Here my two cents: It seems to me that he top kill flow is going to the path of least resistance, so some of it could be fracing a totally different interval than the pay zone, so the pay zone may never receive cement (and even if it did it probably wouldn’t squeeze off) so they are attempting to achieve good cement in the annulus and inside the casing which will require a balanced plug, which will have to be calculated on the fly based on what sensors they have working. One of the reasons there’s a 30% chance of failure. Sometimes system technologies don’t progress in lock step. In deepwater the drilling technology has out paced other components of the total system, ie. they use accelerometers, flux gate magnetometers, and gyros to control a motorized eccentric sleeve to point the bit to stay within several feet in a lateral target for many thousand feet. Some of the emerging drilling technologies are drilling with casing and wired drill pipe.
Though it appears there are some production string design questions, the well control system crashed beyond anything they had prepared for, remember our government explaining “who would have thought terrorists would fly into buildings?” Repairing and maintenance on the well control components by ROVs has been impressive, but if they had spent the money they spent lobbying congress to improve ROV technology instead, they would have been further ahead.
Deepwater rigs are run by computers but this demonstrated the remaining possibility of human error on several fronts. The logical thing to me would be to have a back up surface bop and the rig hands should demand this. Fifty year old technology could have prevented this.
Here my two cents: It seems to me that he top kill flow is going to the path of least resistance, so some of it could be fracing a totally different interval than the pay zone, so the pay zone may never receive cement (and even if it did it probably wouldn’t squeeze off) so they are attempting to achieve good cement in the annulus and inside the casing which will require a balanced plug, which will have to be calculated on the fly based on what sensors they have working. One of the reasons there’s a 30% chance of failure.
Sometimes system technologies don’t progress in lock step. In deepwater the drilling technology has out paced other components of the total system, ie. they use accelerometers, flux gate magnetometers, and gyros to control a motorized eccentric sleeve to point the bit to stay within several feet in a lateral target for many thousand feet. Some of the emerging drilling technologies are drilling with casing and wired drill pipe.
Though it appears there are some production string design questions, the well control system crashed beyond anything they had prepared for, remember our government explaining “who would have thought terrorists would fly into buildings?” Repairing and maintenance on the well control components by ROVs has been impressive, but if they had spent the money they spent lobbying congress to improve ROV technology instead, they would have been further ahead.
Deepwater rigs are run by computers but this demonstrated the remaining possibility of human error on several fronts. The logical thing to me would be to have a back up surface bop with a high pressure riser, and the rig hands should demand this. Fifty year old technology could have prevented this blow out even in the event of not following proper well control procedure.
I guess the most difficult part remains - a good cement plug. That looks like a difficult task. Is the plug set where it is planned ?, will the cement set up properly and how do the maintain pressure on it when it sets up ?
[QUOTE=KASOL;33797]I guess the most difficult part remains - a good cement plug. That looks like a difficult task. Is the plug set where it is planned ?, will the cement set up properly and how do the maintain pressure on it when it sets up ?[/QUOTE]
Here my two cents: It seems to me that he top kill flow is going to the path of least resistance, so some of it could be fracing a totally different interval than the pay zone, so the pay zone may never receive cement (and even if it did it probably wouldn’t squeeze off) so they are attempting to achieve good cement in the annulus and inside the casing which will require a balanced plug, which will have to be calculated on the fly based on what sensors they have working. One of the reasons there’s a 30% chance of failure.
Sometimes system technologies don’t progress in lock step. In deepwater the drilling technology has out paced other components of the total system, ie. they use accelerometers, flux gate magnetometers, and gyros to control a motorized eccentric sleeve to point the bit to stay within several feet in a lateral target for many thousand feet. Some of the emerging drilling technologies are drilling with casing and wired drill pipe.
Though it appears there are some production string design questions, the well control system crashed beyond anything they had prepared for, remember our government explaining “who would have thought terrorists would fly into buildings?” Repairing and maintenance on the well control components by ROVs has been impressive, but if they had spent the money they spent lobbying congress to improve ROV technology instead, they would have been further ahead.
Deepwater rigs are run by computers but this demonstrated the remaining possibility of human error on several fronts. The logical thing to me would be to have a back up surface bop and the rig hands should demand this in case proper well control procedures haven’t been followed. Fifty year old technology could have prevented this with very little additional expense.
The hope is to kill or in this case over kill the well with the heavy mud. By the time they go to cement they do not want to need any pressure. The numbers going in yesterday were 3000 feet of mud would take the pressure to zero. They have 15,000 more feet of hole to fill with mud as backup. Restated if they fill the whole well column with heavy mud they have this thing under control. Mud had this under control on the day of the blowout. Everything fell apart when they started taking the mud out. Once they have the well head pressure to zero with some margin the cement job should be easy. With zero pressure they also hope to crimp off the riser on top of the BOP.
[QUOTE=KASOL;33797]I guess the most difficult part remains - a good cement plug. That looks like a difficult task. Is the plug set where it is planned ?, will the cement set up properly and how do the maintain pressure on it when it sets up ?[/QUOTE]
The Osceanearing live feed is crap quality, compared to Subsea7 earlier… what vessel are Osceaneering ROV sendt from? The subsea7 feed was from Skandi Neptune a norwegian ship. Wondering if the Osceanearing feed also is from an norwegian vessel since the screen says Aker Solutions. I`m norwegian so quite interesting to see these norwegian vessels over there helping out in this situation…
Both Thad Allen and BP are claiming this story is incorrect. Here is the BP official position this morning.
“Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - 27 May
"Top kill” operations continued over the night and are ongoing. There are no significant events to report at this time. BP will provide updates on progress as appropriate."
[QUOTE=rlanasa;33800]The hope is to kill or in this case over kill the well with the heavy mud. By the time they go to cement they do not want to need any pressure. The numbers going in yesterday were 3000 feet of mud would take the pressure to zero. They have 15,000 more feet of hole to fill with mud as backup. Restated if they fill the whole well column with heavy mud they have this thing under control. Mud had this under control on the day of the blowout. Everything fell apart when they started taking the mud out. Once they have the well head pressure to zero with some margin the cement job should be easy. With zero pressure they also hope to crimp off the riser on top of the BOP.[/QUOTE]
Too much weight in the fluid column and already pumped in a formation and the well could go on vacuum (but they could try again later); too little weight and like Kasol said they’ll need to hold back pressure, either with the junk shot or maintaining some established rate that they calculate using uncertain variables; zero pressure will require a balanced plug to be calculated on the fly by considering lots of uncertain variables. 70% chance of success.
[QUOTE=bigmoose;33789]Can you help us laymen with “float”? and TD meanings? Know that we technical types (but outside the oil industry) appreciate your patience in teaching us.[/QUOTE]
I could maybe help big moose. Of course you should thake this with a grain of salt naturallly, since there are so many more knowledgeable people on this thread willing to volunteer their services for FREE than myself. When cement is pumped on the final running of the completion CASING, not tubing mind you but casing, soomething called a casing shoe & flloat collar are run with it. When the cement is pumped, it is circulated though the flost collar & casing shoe & around the annulus of the casing. The casing shoe is a fancy name for a check valve. It will allow for pumping through but not allow for back flow. Now when the cement job is pumped for the casing string a “dart” or possibly some other kind of pig is pumped down the workstring behind the cement. This seats at the float collar & is a positive indicator of the cement being displaced properly to depth. Once the pig seats on the float collar the term bumping the plug is used & the pressure rises giving indication of cement displacement to the bottom of the casing. These two are set 2 joints apart or 80’+ because casing joints run 40’ a piece. This ensures the cement is solid inside the bottom of the casing. That is why it can be almost certainly deduced that the well did not blow out from inside the casing. It would take MOunt St. Hellens to make that happen.
Disclaimer, the preceeding thoughts were brought to you by a fake company man & is subject to attack by posters with no alternative information, facts, solutions, or other useful information. Thank you.
Edit: Sorry Kasol didn’t see you answered Bigmoose already.
Thanks to Kasol and CompanyMan1 for your thorough replies. The details you provide were lacking in my search. Knowing the shoe contains a check valve puts it all together, and the pig “landing” on the float collar puts those pieces together.
For those of you who worked many nights through to kill this well, know you are deeply appreciated by many of us, up here in the north. We have been praying, without ceasing, for your safety and success. May God continue to bless your work in the placement and proper curing of the cement plug(s).
[QUOTE=paloma;33637]cement and barite will sink not raise to surface[/QUOTE]
The flow of the well is going to push a bunch of both out the top during the kill process until they can overcome the flow rate enough to regain a hydrostatic head & weight the column to the point the formation stops flowing.
rlanasa, you know JUST ENOUGH to make you dangerous. The reason I was so upset yesterday, Is I KNOW based on what I saw that they overcame flow rate yesterday morning & put a FULL column of mud followed by a full column of cement down the casing annulus. The well then spit the cement, then mud back out of the hole. Of couse I had to use the same device the pumpers on the job used, my eyes. The informaiton I am seeking, knowing what I know is not some BS tommyrot that you are pollyparroting, but a data justification of pressures & what BP is hoping to achieve by pumping even more thousands of barrles of mud & how this increases & enhances the chance of a top kill. i also want to know if/when they decide to pump the junk if need be followed by mjore mud/cement. That way, I can relate to the hundreds of people who KNOW me locally & believe my fraudulent claims of actually being a company man since they have worked with & for me for years & I have all of them BSed into realizing I’m pretty smart at this stuff. That way guys like me can relay the data & translate it for the lay crowd that is depending on us. That is why BP treating everyone like we are no the level of fourth graders is personally very insulting to me & is pissing off a lot of other people who should be getting inforamtion instead of having to pie fight with the Bagdad Bobs of the world like you.[QUOTE=rlanasa;33803]Both Thad Allen and BP are claiming this story is incorrect. Here is the BP official position this morning.
“Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - 27 May
"Top kill” operations continued over the night and are ongoing. There are no significant events to report at this time. BP will provide updates on progress as appropriate."[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=rlanasa;33800]The hope is to kill or in this case over kill the well with the heavy mud. By the time they go to cement they do not want to need any pressure. The numbers going in yesterday were 3000 feet of mud would take the pressure to zero. They have 15,000 more feet of hole to fill with mud as backup. Restated if they fill the whole well column with heavy mud they have this thing under control. Mud had this under control on the day of the blowout. Everything fell apart when they started taking the mud out. Once they have the well head pressure to zero with some margin the cement job should be easy. With zero pressure they also hope to crimp off the riser on top of the BOP.[/QUOTE]
I would be careful saying that anything with this Top kill is easy They have a long way to go before this well is secure. But if they can stop the flow it is great.
So let me get this straight you claim that while thousands of eyes were watching yesterday morning only your skilled vision caught the images of 18,000 column feet mud going doing followed by 18,000 feet of cement going down then you saw the well upchuck the combined volume of the two loads back up. All of this happened in secret long before the 1PM time when the go ahead to start was granted by the US Government? Then you will have us believe that with well more than 1000 oil industry professionals directly engaged in the process a CG Admiral and senior executives came out and lied to us all live on global television.
You should go on Larry King tonight.
sS
[QUOTE=company man 1;33815]rlanasa, you know JUST ENOUGH to make you dangerous. The reason I was so upset yesterday, Is I KNOW based on what I saw that they overcame flow rate yesterday morning & put a FULL column of mud followed by a full column of cement down the casing annulus. The well then spit the cement, then mud back out of the hole. Of couse I had to use the same device the pumpers on the job used, my eyes. The informaiton I am seeking, knowing what I know is not some BS tommyrot that you are pollyparroting, but a data justification of pressures & what BP is hoping to achieve by pumping even more thousands of barrles of mud & how this increases & enhances the chance of a top kill. i also want to know if/when they decide to pump the junk if need be followed by mjore mud/cement. That way, I can relate to the hundreds of people who KNOW me locally & believe my fraudulent claims of actually being a company man since they have worked with & for me for years & I have all of them BSed into realizing I’m pretty smart at this stuff. That way guys like me can relay the data & translate it for the lay crowd that is depending on us. That is why BP treating everyone like we are no the level of fourth graders is personally very insulting to me & is pissing off a lot of other people who should be getting inforamtion instead of having to pie fight with the Bagdad Bobs of the world like you.[/QUOTE]
Who gave you these numbers? The little indian professor on CNN? The same one who said they would pump 50 gallons a minute down the pipe ? Then this was interpreted to one Bbl./minute which you ran to this board with to act as if you had inside info of what was going on. Where are your numbers coming from? Because this is an IMPORTANT event & hearing some littrle guy on TV that CNN says is an expert & he can’t explain the difference between a gallon & a barrel & you can’t figure that out then quit acting like you are reporting from the bridge of QE4000.[QUOTE=rlanasa;33800]The hope is to kill or in this case over kill the well with the heavy mud. By the time they go to cement they do not want to need any pressure. The numbers going in yesterday were 3000 feet of mud would take the pressure to zero. They have 15,000 more feet of hole to fill with mud as backup. Restated if they fill the whole well column with heavy mud they have this thing under control. Mud had this under control on the day of the blowout. Everything fell apart when they started taking the mud out. Once they have the well head pressure to zero with some margin the cement job should be easy. With zero pressure they also hope to crimp off the riser on top of the BOP.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=KASOL;33818]I would be careful saying that anything with this Top kill is easy They have a long way to go before this well is secure. But if they can stop the flow it is great.[/QUOTE]
Is this correct: Too much weight in the fluid column and already pumped in a formation and the well could go on vacuum (but they could try again later); too little weight and like Kasol said they’ll need to hold back pressure, either with the junk shot or maintaining some established rate that they calculate using uncertain variables; zero pressure will require a balanced plug to be calculated on the fly by considering lots of uncertain variables. 70% chance of success.
It seems to me that he top kill flow is going to the path of least resistance, so some of it could be fracing a totally different interval than the pay zone, so the pay zone may never receive cement (and even if it did it probably wouldn’t squeeze off) so they are attempting to achieve good cement in the annulus and inside the casing which will require a balanced plug, which will have to be calculated on the fly based on what sensors they have working. One of the reasons there’s a 30% chance of failure.
Sometimes system technologies don’t progress in lock step. In deepwater the drilling technology has out paced other components of the total system, ie. they use accelerometers, flux gate magnetometers, and gyros to control a motorized eccentric sleeve to point the bit to stay within several feet in a lateral target for many thousand feet. Some of the emerging drilling technologies are drilling with casing and wired drill pipe.
Though it appears there are some production string design questions, the well control system crashed beyond anything they had prepared for, remember our government explaining “who would have thought terrorists would fly into buildings?” Repairing and maintenance on the well control components by ROVs has been impressive, but if they had spent the money they spent lobbying congress to improve ROV technology instead, they would have been further ahead.
Deepwater rigs are run by computers but this demonstrated the remaining possibility of human error on several fronts. The logical thing to me would be to have a back up surface bop and the rig hands should demand this in case proper well control procedures haven’t been followed. Fifty year old technology could have prevented this with very little additional expense.
They have a long way to go before this well is secure. But if they can stop the flow it is great.