Posted on 05/08/2010 5:19:56 PM PDT by Touch Not the Cat
Icelike crystals encrusting a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box meant to contain oil gushing from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico forced crews Saturday to back off a long-shot plan to contain the leak.
The latest problem for BP comes as about a half dozen tar balls are washing up on an Alabama island.
Coast Guard chief warrant officer Adam Wine said the tar balls had been collected by Saturday afternoon at Dauphin Island. He says the substance needs to be tested, but officials think it came from the oil spill.
The buildup on the specially constructed containment box made it too buoyant and clogged it up, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. Workers who had carefully lowered the massive box over the leak nearly a mile below the surface had to lift it and move it to the side. Now they're trying to unplug it while they look at other solutions.
More than 200,000 gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf since a rig exploded April 20, killing 11. The containment box, a method never before attempted at such depths, had been considered the best hope of stanching the flow in the short term.
"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."
The blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at knx1070.com ...
That ice came from global warming.
/sarc
Time to let oil companies drill on land. We are in a total experimentation mode with the mile down leak/seepage. No man can go down there and everything is being done by robotics. An almost impossible task like a blind man shooting at a mile away target.
/sarc
That can happen after drinking coolaid.
I wonder how long it would take to make a 5000+ foot long vertical containment boom?
The relief drill will work it will just take time.
Could they rig an explosive clamp to crush the pipe closed with explosives?
I’m wondering why they can’t progressively crimp the pimp closed—even if that didn’t stop the leak, it could slow it significantly.
Coast Guard chief warrant officer Adam Wine said the tar balls had been collected by Saturday afternoon at Dauphin Island. He says the substance needs to be tested, but officials think it came from the oil spill.
Oh, that's easy.
% tar -xfv
Problem solved!
That is what a BOP is SUPPOSED to do.
A guest on Coast to Coast AM on Thursday night predicted that this was exactly what would happen. I would have to go to the web page to get his name. VERY bright man. Perhaps BP should give him a call.
The BOP cannot shear casing, and it does not use exploives to perform its function. During the cementing process the BOP is basically idle.
I've learned to check before I make a statement on FR. There is no single place on Earth that will jump you harder and faster, with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts, than FR readers.
A word to the wise...
Yes!
So you cut and paste? I know what a ram bop is. We manufacture them. The ram bop cannot shear casing. Which was running through the BOPs when it exploded. The casing is minimum 16” diameter and con not be shearedn the wall of the pipe is too thin to close off. Understand the cementing process before you cut and paste and lecture based on your “readings.”. I work in the oil patch and have a bit more undrrstanding of the process than just “reading” about it.
So you cut and paste? I know what a ram bop is. We manufacture them. The ram bop cannot shear casing. Which was running through the BOPs when it exploded. The casing is minimum 16” diameter and con not be shearedn the wall of the pipe is too thin to close off. Understand the cementing process before you cut and paste and lecture based on your “readings.”. I work in the oil patch and have a bit more undrrstanding of the process than just “reading” about it.
So, it’s crystals...like ICE....what is the temperature down there in the water,...I’m confused, we’re talking GULF here not ARTIC.
5,000 feet deep? Probably just above freezing.
I’m not a chemist but at what point does methane gas freeze and thaw?
con not shearedn undrrstanding
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