Posted on 05/24/2010 7:56:01 PM PDT by mojitojoe
BP oil leak: Fallen Deepwater Horizon was tapping second largest oil deposit in the world
If there is a single aspect to the dangers of the BP oil leak, it lies in the question CEO Tony Hayward and other BP executives have been avoiding since the first drop of oil went rogue: How much oil is leaking?
The real answer is - more than anyone wants to admit, because the well holds enough oil to make Saudi Arabian drillers jealous.
The oil field the Deepwater Horizon had tapped is said to be the second largest deposit in the world. Viewzone.com reports, “The site covers an estimated 25,000 square miles, extending from the inlands of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. “
The oil deposit is so large, it could produce 500,000 barrels of a day for more than a decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
more than likely someone with a ‘green agenda’ sabotaged the platform. Could you think of a better way to close down further oil drilling? obama’s failure to follow the goverment plan ( 1994 FEMA) in case such a incident happens might make a person wonder wtf.
“This is closed season for lobster, they lay their eggs now. June is the month the snapper migrate to the reef to spawn. This could be devastating to marine life for many years. The Manatees are moving back up that way also. It could kill the only living coral reefs, destroy the diving tourism that South Florida and the Keys depend on. It’s just sickening.”
Yup. And Pelican eggs are being covered in oil. Even if the eggs somehow hatch, the chicks will be immediately soaked in oil and die. Pelicans were just removed from the endangered species list some months ago. This could push them over the edge into extinction. And sea turtles, also.
Like I said all along and I was ridiculed for on this forum, this thing could kill the Gulf and a lot more for a long long time.
See 109. I defer to Smokin’ Joe.
“Nobel Spinner” - makes sense now.
Reminds me of the joke with the punch-line “You gonna fish or you gonna talk?”.
And you’re sure it won’t make it worse?
Right, not 35,000psi got it; let’s just not nuke it.
If everything else fails, the two relief wells will be in place in 60 days. This is the normal way to solve this problem and has been done many times. Everything else is an attempt to stop it sooner.
Is plugging the drill hole with a large conical shaped cement cork possible?
No because the upper layers are sediment, it will just go around it.
Thats the truth, very powerful interview there.
So sad for all of us.
If it was very low pressure or static (no flow), maybe, but in this case, no, not really. The pressure at the surface would equalize to the formation pressure and blow the cork out.
Cement plugs are usually pumped into place and displaced out of the drill pipe into the wellbore. They harden there, ideally. If there is flow from the formations below the plug, that can channel through the hardening cement and leave a leak, sometimes completely compromising the integrity of the plug. After the cement is hardened, a quick way to check the plug is to check for flow, and to close the BOP and run the pumps long enough to put a couple thousand pounds of pressure against the plug. Shut down and see if the pressure holds, and if it does, usually the plug is good. Pressure testing can be done by shutting the BOP and pumping pressure against the plug, shutting down the pumps and waiting to see if the pressure bleeds off (just one way).
The reason a BOP can seal the well is that it is bolted to a flange which is welded to the casing, which is a pipe lining the hole and cemented in place. In deeper wells such as this one, there are multiple 'strings' of casing, cemented completely in if near the surface, cemented for a couple thousand feet or more near the base if they are deeper. That cement is the seal which holds the casing in place and seals it to the rock on the side of the hole.
Nothing is perfect, and the quality of the cement can be checked by running a tool in the hole and checking to see how good the bond between the cement and the rock and casing is. The resulting record of that is called a CBL: Cement/Casing Bond Log, or simply, a Bond Log. If there is a problem with the integrity of the cement bond, that can be remediated (and should be, as a rule) before proceeding.
There are mechanical plugs which can be run in the wellbore as well, usually temporary, but there are limits to the amount of pressure they can hold.
It is really tough to try and plug a flowing well by either means, and for that reason, the well will need to be brought under control. The relief wells are being drilled to intercept the old welllbore at roughly 18000 ft., from what I have read. This will enable heavy drilling fluid to be pumped into the wellbore and that hydrostatic pressure will 'kill' the kick and bring the well under control so it can be plugged.
The way I heard it, was: “You gonna fish or cut bait?” (8^D)
I know, what is that thing? I can’t find anything explaining what it is. I know that something happened yesterday and the flow has increased ever since then. It also splattered the camera and they had to take it up. I watched as they lowered the new or cleaned one and they were looking all around at gauges, valves, pipes and other stuff. Very stressful to watch, especially if you live on one the coasts that would be affected, and I do.
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From Sun. May 23
Major Change Down Below...
http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/2010/05/major-change-down-below.html
Concerning the nuke method, what sort of ‘ocean wave’ would be generated from such a detonation?
Proves they(Big Polluter) could care less("...insurance will cover it.").
Using computer controlled airbags & thrusters it (modified tanker) could capture all the gas & oil .
How could that work with the constant formation of methane hydrates at thay pressure and temperature? How would it be different than the first failed containment dome?
Also, BP like most of the majors are self insured. Their access to capital is greater than many large insurance companies.
An old tanker has many tanks and a modifiable manifold system to constantly manage the every changing pressure and current scenarios.
You need a big beast for that, not the little Ben Franklin bucket brigade they've been haphazardly trying.
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