Posted on 04/23/2010 12:50:45 AM PDT by KDD
A drilling rig that burned for more than a day before sinking Thursday has fouled Gulf of Mexico waters with a potentially major spill of crude oil, officials said. The collapse of the oil rig could disgorge up to 336,000 gallons of crude a day into waters about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the sunken rig, the Deepwater Horizon, increased the threat for environmental damage, which previously appeared minimal. With new challenges from the collapsed rig, a growing assemblage of cleanup crews began to work in the area, hoping to stop the oil before the spill were to reach the shore.
Meteorologists predicted a change in the Gulf's current today that would push the oil toward the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines. But Landry said the spill isn't expected to reach the coast. “We have the ability to keep it offshore,” she said. BP, the oil company that leased the offshore rig, said it had mobilized four aircraft that can spread chemicals to break up the oil and 32 vessels that can recover more than 171,000 barrels of oil a day from the surface. BP officials also expected to have a million feet of boom in place to help contain the spill by today. “We have contingency plans in place to respond to any anticipated situation, and the full resources of BP are being mobilized to implement those plans,” said David Rainey, vice president of Gulf exploration for BP. Even then, federal and BP officials said it wasn't clear whether oil was flowing from the well after the platform sank because they didn't know what was happening underwater.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Thanks my FRiend!
That is very telling information!
I think Horizon37, whoever he is, has a real handle on this.
A few years ago there was still a great deal of I'll show you how "WE" do it between BP and the old Amoco group.
“I did some poking around, and the reason many of us with experience in the biz, have not seen this type of well design before, it’s because it’s a one off experiment, it’s the first time its been tried at these depths. Some genius with BP at the SPE in Alaska dreamed it up in 2007.”
Excerpted from http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4551846015/page6/
That is all the information I have seen as to the actual design team.
Things we now know from the IADC daily drilling report.
* The mud weight in the hole was 14.0ppg
* The casing was cemented and WOC time was 16.5 hours before pressure testing (This could be the kicker if the cement was not fully set, the added pressure in the casing would have expanded it, and created a micro-annulus in the cement or fracturing it allowing gas and oil to migrate up into the annulus).
* They were working with a 3-1/2” tubing stinger, 817.70ft + 2 crossovers to get it to 6-5/8 DP.
* The balance of the string was 6-5/8” 32# DP to the rig floor
* They did run in and displace the hole and riser to seawater at 8,067ft (3,000ft below seabed)
* They did run and pressure test the casing hanger seal both positive test to 10,000psi and a negative test to 1,400psi. Both were good.
* We now have a stack layout drawing, showing ram arrangements.
* The casing was 9-7/8” 62.8# which is 5/8” wall and 8-5/8” ID
* The 7” properties are still unknown.
BP email on ops:
Don’t know, out here BP didn’t keep many Arco or Amoco people.
More grist for the mill.
First I’ve heard about BOP mods.
More regulation on the way! Transocean blew it. BP, too. Company man should have known the drilling contractor's men had made wildcat mods to the safety equipment.
That said, if the BOP was messed with, more of this will fall on Transocean than we thought. It would not have caused the blowout but would have allowed much of the mess to happen, and I bet the rig insurers will have some say in the pay off.
I have been on lots of offshore rigs, but never a dynamic positioning one. Most of the time a company man would go ashore during a move but would there be enough time on a rig that doesn't have to pick up and set anchors?
The reason I ask is that the BOP would be worked on during moves and BP might have no idea what was done to it.
Just listen to a bit on the Len Wooley(?) radio show about 60 Minutes show, an electrical person on the rig, says BP pushed a faster ROP. They got stuck, had to shoot off, fish and sidetrack.
Looks like the fishing and sidetrack stories might be true, not that I believe 60 Minutes on anything.
The part I tend not to believe is all the business about generators running away, light bulbs popping, computer monitors exploding, and such. That just destroys the man’s credibility in my mind.
The most telling thing revealed in the entire piece was the part about someone accidentally dragging drill pipe up through a closed annulus packer on the BOP. If only that part is true it is VERY telling.
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