off the floor that will tell us as a result of that testing at high pressure for 48 hours, was there a change in the well bore, or did we have oil leak into the formation and form a pocket just to be a precursor for breaching the ocean floor? Is there methane gas coming up, which would be a precursor as well.
Once we are satisfied that there are no indications that we've compromised the integrity of the wellbore, we create an irreversible position of oil leaving the well bore, we can go back then and put the—put the system under pressure again. Then once we're—once we're convinced, we've got no pressure in the well bore, and it can withstand the pressure after another seismic run, after that 48 hours, we can certainly consider shutting in the well, that's always a possibility, and of course, we would like to do that.
So because the pressure has built up a little low they are going to run a second pressure test ? This is kind of what I was afraid of. The Well bore is partially compromised. Now what do they do ? Hopefully the seismic runs will tell them exactly why the pressure is not building.
It sounds like the original plan is subject to change.
It changes every flipping hour ! The MSM can not even keep up with it on a day to day basis. Only the Blogs and Free Republic have the speed to keep up.
We don't know that as a fact.
We are going to be short oil with the damn moratorium.
Now we will hear from those with the tin wrapped around the head.
As AG he made sure that the referendum to repeal the Global Warming law out here had CO2 labeled as a pollutant.
Chavez would have just had them seal the well. And if the early testing here by BP is any indication, sealing the well while you drilled a new relief well might well have worked.
It was too much of a risk for BP and the Obama administration — but sometimes when you take risks you get rewarded.
Pressure is going somewhere. Looks like they came up 1,000 to 2,000 psi short. They got just enough to keep the pressure test going, but not enough to tell them they can kill the well. Thus, the need to run a second test to determine just where the leakage is going. Thad sort of mentions a second test in the above second hand quotes.
This is madness. I finished my cold one. I am going to give sleep another shot. Couple hours away from having to drag my ass back to work. Do have a great upcoming day.
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