Posted on 08/04/2010 1:00:42 AM PDT by Liberty Valance
Right you must adjust the amount of mud as it equalizes in the hole. It does it on its ownThen you put the cement .
According to the procedure, at this point in time they have to decide whether to send a cement plug down into the well. They are stuck with their fingers (mud) in the dike right now. If a storm forces them off, gonna be trouble. They cannot cap and leave, since the stack appears to be leaking mud.
August 3rd 2010. 8:51 PM PST. Skandi 1 ROV
Leak during Injectivity Test Top BOP Back Lighted (1 minute)
http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=9034366&contentId=7063636
Click on captions below each window to enlarge.
August 4th 2010. 2:24 AM PST Skandi 1 ROV
New Leak from Top Kill Good Lighting Second Water Jet Clears Crud Pile (1 1/2 minutes)
>>If a storm forces them off, gonna be trouble.
Just from a quick look, the meteorology looks to be on their/our side, at least for the next several days.
Step one, balance oil pressure with glop weight.
Step two, pile in the cement.
The discussion at the moment is whether to cement it here and/or from the relief well.
The shot’s from the National Archive’s 40’s series, right? I love that series.
That is good news. And they supposedly have lots of mud available. Would be interesting to learn how much they have already used.
Since this is a procedure routinely used in virtually all oil wells, I think we can assume that the guys who formulate the "mud" know how to handle it, even if we don't.
And we already know from measurements taken after the BOP was successfully shut in with the pressure cap that the reservoir pressure is remaining very constant.
MC252 Well Reaches Static Condition; Well Monitoring Underway
http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7064173
Release date: 04 August 2010
BP announced today that the MC252 well appears to have reached a static condition — a significant milestone. The well pressure is now being controlled by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud, which is the desired outcome of the static kill procedure carried out yesterday (US Central time).
Pumping of heavy drilling mud into the well from vessels on the surface began at 1500 CDT (2100 BST) on August 3, 2010 and was stopped after about eight hours of pumping. The well is now being monitored, per the agreed procedure, to ensure it remains static. Further pumping of mud may or may not be required depending on results observed during monitoring.
The start of the static kill was based on the results of an injectivity test, which immediately preceded the static kill and lasted about two hours.
BP will continue to work with the National Incident Commander and other government officials to determine the next course of action, which involves assessing whether to inject cement in the well via the same route.
The aim of these procedures is to assist with the strategy to kill and isolate the well, and will complement the upcoming relief well operation, which will continue as per plan.
A relief well remains the ultimate solution to kill and permanently cement the well. The first relief well, which started May 2, has set its final 9 7/8-inch casing. Operations on the relief wells are suspended during static kill operations. Depending upon weather conditions, mid-August is the current estimate of the most likely date by which the first relief well will intercept the Macondo well annulus, and kill and cement operations commence.
American Pickers would love that place! Gas pump and signs!
If all else fails, 0 will give them advice as how to proceed. This in prolly not the site peoples first Rodeo. Like the MSM, the posters are predicting disaster.
barbra ann
The weight of the mud and its viscosity. When the weight of the mud exceeds the 6000-7000 psi of the oil pressure, the oil is forced back down the shaft and into the reservoir. Then they will start pumping cement to plug the shaft forever.............
Balance and gravity.
So it is finally over. Thank goodness.
Great photo of Americana.
Seems like increasing the pressure on the stack with this procedure was very risky. Why didn’t they just wait for the bottom kill?
If this was shot down the top of the well, then why wasn’t this done in the beginning?
So yes it was a short term gamble, but that seems to be BP's specialty. On the Oil Drum thread others are wondering why the new leak has not stopped yet. Supposedly if it was static killed in the BOP the pressure near the top of the BOP would be neutral with ambient. So no leaking should be occurring. Maybe some diffusion, but no volume leaking. Apparently by static killed they meant static killed at the sea surface. So we still have the weight of the mud line going up to the ship putting pressure into the BOP. That is the current theory anyway.
Unfortunately the leaks in the Three Ram Stack Seal seem to be at least just as fast as before and this new leak at the top of the BOP appears to be increasing. Although now it is mostly drilling mud. So something is not quite right and Skandi 1 ROV keeps blasting the leak with a high pressure hose. Why ? It turns off the water flow every 10 to 15 minutes. In fact it just turned it off as I was typing. The new leak is increasing. Now 3 to 4 solid streams of what appear to be very dark mud or oil. Looks like it doubled in two hours.
There is also another problem. How can they accurately gauge what is happening with the mud, when they have a serious mud leak in the BOP ? Later.
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