Posted on 05/21/2010 10:34:32 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Author’s Note: I am grateful to the many drilling and completion engineers that consulted with me on this post to arrive at plausible explanations and interpretations of what happened in the final hours on the semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. The analysis that follows is based on these discussions as well as my own 32 years of experience as a geologist working in the oil and gas industry.
It is early in the process of discovering what really happened. Because of the gravity and potential impact of this disaster on the nation and my industry, however, I wanted to provide an early and more investigative perspective than much of what has appeared in the media to date. The risk, of course, is that more information will invalidate some of what follows. I, therefore, wish to clarify that this is a fact-based interpretation of what may have happened on the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010 but, in the end, it is an interpretation. - Art Berman
The blowout and oil spill on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a flawed well plan that did not include enough cement between the 7-inch production casing and the 9 7/8-inch protection casing. The presumed blowout preventer (BOP) failure is an important but secondary issue. Although the resulting oil spill has potentially grave environmental implications, recent efforts to limit the flow with an insertion tube have apparently been effective. Continuous efforts to slow or stop the flow include drilling two nearby relief wells that may intersect the MC 252 wellbore within 60-90 days.
(Excerpt) Read more at theoildrum.com ...
I think nature supplied the C4.
What caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster?
Shoddy workmanship and construction "shortcuts" are usually traceable to myopic efforts to reduce costs and maximize profits.
It's the beancounters' fault.
“D) A tremendous amount of pressure from the Sierra Club”
E) A tremendous amount of pressure from blowhard Al Gore.
I’m glad to know there’s things such as blowout preventers. But the U.S. would be even better served if someone would invent a blowhard preventer to keep bozos like Al Gore in check.
I heard methane—sea cows at fault? ;-)
A blowhard preventer should also work on Nanci Pelousi and Harry Reid.
Yes, C4 will work underwater.
The misdirected water canons just help the rig sink.
Better to have a burned rig floating and spraying oil, than a sunken one polluting the bottom of the entire gulf with loop current carrying it further.
They knew the mud for the 8000 ft was gas charged and expected just a little gas to be flared off as the mud was pumped out.
The cement job did not hold and as the 8k ft of mud was replaced by the lighter sea water (on shore is was brine) the mud below began to be pushed up from the zone as the cap (mud) holding it down became lighter and lighter until there was nothing left to hold it down.
It doesn't take very long to displace fluid between a drill pipe and the inside casing and riser. Keep in mind the displacement begins at the bottom of the drill pipe 8k ft down so that you are pushing the 8k ft of mud above up, replacing it with sea water while Expecting the mud below 8k ft level to stay put.
BLOWOUT.
Not enough “mud” I thinks
And O’Reilly
Why not have industrial size compressors on hand to pump nitrogen down the hole automatically?
What I want someone to explain is how the HELL you fire a torpedo at a riser full of mud and cause an explosion on the rig floor. YOU CAN'T DO IT! The riser would part where it was hit and everything would pour out there.
I am sick of all these EXPERTS who have NO idea what they are talking about.
Some IDIOT was talking about "all the refinery fires" we have had this year, off the top of my head I can list 5 or 6 last year and a dozen before that. FOOLS think nothing has happened before because THEY never heard about it.
I've been all over the world and Americans are ill informed about lots of things.
What are you trying to do with the nitrogen?
Ha! You’ve sure got the right screen name!
This is a flawed well plan and heads should roll, it is not a midget sub, just midget thinking!!!
The fluids in the well/riser complex are circulating not static. So gas can easily leak in from the surrounding formations if the well is not properly cased and sealed. This is undoubtedly what happened. And the gas which is under tremendous pressure in situ, expands dramatically as it rises up to the surface. So once the mud was removed from the improperly sealed well the rig was doomed.
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What can be addressed now is the larger issue that a flawed, risky well plan for the MC 252 well was approved by the MMS, and BP, Anadarko and Mitsui management.
Similar or identical plans were undoubtedly approved and used by many operators on other wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico.
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So this was a new area,...but looking at the map was not that far from other production wells.. ..
So what was so different about the formations where they were drilling?
See question at #38.
I suspect that you don't make small mistakes at that level of engineering.
Sabotage is certainly a possibility, but the simple explanation is corner cutting and laziness. The giveaway was a comment about crews changing over at roughly the same time as the accident. People in a hurry to get off the rig, etc etc.
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