“Mud was everywhere … This was mud that was shooting up from the well. It was oily mud, real oily,” she said.
I have seen umpteen dozen pictures of the life boats and saw no mud on them. May be wrong.
If they are taking all the other rigs offline in the area. How are they going to provide for relief drilling in the area?
[QUOTE=tadwall;31732]No doubt all of you gents in the field already know this, but in the news today:
Diamond Offshore has ceased operations on and evacuated semi Ocean Endeavor due to the crude oil slick resulting from the destruction of Transocean semi Deepwater Horizon. The Ocean Endeavor was working with ExxonMobil in Mississippi Canyon Block 211, less than 10 miles from the Deepwater Horizon’s last position in Mississippi Canyon Block 252. Evacuations on the Ocean Endeavor were completed on April 26 and the rig is now idle on location. A timetable for when the unit can resume drilling has not yet been established.
The Deepwater Horizon’s Macondo well has created an oil slick of various levels of sheening, approximately 48 miles by 39 miles at its widest point, 30 miles off the coast of Venice, Louisiana.
26-Apr-2010
The Endeavor was working on some intervention / recompletion work on Exxon’s block. Should be an interesting conversation with BP about who pays![/QUOTE]
[I]“If they are taking all the other rigs offline in the area…”[/I] I don’t know that they’re doing that. This is more along the lines of suspending normal operations for a rig that is presently surrounded by an oily sheen (the Endeavor).
But that should not affect the relief drilling operations. Relief drilling operations are more of an emergency, a critical activity. I am guessing they will employ measures to protect the safety of the rig from floating hydrocarbons in the vicinity.
[QUOTE=rlanasa;31738]If they are taking all the other rigs offline in the area. How are they going to provide for relief drilling in the area?[/QUOTE]
The crew of the DDIII and Enterprise know that they are going into a hazard area.
This isn’t Exxon’s problem and I suspect that they DON’T want their crews working with hydrocarbons on the water (and especially so near the undersea wellhead.) Besides, it won’t be Exxon paying for all that down-time.
[QUOTE=pribas;31729]
a) come up with some kind of canopy to be placed on top of the open pipe end that is leaking to funnel the oil through a very long some hose to the surface were then it could be easily gathered;
[/QUOTE]
Don’t forget, it has been reported elsewhere that there is a second, stronger leak, coming from a mid-section of the riser (crimp, maybe?). This will be harder to successfully funnel to the surface. And at such depths and currents, oil that starts drifting upwards at point A, might break the surface all the way over at point Z.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of those lost, to the men and women that escaped from this disaster and to all involved in the rescue operations that enabled 115 people to see their families again.
Having worked in marine, offshore and petrochemical environments my entire adult life, almost all of us have seen, or will see in our careers, something go badly wrong, resulting in a serious situation. Mercifully, very few of us will ever have to witness or experience anything of the same magnitude that the men and women aboard DWH did last week, off the coast of Rio in 2001, on Piper Alpha in 1987 or in Texas City refinery a few years ago. A message to those that managed to get off the rig, as the investigations get under way and criticism starts coming in from all side about who did this right and this wrong, only those few people who have been through a cataclysmic event like this are in any position to comment on your actions that night. God bless.
[QUOTE=Allirog;31743]A message to those that managed to get off the rig, as the investigations get under way and criticism starts coming in from all side about who did this right and this wrong, only those few people who have been through a cataclysmic event like this are in any position to comment on your actions that night. God bless.[/QUOTE]
It is about time some said this! Allirog you are absolutely 1000% right!
Ladies and Gent’s as you get more attention from the press than you ever wanted. remember the men who didn’t get off the Horizon. The ones that died instantly and the others who stayed at their posts trying to mitigate “the kick”, not knowing the magnitude of the disaster upon them. Only those aboard can make any comment on your actions that night. That you got off the MODU at all with the overwhelming magnitude of the disaster is a excellent testament to the culture of safety and the MMS Award recently won the Deepwater Horizons crew. Don’t accept any criticism from “armchair-quarterbacks” and professional (or amateur) critics. They can’t go where you’ve been.
In the “sonar scan of the rig on the sea floor” Are we looking at the bottom of DWH as it’s laying on its side?
[QUOTE=nomad;31594]Greetings all,
Here are some images from USCG’s District 8 website. Link to info page is:
http://www.d8externalaffairs.com/go/site/2931/
We can see oil escaping what appears to be a section of drill pipe; I’ll just note that it’s not a full force, full bore, stream of fluid which implies some sort of flow restriction upstream of the flow point. Additionally, there appears to be shallow subsurface flow from a riser section below mudline. It’s going to be a challenge to get this tidied up; there is a lot of mass in the loop of tubulars that must be in constant motion due to current activity.
Regards…
[ATTACH=CONFIG]813[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]814[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]815[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
http://gcaptain.com/forum/attachments/professional-mariner-forum/815-transocean-deepwater-horizon-fire-.jpg[QUOTE=Oil_and_Gas_person;31742]Don’t forget, it has been reported elsewhere that there is a second, stronger leak, coming from a mid-section of the riser (crimp, maybe?). This will be harder to successfully funnel to the surface. And at such depths and currents, oil that starts drifting upwards at point A, might break the surface all the way over at point Z.[/QUOTE]
You can follow this link to see a diagram of the kink and a photo of the flow from the riser kink,
[QUOTE=pribas;31729]The BOP shear rams are not designed to shear the drill pipe at the tool joint. QUOTE]
No kidding, I"ve only assisted sub sea and changed about 20 sets, to include different ram sizes (that would be for different size drill pipe) and VBRs too. That section of pipe, that the shear rams shear, that would be called the tube. LIke the question said, what are options IF the tool jt is there.
[QUOTE=Allirog;31743]My thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of those lost, to the men and women that escaped from this disaster and to all involved in the rescue operations that enabled 115 people to see their families again.
Having worked in marine, offshore and petrochemical environments my entire adult life, almost all of us have seen, or will see in our careers, something go badly wrong, resulting in a serious situation. Mercifully, very few of us will ever have to witness or experience anything of the same magnitude that the men and women aboard DWH did last week, off the coast of Rio in 2001, on Piper Alpha in 1987 or in Texas City refinery a few years ago. A message to those that managed to get off the rig, as the investigations get under way and criticism starts coming in from all side about who did this right and this wrong, only those few people who have been through a cataclysmic event like this are in any position to comment on your actions that night. God bless.[/QUOTE]
That is very true. What is also very true is having a raised awareness by similar professionals because of this tragic event, and the open discussion about possible scenarios, serves food for thought and is not an open criticism by anyone’s actions. Direct criticisms of anyone’s actions on the DWH will not have a long life expectancy on this board. I’m sure that - well, I very positive that any oil field professional with drilling knowledge (myself not included), has thought, or has tried to think of what could have happened. Particularly guys sitting on live wells at this very second. This has effected the entire Gulf of Mexico and beyond. If anything is to be gained - that would be the knowledge of a similar event never happening again. Hopefully, an open discussion such as this is a very first step, and I doubt very seriously that a prerequisite of moving the discussion in that direction would be - to have been through something similar yourself. Allirog, everyone agrees with you 100% and those type of criticism that may come, will not originate from here.
found at: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4549418588_8bdf404cea_o.jpg
[ATTACH=CONFIG]824[/ATTACH]
looks like the rig ended upside down on the seafloor and the riser a twisted up mess
[QUOTE=slick;31734]“Mud was everywhere … This was mud that was shooting up from the well. It was oily mud, real oily,” she said.
I have seen umpteen dozen pictures of the life boats and saw no mud on them. May be wrong.[/QUOTE]
Just speculating here (like most of us) but consider the following:
1). Most (if not all) of the semi-subs that I have served on had lifeboats (TEMPSC-Totally Enclosed Motor Propelled Survival Craft) on two opposite sides of the vessel. On semi-subs, half of these are normally near the crews quarters side and the other half on the opposite side near the pipe rack storage area or the well bay (depending on the deck layout).
2). On newer drilling rigs (Horizon included), there are enough boats to accommodate 200% of the crew. That way they can use their “Primary” or their “Alternate” boat depending upon the nature of the emergency.
3.) These boats have self contained water spray systems to protect the exterior from fire damage when escaping for use in situations such as the Horizon experienced.
With that said, I would assume that the crews evacuated using the boats nearest to the crew quarters which would have been somewhat protected/shielded by the accommodations building preventing them from being convered with the oily/mud. They may have engaged the water-spray systems which could have kept the oily/mud from accumulating on them.
[QUOTE=Anchor Guy;31766] With that said, I would assume that the crews evacuated using the boats nearest to the crew quarters which would have been somewhat protected/shielded by the accommodations building preventing them from being convered with the oily/mud. They may have engaged the water-spray systems which could have kept the oily/mud from accumulating on them.[/QUOTE]
I’ve heard (but I don’t know) that the aft boats were blown off in the explosion. Those were the two they found empty.
EDS vs. ESD
Horizon’s ESD panels are the Floor, the Bridge and ECR. They control ventilation, engines, fuel valves, fire doors, etc. You could also initiate an ESD from the Vessel Management System. They have nothing to do with the BOP.
The EDS buttons are on the BOP panel on the Floor and on the Bridge. There are none in the OIM’s or Toolpusher’s office. On the Horizon the OIM and Sr. Toolpusher position in an emergency is on the Bridge, while the on-tour toolpusher is on the Floor, and the off-tour toolpusher assists the Chief Mate on scene. I understand (but I don’t know) that they initiated an EDS from the Bridge and it didn’t work.
The hole in the helideck is odd. The only thing under that spot was the ship’s whistle. The foam tank was under there but quite a ways aft of the hole. The helifuel tanks were on deck, aft of the Bridge. Something hot must have landed on the aluminum deck.
Sorry if I’m being dense on a minor point but I still don’t understand the sonar pic. Are we looking down on the rig or is it a horizontal view? I just don’t recognise the angled bracing unless that’s part of the deck or the bottom structure.
[QUOTE=c.captain;31753]found at: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4549418588_8bdf404cea_o.jpg
[ATTACH=CONFIG]824[/ATTACH]
looks like the rig ended upside down on the seafloor and the riser a twisted up mess[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=RDD;31781]Sorry if I’m being dense on a minor point but I still don’t understand the sonar pic. Are we looking down on the rig or is it a horizontal view? I just don’t recognise the angled bracing unless that’s part of the deck or the bottom structure.[/QUOTE]
It’s truly upside down. What you are seeing are the two pontoons and supporting cross-members.
Here’s a photo of the Nautilus – you can see two of the major cross-members.
I think the sonar image was taken by an ROV looking forward, along the plane of the seabed. You are looking at the bottom of the rig, with the rig laying on its side.
Maybe one of the Subsea guys closer to the action can comment.
The NY Times reports that the original incident @ 2200 hours occured during a shift change. can anyone confirm this, as to me it sounds odd.
In my (extensive) maritime O&G experience we had shift changes at “the 6’s and the 12’s”; in any event I’m trying to relive these moments in my mind to analyize the scenario.
thanks, and again, best wishes to all involved in this tragedy.
[QUOTE=richard8000milesaway;31784]The NY Times reports that the original incident @ 2200 hours occured during a shift change. can anyone confirm this, as to me it sounds odd.
In my (extensive) maritime O&G experience we had shift changes at “the 6’s and the 12’s”; in any event I’m trying to relive these moments in my mind to analyize the scenario.
thanks, and again, best wishes to all involved in this tragedy.[/QUOTE]
Tour changes are typically at either 0-6-12-24 hrs. Pre tour safety meetings are usually with in 1.5 -1 hours prior to Tour start.
Please do not forget Gordon Jones, MI Swaco MUD Engineer. He leaves behind my sister (8 months pregnant) and his 2 yr boy. Not to mention his mother, brother, father and sister as well as many other friends and family in the Baton Rouge area. Please pray for this family as well as the others!