Federal On-Scene Coordinator Rear Admiral Mary Landry and the Unified Area Command, acting on the validation of government scientists and in consultation with the National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, have given approval to proceed with the top kill operation today to stop the flow of oil from the MC252 well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The procedure is intended to stem the flow of oil and gas and ultimately kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blow out preventer on the seabed, down into the well.
Release date: 26 May 2010
BP started the “top kill” operations today to stop the flow of oil from the MC252 well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The procedure is intended to stem the flow of oil and gas and ultimately kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blow out preventer on the seabed, down into the well.
Pumping started at 19.00 (UK) and 13.00 (CDT) and continues.
Further information:
BP Press Office London: +44 20 7496 4076
BP Press office, US: +1 281 366 0265
Unified Command Joint Information Center:+1 985-902-5231 www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com www.bp.com/gulfofmexicoresponse
[QUOTE=brentfonty;33735]Is anybody watch the CNN Oceaneering Video Portal? If so what the heck is going on[/QUOTE]
It looks like the entire area around the camera is filled will drilling fluid or sediment. They may have amped up the flow, move the camera closer of just stirred up the water with the props.
[QUOTE=rlanasa;33736]It looks like the entire area around the camera is filled will drilling fluid or sediment. They may have amped up the flow, move the camera closer of just stirred up the water with the props.[/QUOTE]
Are you watching the single one or the multiple one?
I’ve been lurking since the beginning. Really appreciate the good questions and answers from many. I would however be suspicious of answers that are copied from google searches http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9033657&contentId=7061734. [QUOTE=rlanasa;33732][I]A drilling rig drills a relief well or second well to intersect the original, flowing well as deeply as possible. A specialized heavy liquid is then pumped into the flowing well to bring it under control. This liquid is denser than oil and so exerts pressure (known as hydrostatic pressure) to stem the flow of oil. Once the flow is stopped, the well can be returned to a safe condition.
[/I][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=johnebe;33715]that camera view up now, with the three small ruptures, is a new one on me… is this new? to clarify: exactly how many ruptures are there and where…?[/QUOTE]
This one is the riser kinked over on top of the BOP if you look close this one has a total of four leak points.
[QUOTE=alvis;33743]I could have sworn the leak at the kink was a single leak point, not four. Has there always been four leak points at the kink since the DWH sunk?[/QUOTE]
The riser kink point has been reported as one of the three original leak. The kink point, the end of the riser and the drill pipe sticking out of the end of the riser. Some time ago BP capped the drill pipe leak. So two total leak locations. Now that there is a camera at the kink site we can see the oil or now mud coming out in four locations or cracks in this single kink or link site. The cracks have stay the same size all day today. This is good news,
Hi I try to stay out of the conversation as much as possible and just listen, this has proven to be one of the best resources for getting a grasp on what is going on underneath the water.
A quick question for everyone.
Some news articles are stating that Top kill has NEVER been attempted on any well underwater? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100526/sc_ynews/ynews_sc2252
While the depth is unprecedented is the using of this technique underwater a first as well?
[QUOTE=bobc;33738]I’ve been lurking since the beginning. Really appreciate the good questions and answers from many. I would however be suspicious of answers that are copied from google searches http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9033657&contentId=7061734.[/QUOTE]
I personally am less suspicious of bobc’s copied answers than I am the ridiculous rants posted by a pseudo Company Man who “expertly” lectures the readers on his visualization of cement and mud colors, various flow rate changes and declaration of an overpowered blowout. Mostly Bull S**t.
[QUOTE=rlanasa;33744]Now that there is a camera at the kink site…
ok ok - thanks… i’ve been checking in on the feed since the moment it went Live and that’s the FIRST time I’ve seen a shot of the kink site… makes sense though for BP to avoid showing it because, regardless of actual flow, it [I]looks[/I] more dramatic than the other leak… and wouldn’t a massive rupture probably ONLY visually reveal itself at the BOP…while the furthest leak point would probably go dead…and thus we’d see NOTHING…? and probably rejoice that it’s was sealed…? i dunno…just paralleling with my handyman plumbing skills…
I’d guess there’s been a camera all the while at the kink site BUT they [I]now [/I]have NO choice but to show it to us cause they need all the ROVS for more critical monitoring and can’t justify sacrificing one for this deception…? i dunno…just paralleling with my brief stint selling used cars…
[QUOTE=Eskimeaux;33748]I personally am less suspicious of bobc’s copied answers than I am the ridiculous rants posted by a pseudo Company Man who “expertly” lectures the readers on his visualization of cement and mud colors, various flow rate changes and declaration of an overpowered blowout. Mostly Bull S**t.[/QUOTE]
Do you have any better answers? It would have been pretty nice for BP to be a little more forthcoming with information since this is the most watched or unwatched pumping procedure in history. No pressure readings cameras that are turned off at the most critical time of the procedure. It isn’t like there isn’t anyone there to provide such information. Of course they are being so cooperative in the clean up, with congressional investigators, with the EPA, Etc. Etc. Etc.
i can just hear it now. We caped the well everything is hunky dory & don’t worry about the infinite slick scouring the whole gulf coast. The check’s in the mail we promise.
[QUOTE=company man 1;33720]Details of todays events as told by someone who understands what they were looking at.
Arose @ 6:30 & had 2 big cups of coffee with sweet-n-low.
Turned on news on CNN due to disappointment that FOX said screw the gulf coast today.
Heard word that BP had been running tests throughout the night & hadn’t seen anything on video until 1:00 A.M. So I figured they were just checking hydraulic valves on choke & kill lines.
CNN gives news that BP will wait to pump top kill until later in the morning.
I have the news on watching CNN do reports from Fourchon when I see the flow coming out of 21" start to increase & change color form black & smoky on top to distinct brown. I call my son & wife & say they are pumping on the well.
I get on this thread & let people know there is definite change in flow coming out of the 21" riser which can be researched on my previous threads.
I continue to watch the massive increase in flow out of the 21" telling me they are doing some heavy pumping into the well head causing the well to be overtaken by the pump rate thereby alllowing the mud to be pumped downhole.
At sometime that can be traced to my previous posts I could see they went from barite to cement based on the color of the returns. Anyone who has any oilfield experience knows that the colors in returns are one of the standards used in well monitoring.
Sometime between 0915 Hrs. & 09:50 Hrs. I visually detected the slowing of pumping rates & the slowing of rates to almost zero returns, at which time I became convinced the well was plugged or very close. That sense of euphoria lasted about 30 seconds. Then I saw the return rates speed up immediately. the vision of cement then barite coming out of the riser I watching made me sick. Then it made me cry. Why would someone who is anonymous, someone who wanted this well plugged as much as anyone lie? Why would they make this up or hallucinate because of their desire for the well to be plugged? The answer is simple. They wouldn’t. I wanted the top kill to work as much as anyone.
I did warn, however, that it was a one shot deal & there would be no redo. I saw the big show this afternoon & it wasn’t 20 minutes into it that BP decided to turn off our only discernable view of success. Why would they do that? Why would they hide again? Why would they not inform the public of their pumping operation this morning? Now they say it is too early to tell if the top kill worked. At the rates they are having to pump to vercome flow rate, it would only take a few minutes to fill the casing annuls & begin placing mud into the formation once they overcame flow. They would be able to tell by the pumping pressure if they were overcoming. They could easily have informed us by now if they are pumping into the formation or else why did we wait so long for simulations & tests to be run, which I didn’t see this morning? I will be more than willing to admit I am a pschopathic hallucinating pathological liar if anyone can give a good reason why.
I did not hide 5 hours of vital rig data which fills in all the blanks on the evening of 4-20-10.
I have not been dishonest about the rate of flow from this well since then. I did not tell the EPA to stuff it when they warned my company to quit using Corexit. I don’t know what heck is going on, but I do know what I saw.
I am anonymous & gain nothing from lying, misleading, hiding, covering up, or fingerpointing.
But I know someone who does. I will say this for the record. BP will not exixt in the United States in 6 months. I could have taken them coming clean & saying we gave it our best, but this whole thing is now a joke that is being perpetrated upon this country & the results will be animosity toward this whole industry, which isn’t right.[/QUOTE]
Ease up on the ranting and conspiracy theories, please. It’s unseemly, at best, for you to be posting a steady stream of attacks out of bitterness against a former employer who dismissed you from a previous job, as you admit in your post 831. You have been posting nearly 10 times a day for the last 2 weeks. Give it a rest.
BP said they would be running tests for 24 hours before the initiation of the topkill to verify that everything was working, that the flowlines were functioning, to measure flow rates from the BOP to the riser leak, etc. The fact that the rates of outflow and the colors of the discharge changed from time to time is proof that they were doing EXACTLY what they said they were doing. When the topkill operation started at 1 PM, the dramatic outpourings of mud from the riser leaks were quite evident. The BP website says they were planning to pump 50 barrels a minute into the BOP, so a lot can come out the riser even while slow progress is made in pushing the fluids down the well. From the reports it sounds like the operation is working and measurably more mud is going into the ports than is coming out the leaks. In other words, the heavy mud is pushing the hydrocarbons back down the hole. The process will take many hours because the oil and gas are having to be forced back into the formations from which they came and the well is nearly 3 miles long.
Given the staedy outflow of mud from the riser, I would not be surprised if the ROV visibility near the wellhead goes to zero before long. The verification of success will come when the pressures needed to push the mud start diminishing because the weight of the heavy mud column outbalances the pressure from the formation. With luck they will be cementing withing the next 24 hours. We will all breathe a sigh of relief when this thing is capped.
As for the whiners who are pounding a constant drumbeat against BP for their lack of progress, I think it is very telling that both the Coast Guard and the CEO of Exxon are saying that BP has been doing the right things from day 1, and that they cannot think of anything they would have done differently. The extremely challenging environment they are working in, and the remoteness imposed by having to work through ROVs, has led many to compare this to the Apollo 13 rescue. Let’s hope they have finally found the right solution to capping this tragic blowout so everyone can turn most of their attention to the cleanup.
[QUOTE=company man 1;33750]Do you have any better answers? It would have been pretty nice for BP to be a little more forthcoming with information since this is the most watched or unwatched pumping procedure in history. No pressure readings cameras that are turned off at the most critical time of the procedure. It isn’t like there isn’t anyone there to provide such information. Of course they are being so cooperative in the clean up, with congressional investigators, with the EPA, Etc. Etc. Etc.
i can just hear it now. We caped the well everything is hunky dory & don’t worry about the infinite slick scouring the whole gulf coast. The check’s in the mail we promise.[/QUOTE]
No … I do not have a better answer …consequently, unlike you, I have kept my lack of knowledge to myself. geodude just offered you some good advice …let it rest. Some of us are tiring of you incessant ranting and pseudo experienced knowledge.
Chief, I’d have no problems with your post & let you have your say except for your inacuracies. First I have never been employed by BP. When I did work for them as a service specialist, I was not relieved form my duties. You need to pay a little more attention. As far as BP being on top of this thing & giving correct & accurate information, the next time they do it will be the first. This isn’t a BP problem anymore & they owe the people whose lives are being turned upside down by their irresponsibility better than what they are doing. As far as the Coast Guard goes, all they know about drilling & pumping operations is how to check life jackets, life rafts, & fire extinguishers. I’m not trying to put them down, but Thad Allen & Mary Landry don’t have a clue about the coordinated pumping effort on this job. You can buy the information/ disinformation if you wish, but there some who have a slight lack of trust due to the facts that you happened not to mention in your post. There are a lot of people on edge over this because they know what is at stake & some honesty backed with verification would go a long way right now in alleviating the edginess.[QUOTE=geodude;33752]Ease up on the ranting and conspiracy theories, please. It’s unseemly, at best, for you to be posting a steady stream of attacks out of bitterness against a former employer who dismissed you from a previous job, as you admit in your post 831. You have been posting nearly 10 times a day for the last 2 weeks. Give it a rest.
BP said they would be running tests for 24 hours before the initiation of the topkill to verify that everything was working, that the flowlines were functioning, to measure flow rates from the BOP to the riser leak, etc. The fact that the rates of outflow and the colors of the discharge changed from time to time is proof that they were doing EXACTLY what they said they were doing. When the topkill operation started at 1 PM, the dramatic outpourings of mud from the riser leaks were quite evident. The BP website says they were planning to pump 50 barrels a minute into the BOP, so a lot can come out the riser even while slow progress is made in pushing the fluids down the well. From the reports it sounds like the operation is working and measurably more mud is going into the ports than is coming out the leaks. In other words, the heavy mud is pushing the hydrocarbons back down the hole. The process will take many hours because the oil and gas are having to be forced back into the formations from which they came and the well is nearly 3 miles long.
Given the staedy outflow of mud from the riser, I would not be surprised if the ROV visibility near the wellhead goes to zero before long. The verification of success will come when the pressures needed to push the mud start diminishing because the weight of the heavy mud column outbalances the pressure from the formation. With luck they will be cementing withing the next 24 hours. We will all breathe a sigh of relief when this thing is capped.
As for the whiners who are pounding a constant drumbeat against BP for their lack of progress, I think it is very telling that both the Coast Guard and the CEO of Exxon are saying that BP has been doing the right things from day 1, and that they cannot think of anything they would have done differently. The extremely challenging environment they are working in, and the remoteness imposed by having to work through ROVs, has led many to compare this to the Apollo 13 rescue. Let’s hope they have finally found the right solution to capping this tragic blowout so everyone can turn most of their attention to the cleanup.[/QUOTE]
pretty easy to defend company man against a first and third poster… haven’t seen him totally discounted by any longer term members or seemingly knowledgeable or articulate posters…they simply counter with their own arguments…rather than lowbrow insults…
Why should he give it a rest…??? Right or Wrong or Grey, He certainly sounds far more knowledgeable than those who have simple adeptness with technical/mechanical information and are thus able to paraphrase from the multiplicity of sources and [I]sound[/I] somewhat knowledgeable…
“[I]Large skepticism leads to large understanding. Small skepticism leads to small understanding. No skepticism leads to no understanding.”[/I]