Posted on 07/12/2010 7:36:00 AM PDT by Natural Born 54
For the first time Friday, the Coast Guard and BP acknowledged that a mysterious second pipe, wedged next to the drill pipe in what remains of the Deepwater Horizon's riser, is fouling up the works where the well is spewing hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
(snip)
While Allen said he believes the second pipe fell from above, some experts have advanced another explanation. They believe poorly cemented casings -- tubes that are supposed to form solid walls down thousands of feet of the well bore -- may have been dislodged by the blast of natural gas that shot up out of the well and above the sea floor.
(snip)
The Coast Guard's acknowledgement of the two metal tubes Friday -- and a subsequent reference by BP to its plans to tie the two pipes together as the company installs a new oil collection system over the shaved-off riser -- actually comes more than a month after the Department of Energy noted the existence of two pipes using special imaging technology. At the time, BP dismissed the Energy findings as "impossible" because only one pipe in sections was used for drilling, a Tribune News Service story reported last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
This article ends with a paragraph containing this statement: "If the well casing has come up through the BOP, the relief wells are unlikely to work." At the bottom of the page is a CNBC video - one oil guy says the relief well is a sham and the other says the outlook isn't good for it to work and Obama needs another option.
Video images of the riser when it was cut in early June clearly showed the two pipes,
Who ya gonna believe? BO or your own lyin' eyes?
Hahahahahahaaaa...
We’re being buffaloed by these people and the administration...
When will the media, who have let these bast*rds off the hook, smarten up....?
We’re approaching 100days on this thing.
The plans they have put forth will NOT stop the leak, only capture more of the leaking oil....
The oil will leak from that site for months if not years....
Not good. There has been a lot of knowledgeable talk about eroded and undermined strata due to the failed casing, which appears to be from the lower reaches of the well (ie: small diameter)which would render hopes of a relief well being effective to practically nil.
Problem is, who’s opinion can you trust? Must we sit back helplessly and watch this kabuki unfold? Liars to my right, liars to my left, stuck in the middle with you!
My engineering background is not oil but mechanical/manufacturing, but this whole deal can be summed up in just two words:
CHARLEY FOXTROT
How about running a few thousand lawyers and press agents out of the area and let the damn engineers who actually know something about the deal get to work?
Pemex/Ixtoc leaked for nine months. Barely anyone remembers it today.
How about stuffing them in the well until they plug it?
Obama: “pipe? pipe? can I smoke something good with it?”
With "experts" such as these involved is it any wonder that things are screwed up?
So it wasn't just in the RISER TUBE that this occurred, but continues in through the BOP and down into the wellpipe.
Relative to the kill operation this will make it more complex but it can be done. They will have to kill the outside flow around the casing. If the 9-5/8 is still intact down hole the well will then be dead. If it is not intact they will then need to do a second kill operation to stop the flow that would be coming into the 9-5/8.
The kill wells will be drilled into the oil pay zone. They will then breakdown the formation by pumping seawater down hole under many thousands of pounds of pressure. Once good communication is established they will follow with kill mud and then a huge cement job. This will have to be done once if the 9-5/8 is intact. Otherwise it will be done twice, once on the outside and once on the inside.
Not really. See my post 54 on this thread.
Heard a similar proposal back in The Day from a Gunny, but we both decided that even if shooting a few of them would cut casualties, raise morale and REALLY make us feel good, the paperwork and chickensh** afterward would be prohibitive.
Correction, SEE MY POST 13.
What if that second pipe did come up from below - does that mean that the capping of the well may not stop oil leaking out into surrounding layers down deep and then up into the sea bed? Could they successfully cap it, it stops leaking from the well head but leaks where nobody is looking? Then there are the predictions of an explosion occurring if the well is capped because it increases the pressure down below.
I like the idea of using the BPers as plugs btw.
OK. NOW the reference makes sense!
Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?
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