Posted on 08/02/2010 8:41:27 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
At Sunday's press conference, Admiral Allen indicated that static kill could start this evening (Monday evening) or on Tuesday.
At the time of the press conference, the pressure had built up to 6,980 pounds per square inch (psi). Admiral Allen indicated this was the type of pattern that would be expected with well integrity. According to his report:
As you know we are in the process right now of laying the final casing run for the relief well and with that casing has now been placed at the bottom of the well bore. It is – they are circulating fluids just to make sure it's clean and ready to go.
And probably in the next four to five hours they will begin cementing the relief well in. As you know following that we are making preparations to do the hydrostatic or static kill as we have talked about. That could start as early as Monday night into Sunday depending on the steps that are taking.
They have to do what's called an injectivity test to make sure that all the systems are operating properly. And there is a sequence of events that has to be followed before they can actually start pumping mud into the capping stack itself.
The mud boats, the pumping boats and the Q4000 are online and all the systems have been tested and they are ready to go.
(Excerpt) Read more at theoildrum.com ...
Fantastic! Let’s hope this action seals that monster for good.
So are they planning to seal it off and call it done, or are they going to harvest the oil?
Does the government understand that we will ALWAYS need oil and gas and that the amish way won't sustain a huge population.
It was a bad hole...it must be punished.
My personal prediction : The well is closed, and not harvested by BP - either by government edict or technological limitations. China buys the tainted sea floor, and develops tech to harvest it, or pay off a quiet government to stay quiet about it’s future impact. China keeps ALL yields from the well.
Sounds like they are going to just seal it off and just be done with it. But why not make it a production well to help pay for the cost of the damage and reduce the possibility of natural oil seeps in the area?
*******************************EXCERPT**************************************
snakehead on August 2, 2010 - 11:21am
BP (BP /LN) has placed last stretch of pipe in relief well, clearing way for static kill on Gulf leak - BP executive
FTSE
16:07 02-08-2010
Says:
- relief well to intercept blown-out Gulf well August 11-15
If anything; it really shows how safe drilling is. We have had the black swan event, most catastrophic event happen; and things overall things seem to be ok.
Of course some pockets have been hit hard, and some individuals have suffered greatly.
“China buys the tainted sea floor, and develops tech to harvest it”
.
Doubtful that they could!
China has fumbled and bumbled in the tech arena, and has stolen every speck of technology that they have used.
.
Dang, I was hoping they’d nuke it. Oh well.
” But why not make it a production well to help pay for the cost of the damage and reduce the possibility of natural oil seeps in the area?”
That’s been answered many times here by people that know the industry.
There is too much risk with the well having been compromised.
They will eventually drill in with other wells.
Amazing that the Coast Guard has the technical expertize to undertake a complicated procedure like this.
Then the latter prediction may be more likely: They will buy it, Or get it for free (A transaction from the US to China is going to be free, based on our debts to them) and they will continue to pump oil out of it, ignoring ANY leaks or environmental damages that occur. The media and government will be completely silent about it.
When Capitalism chases a capitalist business away, Capitalism replaces that business with another capitalist business. When Communism chases a capitalist business away, it is replaced with communism.
They haven’t even figured out the fork yet!
They don’t. The USCG uses consultants from within the inustry-to do otherwise would be stupid. Professional petroleum engineers, geologists and technicians are doing the work, the government is simply giving advise and consent (with emphasis on the latter) to the process, filtered through the political expediance litmus of course.
In Iraq in early 2003, US Army Corps of Eng Task Force RIO (Restore Iraqi Oil) used similar teams (alongside Iraqi oil crews) to make safe, shut down, test and restart the oil facilities throughout Iraq. Oil began flowing to VLCC (very large crude carriers) Tankers on/about 23 June from the off shore terminal in the Persian Gulf; earlier than that oil was flowing through the Northern pipeline to terminals in Turkey. Banking dollars for the new Iraq.
Success story compared to this political debacle.
Best;
Hopefully that doesn't have to wait until President Palin signs it into law in January 2011.
I'm an engineer, but not involved in the petroleum industry ... so FWIW ...
I wouldn't trust this particular well. It has been damaged above the surface, and is of not completely determined condition under the surface. It might not be leaking now (apparently isn't), but one must question whether it could survive long-term exploitation. Even though it doesn't seem to be leaking, has it been severely weakened down-hole?
I don't know.
The Coast Guard doesn’t! The Oil Patch does! They have a hundred years of “Oh shit” incidents that have been worked through, without GOV help.
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