Failure of Rig’s Last Line of Defense Tied to Myriad Factors ( Deepwater Horizon BOP Fails )

The New York Times ^ | June 20, 2010 | David Barstow, Laura Dodd, James Glanz, Stephanie Saul and Ian Urbina.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It was the last line of defense, the final barrier between the rushing volcanic fury of oil and gas and one of the worst environmental disasters in United States history.

Its very name — the blind shear ram — suggested its blunt purpose. When all else failed, if the crew of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig lost control of a well, if a dreaded blowout came, the blind shear ram’s two tough blades were poised to slice through the drill pipe, seal the well and save the day. Everything else could go wrong, just so long as “the pinchers” went right. All it took was one mighty stroke.

On the night of April 20, minutes after an enormous blowout ripped through the Deepwater Horizon, the rig’s desperate crew pinned all hope on this last line of defense.

But the line did not hold.

For days, technicians and engineers worked furiously to figure out why, according to interviews and hundreds of pages of previously unreleased notes scrawled by industry crisis managers in the disaster’s immediate aftermath.

Engineers sent robotic submersibles 5,000 feet deep to prod the blind shear ram, nestled in the bosom of a five-story blowout preventer standing guard over the Macondo well.

They were driven on, documents and interviews reveal, by indications that the shear ram’s blades had come within a few maddening inches of achieving their purpose. Again and again, they tried to make the blades close completely, knowing it was their best chance to end the nightmare of oil and gas billowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[dalebert]

ping

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

H/T to mauisurfer at the Oil Drum .

[jonrick46]

Here is a drawing that shows a good picture of what may have gone wrong with Deepwater Horizon:

[Revel]

Wow that drawing is pretty interesting. Too bad you are the only one that can see it....LOL

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Video at the website ....and a lengthy article...which gives the MMS ( Government Agency ) some hard shots....

[Shadowstrike]

I see it fine.

[1066AD]

Bloomberg reports the well started giving trouble in February and that MMS was fully aware.

P.S. BP’s Hayward sold a bunch of BP stock mid March.

[1066AD]

Bloomberg report: "Cracks Show BP Was Battling Gulf Well as Early as February".

[Domangart]

175,000 lbs of pressure is a bitch.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Article about the rig doing the relief well:

For the Crew of a Drill Ship, a Routine Task, a Far-From-Routine Goal

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I hadn’t heard of any pressures that high....

[Irisshlass]

I am hearing between 20,000 and 70,000 psi.

[Revel]

Nothing there at all for me. Not even a blank space.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Would you remember where you saw such a high pressure number?

That is way way higher than anything I have seen.

[Bender2]

The NYT saying "It also shows that the Obama administration failed to grapple with either the well-known weaknesses of blowout preventers or the sufficiency of the nation’s drilling regulations even as it made plans this spring to expand offshore oil exploration."

Gadzooks! Is... freezing over?

[allmost]

The story and numbers will change within a week or two. As they have previously.

[jonrick46]

If the print is too small to read,hit “ctrl,” and do a scroll on your mouse. It should get bigger.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Usually the Times has a hint of an agenda....but I am not spotting one with this article.