Posted on 07/14/2010 10:19:51 AM PDT by tobyhill
BP's work on capping the Gulf of Mexico gusher was frozen Wednesday after the federal government raised concerns the operation could put damaging pressure on the busted well that could make the leak worse.
An administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks with BP, said the government was acting out of "abundance of caution" and didn't want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a tighter containment cap that has been placed over the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks.
At the same time, BP on its own halted the drilling of two relief wells that are designed to be a more permanent solution to plug the well.
The delays were a stunning setback after the oil giant finally seemed to be on track following nearly three months of failed attempts to stop the spill, which has sullied beaches from Florida to Texas and decimated the multibillion dollar fishing industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Do you know whether there are plans to use the relief wells’ rigs to pierce the reservoir after they plug the runaway well? Would they pull back and then drill straight ahead instead of turning to the side? It seems that after all the expense, salvaging two producing wells would be a good thing.
Because of that the government probably won’t allow it. They will say the drilling ban applies there, too. Then the rigs would take of for parts unknown, perhaps drilling somewhere else in the Gulf for China or Cuba.
They are at the near bottom of the well. Testing the casing integrity at this point has little meaning.>>>>>>>>>>
How about 2-3000 feet ago? It was very useful then. If this well/reservoir is super high pressure the relief wells will need a lot of luck. It will be like you trying to stop a firehose with your hand
Do you know whether there are plans to use the relief wells’ rigs to pierce the reservoir after they plug the runaway well? Would they pull back and then drill straight ahead instead of turning to the side? It seems that after all the expense, salvaging two producing wells would be a good thing.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The story is that these wells are not built to produce. Only built as relief wells. It might have to do with the way they are drilled....It might be a lie.
It’s all very simple. Texas - Republican. Louisiana - Republican. Mississippi - Republican. Alabama - Republican. Florida - Republican.
The antiwar voters went for Obama because they thought he’d bring our troops home. The environmentalists thought he’d help keep the environment clear. Black American hoped he would improve situation for poor blacks. Of course, none of this has happened. Yet, really, how many votes has he lost from these groups?
Of course, he’s lost most independents and Democrat voters who actually are moderate. Why did Stalin cause a famine in Ukraine? His supporters were a minority there. The politics of death in action.
All cap and trade cost will be passed them little suckers that voted for the RATS,,,,guarenteed.
This has GOT to be more funny business by the administration. They've got BP between a rock and a hard place and they know it.
From Kent’s morning chat:
Clearly we want to move forward with this as soon as we’re ready to do it. But what we don’t want to do is move forward with a test that ends up with inconclusive results. And so that’s what the 24 hours is about. We just need to make sure that there’s absolute clarity on this is the right test, this will give us the most information, this will minimize the risk and we can proceed forward and as a result of that then know the best path forward after that, whether it’s to shut in the well, whether it’s to go to containment, what does it mean for the kill with the relief wells. All of those things. We just need to make sure that this is right not – as much as we want to do things as soon as possible, we also want to make sure that they’re done absolutely correct.
You may be right. Maybe they are not casing them, etc., like they would a regular exploratory well. Thackney will probably know.
As Xena is fond of saying "Anything is possible if you don't know how anything works!"
Mississippi Gulf Coast ping
none is going into the water at this time.
I believe they are currently not taking ANY ...certainly the top of the new cap structure is open.
Look at the graphic I posted above. Click on the picture for a more detailed view.
2~3,000 feet shallower it was no where near the original bore.
Do you have any details on how they can do that?
All I have heard about is the ranging device to sense the magnetic field of the WW casing.
That would be scary, a well designed to immediately leak and leak everywhere.
The reliefs were approved with the same casing design as the original. That is scary enough. Hopefully, they take the cementing a little more serious with these.
The choke and kill lines are still collecting.
Subsea operational update:
July 14 at 9:00am CDT
For the last 12 hours on July 13 (noon to midnight), approximately 5,085 barrels of oil were collected and 12.6 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared on the Helix Producer, and approximately 4,000 barrels of oil and 9.8 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared on the Q4000.
http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=40&contentId=7061813
Or insider trading? I'd watch the stock...
Meanwhile the Doomsday press is busy spawning more stories....this one folds a lot of them together....
Why BP is Readying a 'Super Weapon' to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare
Taken from this article:
Why BP is readying a 'super weapon' to avert escalating Gulf nightmare
About Helium
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More on this FR thread:
I think they have to shut down them during the actual test, but can keep them going up until that point of starting the test.
From the BP presentations and technical brief from yesterday, they had still not cemented the last casing run on the Relief Well. So they stopped the first RW before cementing and completing the last casing ? Man, this is an All Stop Cluster Puck now. Looks like they want to gamble, just do not know how much to bet.
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