[QUOTE=rlanasa;34934]To my eyes the flow is also way down. They should have put a couple of crimps in the riser weeks ago…[/QUOTE]
Have ya looked at the crimp area lately rlanasa? It sure isn’t down by any means…
There is far less oil flowing from the single riser leak than there ever was from the end of the riser or the original kink. It also looks like they trying to crimp it further down?
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/view_live_video_feed_of_bp_gul.html
[QUOTE=company man 1;34926]I will be very interested in seeing what comes out when this riser is cut. They have been cutting on the last riser joint for a while now.[/QUOTE]
At today’s live briefing, just completed, Adm Thain said the first cut of the riser had been completed but for the second clean cut, the saw blade was stuck in the kerf for now (though some very bizarre imagery is on the spillcam currently, two ROVs grasping pink sheets).
Lubchenko as usual had nothing substantive to say – the govt being just as irrelevent on the scientific side as it is on well control. On the undersea plume front (hugely important to oil volume estimates and food chain impacts and currently threatening a 1300’ deep coral reef to the east [not the Keys] ), the NYTimes made a monkey out of BP execs today (link below), noting the company had participated in a previous Norwegian study establishing, counterintuitively, that sea floor oil releases don’t necessarily make it to the surface. It’s noted on oilandgaspress.com that Class C crude oil can be dense enough to sink (and Class B can weather to it). However that’s not the explanation of droplet buoyancy under consideration here.
Yesterday I asked Dr. Samantha Joye (excellent daily blog from the R/V Walton) to elaborate on what’s determining the buoyancy of droplets on their undersea oil plume from the wellhead (that kerosene-smelling stuff sticking to their large pore filters). Note that the plume is not necessarily floating at equilbrium density nor is droplet density necessarily constant over time. The gulf pyncnocline (variation of clean sea water with depth) varies over a fairly narrow range, say 1.025 at sea surface to 1.028 at the depths they are talking about. So it’s a bit mysterious why the plume is banding in a fairly narrow depth range.
Ignorance or conspirancy on the part of BP (to pooh-pooh spill impacts)? Well, normally when you float a whopper, you have some hope it is sustainable. Here they had an indefensible proposition from the get-go (“all the oil floats to the surface”). That favors simple managerial ignorance.
On the conspiracy side, Lubchenko earlly on did try to squelch one of the university ship reporting in the early days, threatening to cut off their NOAA grant (and interfered as best she could with wellhead flow measurements). Maybe that worked back at her cow college days at OSU but it has only infuriated the university community on the national level. The R/V Walton sails on NSF money, beyond her reach.
http://gulfblog.uga.edu/2010/06/closing-in/
http://www.oilandgaspress.com/wp/2009/05/12/crude-oil-explained/
http://gulfblog.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/station34b_watermark.jpg
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/evidence-of-undersea-oil-plumes/
Diamond saw now cutting through pipe, inches above flex joint on live cam. Making a better job of it than with circular saw.
Ignorance at work on my part,It appears the cut is only inches above the flange. I would have thought they needed a longer section of pipe to make a good connection. ??? I’m assuming they needed to stay below the crimped section where the pipe is out of round but they aren’t leaving much to work with.
[QUOTE=A Cooke;34939]Diamond saw now cutting through pipe, inches above flex joint on live cam. Making a better job of it than with circular saw.[/QUOTE]
Actually the diamond saw is not running, which you can attribute to something inside the riser. To see if the wire saw is running watch the yellow indicator marking on the spin wheels. Looks like they are moving the wire saw now.
[QUOTE=RDD;34940]Ignorance at work on my part,It appears the cut is only inches above the flange. I would have thought they needed a longer section of pipe to make a good connection. ??? I’m assuming they needed to stay below the crimped section where the pipe is out of round but they aren’t leaving much to work with.[/QUOTE]
From the little I’ve seen, I think they’re going to set a rubber grommet on top of the riser flange probably fitting as tightly as possible around the riser. The weight of the cap will compress the grommet and hopefully seal it. Not a lot of surface area though to seal against…
Edit, it sounds like the top of the cut riser will be a sealing surface.
I have to be missing something… With all this work on cutting the riser, why can’t they unbolt it from the top of the BOP and replace it with something easier to work with?
Edit: I’ve read they also have some good bolt cutting tools available. Maybe an abrasive jet cutter?
Edit 2: High flow could make it precarious to set something small back on top of the bop?
The problem with the wire saw was present before it was ever turned on. There’s more going on inside the riser than oil, which is causing issues for that particular saw.
Shaped charges could remove the mangled bolts on the flange giving them a clean flange line for cap and letting the fish/junk get out of the way. There are other ways to use vice pressure and tools to remove the bolts as well, leaving them with that clean flange line that will be best to work with.
[QUOTE=alvis;34943]I have to be missing something… With all this work on cutting the riser, why can’t they unbolt it from the top of the BOP and replace it with something easier to work with?
Edit: I’ve read they also have some good bolt cutting tools available. Maybe an abrasive jet cutter?
Edit 2: High flow could make it precarious to set something small back on top of the bop?[/QUOTE]
I’m with you Alvis. I don’t understand why they don’t just unbolt it. I suppose they have their reasons, but I wish I knew what they were. One possible reason is that they don’t think they would be able to unbolt it because it appears that whole flange is bent slightly from when the riser fell over. so some of the bolts are now under tension and some under compression; that might make them darn near impossible to unbolt. Perhaps that will be plan b, c, or d or whatever plan they are on now.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]920[/ATTACH]
[QUOTE=jksoft;34945]I’m with you Alvis. I don’t understand why they don’t just unbolt it. I suppose they have their reasons, but I wish I knew what they were. One possible reason is that they don’t think they would be able to unbolt it because it appears that whole flange is bent slightly from when the riser fell over. so some of the bolts are now under tension and some under compression; that might make them darn near impossible to unbolt. Perhaps that will be plan b, c, or d or whatever plan they are on now.[/QUOTE]
It seems to me that - with all of the phd’s and smartest brains trying to figure out how to best ‘mechanically’ do this stuff, they neglect to consult with people that have serious ‘back yard mechanics’ experience in dealing with such things, hence the previous mis-calcs with things like the rotating saw blade getting stuck in the kerf constantly… and now this wire cutter getting stuck… like wth? Did they lock out all the real mechanics (the drillers) from oil spill central? The last time I encountered an engineer with a phd, he didn’t even own a socket set, much less a hand saw.
MOST of the brightest minds of this country do not have a PHD. It’s called common sense (and cold hard experience) and unfortunately it seems a piece of paper from University of X is supposed to be a substitute? I don’t think so. The smartest minds imo are missing from this solution. (they’re all hanging out in forums like this instead).
They need an 800 pound elephant in that room.
Skewz me, I’m just ranting - and probably spouting useless propaganda.
gCaptain got a concerning call 2 days back from a friend working at the rig site. Details are still emerging but basically they are running out of potable water and were ordered to turn on their watermakers… despite the high levels of chemicals being injected at the wellhead below.
Anyway, the media is already calling me asking for information. If this stuff is really getting into the water tanks then we need to get BP to resume pot water deliveries ASAP. If the story is bogus then I need ammo to tell the media that it’s wrong (I don’t think it is). Either way, if anyone out there on one of the rigs has information on the use of the watermakers please call me asap at 805-456-8644 or email me at admin@ gcaptain.com
dumgeek and others. I have found my way here as well after watching the footage the last few days. Cut/grind/saw off bolt heads. Throw away riser pipe stub. They cannot go for any quick stop on the oil, they have a 2 mile deep column, which, if 30,000 barrels/day is correct that is 6 cubic metres per second and if 9" is the pipe diam, it is going at 100m/s. Now, I am not sure if those flow rates are good, I am taking the figures put about elsewhere and maybe the pipe is significantly larger lower down, but even so that means that an impulse is required of 1,000,000 Newtons force for 16 seconds if that column is to be stopped. Stopping it quicker means a bigger force. The stopping process needs to take place over a longer period of time, then the forces can be manageable. What they need are some very long bolts, held in a hydraulic drive motor fixed on a steel plate which will form a cap. Bolts of different length so they can engage one at a time, in the poor seeing conditions. No nuts but a split and hinged, threaded collar snapped on below the flange. An alignment ring held at length of shortest bolt, to keep them all on the correct PCD. Engage each bolt and then run it down until the next, shorter bolt is at a height to be engaged. Same again, run down a bit more until all are engaged. Then drive down a bit more. Remove the temporary fixing to the alignment ring. Then drive down. Stop every so often to shear off the protruding bolt(s) below the collar before it makes contact with the BOP. Spend an hour or so driving the hydraulic motors turning the bolts, attached to the plate that will clamp on top. Just now I have sent a suggestion in with calculations and drawings. I am not sure it will ever see the light of day. That sawing yesterday was so painful to watch. I was amazed that the blade did not bend or run out more the number of times it was clamped up. No ROV driver could have done better, it was just the conditions.
And folks, I have really been impressed reading all the posts here. My hat off to you all for the many excellent comments. I hope the oil stops flowing soon.
[QUOTE=A Cooke;34951]dumgeek and others. I have found my way here as well after watching the footage the last few days. Cut/grind/saw off bolt heads. Throw away riser pipe stub. They cannot go for any quick stop on the oil, they have a 2 mile deep column, which, if 30,000 barrels/day is correct that is 6 cubic metres per second and if 9" is the pipe diam, it is going at 100m/s. Now, I am not sure if those flow rates are good, I am taking the figures put about elsewhere and maybe the pipe is significantly larger lower down, but even so that means that an impulse is required of 1,000,000 Newtons force for 16 seconds if that column is to be stopped. Stopping it quicker means a bigger force. The stopping process needs to take place over a longer period of time, then the forces can be manageable. What they need are some very long bolts, held in a hydraulic drive motor fixed on a steel plate which will form a cap. Bolts of different length so they can engage one at a time, in the poor seeing conditions. No nuts but a split and hinged, threaded collar snapped on below the flange. An alignment ring held at length of shortest bolt, to keep them all on the correct PCD. Engage each bolt and then run it down until the next, shorter bolt is at a height to be engaged. Same again, run down a bit more until all are engaged. Then drive down a bit more. Remove the temporary fixing to the alignment ring. Then drive down. Stop every so often to shear off the protruding bolt(s) below the collar before it makes contact with the BOP. Spend an hour or so driving the hydraulic motors turning the bolts, attached to the plate that will clamp on top. Just now I have sent a suggestion in with calculations and drawings. I am not sure it will ever see the light of day. That sawing yesterday was so painful to watch. I was amazed that the blade did not bend or run out more the number of times it was clamped up. No ROV driver could have done better, it was just the conditions.
And folks, I have really been impressed reading all the posts here. My hat off to you all for the many excellent comments. I hope the oil stops flowing soon.[/QUOTE]
Why not a large 15K rated 'tee" shaped manifold - proceed similar to above with divert valves open, then attach new riser and close the diverts?
this has most likely already been discussed but here goes anyway. why not build a stack of casing spools like the ones used on land all with flow outlets on either side. use as many as necessary to handle the flow and add 2 more for safety. cap this with a set of blinds. manifold all this together as needed. remove that damn riser spool and bolt this critter on top of the bop. after bolting it up close the blinds and flow, under control, through the manifolded flow lines. not an expert by any means but was once a wellhead hand. i haven’t seen anything like this proposed anywhere else.
[QUOTE=GunsnHoses;34953]Why not a large 15K rated 'tee" shaped manifold - proceed similar to above with divert valves open, then attach new riser and close the diverts?[/QUOTE]
Perhaps some prelim gas-oil separation could be added at depth following the BOP pressure-drop. A horizontal path of run of some[?] length would yield a first-stage separation… gas phase to be dumped and mostly-liquid phase then routed upward to surface…with minimal hydrate formation bec no seawater contact.
[QUOTE=A Cooke;34951]dumgeek and others. I have found my way here as well after watching the footage the last few days. Cut/grind/saw off bolt heads. Throw away riser pipe stub. They cannot go for any quick stop on the oil, they have a 2 mile deep column, which, if 30,000 barrels/day is correct that is 6 cubic metres per second and if 9" is the pipe diam, it is going at 100m/s. Now, I am not sure if those flow rates are good, I am taking the figures put about elsewhere and maybe the pipe is significantly larger lower down, but even so that means that an impulse is required of 1,000,000 Newtons force for 16 seconds if that column is to be stopped. Stopping it quicker means a bigger force. The stopping process needs to take place over a longer period of time, then the forces can be manageable. What they need are some very long bolts, held in a hydraulic drive motor fixed on a steel plate which will form a cap. Bolts of different length so they can engage one at a time, in the poor seeing conditions. No nuts but a split and hinged, threaded collar snapped on below the flange. An alignment ring held at length of shortest bolt, to keep them all on the correct PCD. Engage each bolt and then run it down until the next, shorter bolt is at a height to be engaged. Same again, run down a bit more until all are engaged. Then drive down a bit more. Remove the temporary fixing to the alignment ring. Then drive down. Stop every so often to shear off the protruding bolt(s) below the collar before it makes contact with the BOP. Spend an hour or so driving the hydraulic motors turning the bolts, attached to the plate that will clamp on top. Just now I have sent a suggestion in with calculations and drawings. I am not sure it will ever see the light of day. That sawing yesterday was so painful to watch. I was amazed that the blade did not bend or run out more the number of times it was clamped up. No ROV driver could have done better, it was just the conditions.
And folks, I have really been impressed reading all the posts here. My hat off to you all for the many excellent comments. I hope the oil stops flowing soon.[/QUOTE]
A lot of suggestions about stopping the flow with manifolds, blinds, caps, etc… Part of the problem with all of these though is the pressures are too high in the outer casing and the asbuilt structure of the well is incapable of containing those high pressures from the reservoir. Apparently the oil is flowing in the annular space between the inner casing (the 7x9) and the telescoping sets of outer casing (which are 11" (I think) up to 16" at the surface).
That is apparently why they are abandoning the idea of bolting another BOP on top of this BOP. The pressure is too high and the oil will just flow out the failing outer casing. If they pump it off, they are relieving the pressure and the flow out of the outer casing will be minimized.
When you kill the well with mud or cement (as they tried to do with the first topkill), you are removing those pressures by replacing them with the weight of the mud. Now, there are differing accounts of the [I]current [/I]asbuilt of the well as opposed to what was there shortly before it blew (…) and this affect what they potential solution options are.
So here is my idea, after cutting this riser off, I would propose the following: use some kind of tapered, waste-gated fishing tool on drill rod, it would have a gate valve just above the waste-gates and read pressure on each side of those gates. It would be designed to be force threaded over the drill rods that (supposedly) are still there, and have just been cut by the diamond saw. It would also be machined with threading on the outside in case the drill rods aren’t there and you then could thread it into the 21" riser. You would pressurize/pump mud through this fishing tool and close the waste gates and open the gate on the fishing tool. If you needed to somewhat relieve pressure, you could leave some of the waste gates open to bleed pressure off. You are now using the drill rod as a direct tremie to the base of the well, or at least to the base of the drill rod. I would then try to kill the well through this. if it doesn’t work, no harm, you have an assembly that feeds to the surface, and you can pump off as they currently intend to.
I’m sure there are flaws in this plan, any comments?
I am sure the pressures to achieve the impulse in quick time, as in the operation of a BOP valve would be incredible and capable of rupturing the casing. That is why I am suggesting not a BOP but a very gradual throttling rather than any sort of quick “kill”. There is a lot of mass in 2 miles of oil to slow down. Does anyone have any figures for the static head of pressure in the well at seafloor level. One would presume that this pressure is well below that which would rupture the casing. If not we are in real trouble !
Did I just see going back up to the surface the valve union I saw a couple of days ago attempting to be fitted to a frame ? It had a steel Tee handle on it.
I’m out in MC252 and there’s vessels delivering potable water , fuel and supplies to the support vessels everyday.
I forgot to reply with quote. See post above.
[QUOTE=john;34948]gCaptain got a concerning call 2 days back from a friend working at the rig site. Details are still emerging but basically they are running out of potable water and were ordered to turn on their watermakers… despite the high levels of chemicals being injected at the wellhead below.
Anyway, the media is already calling me asking for information. If this stuff is really getting into the water tanks then we need to get BP to resume pot water deliveries ASAP. If the story is bogus then I need ammo to tell the media that it’s wrong (I don’t think it is). Either way, if anyone out there on one of the rigs has information on the use of the watermakers please call me asap at 805-456-8644 or email me at admin@ gcaptain.com[/QUOTE]