GOM Oil Spill - BP Stops Oil Leak

[Sanibel]

Knowing zero about the process myself I still don't understand why they can't intersect the runaway hole 2-3000 feet beneath the surface and get it to flow into the emergency relief well. Once they breached the casing the flow would go outside the pipe, however they could dump concrete on the current wellhead at the same time they punched through directing the flow into the controlled well where they could get a handle on the leaking oil. I don't understand why an emergency action like this isn't try-able?

[vbhoutex]

Knowing zero about the process myself I still don't understand why they can't intersect the runaway hole 2-3000 feet beneath the surface and get it to flow into the emergency relief well. Once they breached the casing the flow would go outside the pipe, however they could dump concrete on the current wellhead at the same time they punched through directing the flow into the controlled well where they could get a handle on the leaking oil. I don't understand why an emergency action like this isn't try-able?

I sure don't know enough to be any kind of authority on this, but I imagine the biggest problem with your scenario is the pressures at that depth and the fact that the temperature at that depth is 30F. Concrete will not set at those temps.

[Dionne]

Calcium is an accelerant added to concrete that allows you to pour below 32F. Generally the addition of 1-3% calcium is used. Although the addition of calcium and a resulting quick cure makes for a weaker psi. Not to mention they are trying to plug a hole that is blowing crude in an atmosphere exceeding 2000 psi. If the top hat with methanol stream doesn't do the deal......it will be the relief well being drilled as the next opportunity to stop or slow the flow of crude. I'm skeptical about the junk shot......I cannot imagine the amount of pressure required at the end of 5000'.

There is also the distinct possibility that we may not be able to stop the blow out. Even BP is admitting the pressure in the reservoir was much greater than anticipated. This is our wake up call.

[Sanibel]

There's probably a technical reason why this is a non-starter, but, if the purpose is to stop a bad oil spill I don't see why they couldn't have started an emergency relief well that would have intersected at around 5000 feet beneath the sea bed and punched into the runaway hole pipe. There's serious pressures involved here where you don't want the oil and gas getting outside the casing and creating an open hole. That actual might be the reason why they can't do it - but I haven't seen anyone actually say it. But, in any case, if they could do that and divert the flow to the contained relief well they could then seal off the runaway well but dumping concrete on it at the sea bed. In the meantime they could have a second conventional relief well being drilled in case this desperate move didn't work. Seems like it would be better than waiting 3 months for the relief well to be drilled. The current relief well is already at 5000 feet.

[WeatherLovingDoc]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) --" A two-ton "top hat" plug built by BP was lowered into the water on Wednesday to attempt to cap off the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico in the next couple of days.

The device hasn't been hooked up yet and BP /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 48.50, -0.27, -0.55%) /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp. (UK:BP. 541.60, -3.90, -0.71%) isn't sure if it'll stop the spill, said BP spokesman Matt Taylor.

Unlike a larger containment dome attempted over the weekend, the four-foot-wide device allows injections of methanol and hot water to prevent clogging from hydrates. Hydrate crystals form under high pressure and cold temperatures in ocean waters a mile deep, where water combines with gases such as methane...."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-drops-top-hat-plug-into-water-2010-05-12?dist=countdown

[WeatherLovingDoc]

...."A containment box called a "top hat," arrived in the Gulf above the Macondo well blowout early today. BP said it is deciding between using the 5 foot tall and 4 foot in diameter box or a pipe inserted directly into the gash in the riser pipe in its latest effort to contain the flow.

In the first method, a pipe attached to the top hat would suck up the oil escaping from the leak in the crumpled riser pipe -- as well as any other contents captured within the box, including water -- and send it to a drill ship waiting on the surface for separation and treatment.

In the second, a pipe would be placed directly inside the gash on the riser pipe. The top hat would not be used in that case. That version, BP officials said, would result in the collection of mostly oil, and little water and other elements.

The distinction between the two methods is important to note because BP's first attempt at capturing the escaping oil was stymied when the containment box failed because frozen crystals, called hydrates, blocked the pipe opening where oil would come out after being sucked from the well. The hydrate crystals form in cold temperatures and under high pressure where water combines with gases.

One of the two methods will be deployed late Thursday or on Friday, a BP spokesman said."

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/bp_still_deciding_how_best_to.html

[Dionne]

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the oil company told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight privately that the well failed a key pressure test just hours before it exploded on April 20.

The test indicated pressure was building up in the well, which could indicate oil or gas was seeping in and could lead to an explosion, said Waxman.

From CNN online

and this from 24/7 Wall st

What the press and scientists have not contemplated, at least in public, is that the oil from the leak could go on for a year, and perhaps longer. If it does, there is no technology to clean a territory that is so vast as the one that would be created. And, it is beyond imagination to contemplate the effects. The northern Gulf could be closed to commerce in a fashion that is unimaginable.

The worst case “scenario”: as business school graduates often explain these things is the worst case of a manmade catastrophe in history. It is an example of the fact that what man does, he cannot always undo.

There may be no best case with the Deepwater Horizon spill. There may be no middle case. There may be only the case that has not been put on the table. At some point, the leak simply runs out of oil.

[WeatherLovingDoc]

Deepwater Horizon owner invokes 1851 law to fight oil spill liability

"According to the good people at the Miami Herald, Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean is invoking an obscure piece of maritime law to claim they are not liable for more than the ’salvage value’ of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and then sank, subjecting coastal states like Louisiana to a gusher of an oil spill...."



http://trueslant.com/level/2010/05/13/deepwater-horizon-owner-invokes-1851-law-to-fight-oil-spill-liability/

[Stephanie]

Deepwater Horizon owner invokes 1851 law to fight oil spill liability

"According to the good people at the Miami Herald, Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean is invoking an obscure piece of maritime law to claim they are not liable for more than the ’salvage value’ of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and then sank, subjecting coastal states like Louisiana to a gusher of an oil spill...."



http://trueslant.com/level/2010/05/13/deepwater-horizon-owner-invokes-1851-law-to-fight-oil-spill-liability/

Uh, NO...

Let that whole company sink as well, along with BP and Haliburton. Someday you have to pay the piper. That day has come.

[Dencolo]

There's probably a technical reason why this is a non-starter, but, if the purpose is to stop a bad oil spill I don't see why they couldn't have started an emergency relief well that would have intersected at around 5000 feet beneath the sea bed and punched into the runaway hole pipe. There's serious pressures involved here where you don't want the oil and gas getting outside the casing and creating an open hole. That actual might be the reason why they can't do it - but I haven't seen anyone actually say it. But, in any case, if they could do that and divert the flow to the contained relief well they could then seal off the runaway well but dumping concrete on it at the sea bed. In the meantime they could have a second conventional relief well being drilled in case this desperate move didn't work. Seems like it would be better than waiting 3 months for the relief well to be drilled. The current relief well is already at 5000 feet.

The goal is to tap into the reservoir that is the source of oil escaping. The reservoir containing the oil is pretty big and a much bigger target to hit via current drilling methods. Once the reservoir is penetrated by the new well, heavy mud and cement will be utilized to kill the reservoir and current well. I suppose they will end up about 25' or so from the current location in the reservoir during the kill process.

Intersecting a current wellbore is nearly impossilbe. Think about it. How do you drill a 5000' hole that is about 12" in diamter and intersect another 12" hole. You'd have to know the exact coordinates of the hole down to the inch, and that is not something that is known to that degree.

The only real option here is to get to the source of the pressure, and that is the goal of the relief well. Though other current options may work out (the top kill, containment dome) it's ulimately the relief well that will isolate the pressure from below.

[Sanibel]

The goal is to tap into the reservoir that is the source of oil escaping. The reservoir containing the oil is pretty big and a much bigger target to hit via current drilling methods. Once the reservoir is penetrated by the new well, heavy mud and cement will be utilized to kill the reservoir and current well. I suppose they will end up about 25' or so from the current location in the reservoir during the kill process.

Intersecting a current wellbore is nearly impossilbe. Think about it. How do you drill a 5000' hole that is about 12" in diamter and intersect another 12" hole. You'd have to know the exact coordinates of the hole down to the inch, and that is not something that is known to that degree.

The only real option here is to get to the source of the pressure, and that is the goal of the relief well. Though other current options may work out (the top kill, containment dome) it's ulimately the relief well that will isolate the pressure from below.

I'm guessing it could be done with modern technology, high math, and GPS. Heck, an intersect would be fairly simple compared to some of the things they already do...

[Dionne]

BP officials have said 5,000 barrels per day of crude, or 210,000 gallons, have been leaking for the past three weeks.

But a researcher at Purdue University has predicted that about 70,000 barrels of oil per day are gushing into the Gulf after analyzing videos of the spill.

Associate professor Steve Wereley said he arrived at that number after spending two hours Thursday analyzing video of a spill using a technique called particle image velocimetry. He said there is a 20 percent margin of error, which means between 56,000 and 84,000 barrels could be leaking daily.

CNN this morning.....

[Dencolo]

I"d be sceptical of any flow estimates from anyone at this point. I will say, the best wells in the Gulf can flow unresticted at around 25k bbls a day. This well also has to buck 5000' of seawater, putting a lot of pressure on it. Also the BOPs are restricting flow a bit. I think anything over 20k bbls a day would be very difficult. Definately a tough estimate to make.

[WeatherLovingDoc]

"Once the reservoir is penetrated by the new well, heavy mud and cement will be utilized to kill the reservoir and current well. I suppose they will end up about 25' or so from the current location in the reservoir during the kill process."

Here's what I don't get. No doubt in my mind of the need to drill the quickest route to the reservoir and give up on the idea of intersecting the old BOP area at least for now. But once they hit the reservoir, which is felt to contain millions of barrels of oil, are you thinking they would try to immediately "kill it" with cement? How would that work unless they take out the oil there? In the immediacy, and I'm no physics thinker, introducing a solid into a partial liquid would seem to me to push more liquid out the other hole (the broken BOP hole) at an even faster rate, running the risk even of a total blow out of the damaged pipes in the BOP area, and perhaps even collapsing the sea bed there. Wouldn't they have to take oil out via the reserve well before they can put cement in?

Just wondering....

[Dionne]

I"d be sceptical of any flow estimates from anyone at this point. I will say, the best wells in the Gulf can flow unresticted at around 25k bbls a day. This well also has to buck 5000' of seawater, putting a lot of pressure on it. Also the BOPs are restricting flow a bit. I think anything over 20k bbls a day would be very difficult. Definately a tough estimate to make.

Can you provide a link for unrestricted flow rates in the GOM. I cannot find the info anywhere. Would this be considered proprietary information?

EDIT: GoM produces just under 1.4 mbd. There are just over 800 rigs in the Gulf. Unless Horizon hit the glory hole.....the numbers just do not work.

[brunota2003]

I don't think even BP knows just how much oil is down there.

Another thing is, they are saying mostly the light stuff is coming out of the hole...is that because, being less dense, the light crude would float ontop of the heavier crude oil? If so, then wouldn't it make sense that we are only seeing gas/light crude right now? And as the supply of that is drained away, will we be seeing a gradual changeover from the lighter oils to the heavier oils?

[Dionne]

I don't think even BP knows just how much oil is down there.

Another thing is, they are saying mostly the light stuff is coming out of the hole...is that because, being less dense, the light crude would float ontop of the heavier crude oil? If so, then wouldn't it make sense that we are only seeing gas/light crude right now? And as the supply of that is drained away, will we be seeing a gradual changeover from the lighter oils to the heavier oils?

The crude that has made it to shore is less than 2% volatile aromatics (the desired crude for refining) and more than 50% asphaltenes (roofing tar, hence the tar balls). It is definitely not the light sweet crude normally found in south Louisiana. I suspect the light sheen we initially saw after the blow out was from the Horizon itself.

[HURAKAN]

Link - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-f- ... 76744.html

BP and Transocean Try to Skip Out on Oil Spill Tab

[Dencolo]

"Once the reservoir is penetrated by the new well, heavy mud and cement will be utilized to kill the reservoir and current well. I suppose they will end up about 25' or so from the current location in the reservoir during the kill process."

Here's what I don't get. No doubt in my mind of the need to drill the quickest route to the reservoir and give up on the idea of intersecting the old BOP area at least for now. But once they hit the reservoir, which is felt to contain millions of barrels of oil, are you thinking they would try to immediately "kill it" with cement? How would that work unless they take out the oil there? In the immediacy, and I'm no physics thinker, introducing a solid into a partial liquid would seem to me to push more liquid out the other hole (the broken BOP hole) at an even faster rate, running the risk even of a total blow out of the damaged pipes in the BOP area, and perhaps even collapsing the sea bed there. Wouldn't they have to take oil out via the reserve well before they can put cement in?

Just wondering....

Some good questions there. In a way you are correct. Once the new well is in the reservoir they will likely start off by pumping a heavy mud down the new wellbore. This mud will go down and out the new wellbore and into the reservoir. It will take the path of least resisitance (high to low pressure) and head for the lower pressures of the old well. It will then head up the old well as the mud is continually pumped. At one point the mud will be too heavy for the continual flow of oil and gas and the well will cease flowing. This will be followed by pumping cement which will be in a liquid form. Once engineers are confident that the liquid cement is in the problem well, they will just let it sit and harden, likely taking around 24 hrs. Cement is really not any more difficult to pump than mud.

But you are right in that in doing this a little more oil and gas will come out in the process as the fluids are displaced. Of course this is by no means an easy process but past experiences do have a pretty good success rate.

[Dencolo]

I"d be sceptical of any flow estimates from anyone at this point. I will say, the best wells in the Gulf can flow unresticted at around 25k bbls a day. This well also has to buck 5000' of seawater, putting a lot of pressure on it. Also the BOPs are restricting flow a bit. I think anything over 20k bbls a day would be very difficult. Definately a tough estimate to make.

Can you provide a link for unrestricted flow rates in the GOM. I cannot find the info anywhere. Would this be considered proprietary information?

EDIT: GoM produces just under 1.4 mbd. There are just over 800 rigs in the Gulf. Unless Horizon hit the glory hole.....the numbers just do not work.

The number of 25K a day comes from some investment reports I've read citing what some of the best wells in the GOM are capable of producing. Sorry but I can't post a link to these. BP's thunderhorse platform is known to have some great producing wells on it capable of flowing around 25K BPD unrestricted. Really good wells from flow tests can flow at 10K BPD or more but it's hard to say as they usually flow at restricted rates.