BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak

[Anti Federalist]

BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 19 mins ago

ROBERT, La. – BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but is readying yet another approach after repeated failures to stop the crude that's fouling marshland and beaches.

BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.

In the six weeks since the spill began, the company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher, as estimates of how much oil is leaking grow more dire. The spill is the worst in U.S. history — exceeding even the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster — and dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet."

The company failed in the days after the spill to use robot submarines to close valves on the massive blowout preventer atop the damaged well, then two weeks later ice-like crystals clogged a 100-ton box the company tried placing over the leak. Earlier this week, engineers removed a mile-long siphon tube after it sucked up a disappointing 900,000 gallons of oil from the gusher.

Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death.

President Barack Obama visited the coast Friday to see the damage as he tried to emphasize that his administration was in control of the crisis. He told people in Grand Isle, where the beach has been closed by gobs of oil, that they wouldn't be abandoned.

After BP announced the top kill failure, Obama said from Chicago that the continued flow of oil into the Gulf is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking."

Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next attempt to stop the leak that began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in April, killing 11 people.

The company plans to use robot submarines to cut off the damaged riser from which the oil is leaking, and then try to cap it with a containment valve. The effort is expected to take between four and seven days.

"We're confident the job will work but obviously we can't guarantee success," Suttles said of the new plan, declining to handicap the likelihood it will work.

He said that cutting off the damaged riser isn't expected to cause the flow rate of leaking oil to increase significantly.

The permanent solution to the leak, a relief well currently being drilled, won't be ready until August, BP says.

Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser likely was restricting the flow of oil somewhat, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve is risky.

"If they can't get that valve on, things will get much worse," said Philip W. Johnson, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama.

Johnson said he thinks BP can succeed with the valve, but added: "It's a scary proposition."

Word that the top-kill had failed hit hard in fishing communities along Louisiana's coast.

"Everybody's starting to realize this summer's lost. And our whole lifestyle might be lost," said Michael Ballay, the 59-year-old manager of the Cypress Cove Marina in Venice, La., near where oil first made landfall in large quanities almost two weeks ago.

Johnny Nunez, owner of Fishing Magician Charters in Shell Beach, La., said the spill is hurting his business during what's normally the best time of year — and there's no end in sight.

"If fishing's bad for five years, I'll be 60 years old. I'll be done for," he said after watching BP's televised announcement.

[MelissaWV]

At this point, it seems like they're killing time until August, when they can get other rigs into the area and suck the oil out some other way.

It's depressing they've rejected so many good solutions.

[Anti Federalist]

At this point, it seems like they're killing time until August, when they can get other rigs into the area and suck the oil out some other way.

It's depressing they've rejected so many good solutions.

The other rigs are already there and drilling.

This one in particular:

http://media.shipspotting.com/uploads/thumbs/rw/966149_800/Ship+Photo+DEVELOPMENT+DRILLER+III.JPG

[Old Ducker]

Time to nuke it.

[MelissaWV]

The other rigs are already there and drilling.
...

I had heard that more permanent rigs were to be moved into place and drilling diagonally, but they weren't going to be ready until August or so?

It was something overheard while I was cooking, so perhaps I simply heard it wrong.

[RM918]

Time to nuke it.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Anti Federalist]

I had heard that more permanent rigs were to be moved into place and drilling diagonally, but they weren't going to be ready until August or so?

It was something overheard while I was cooking, so perhaps I simply heard it wrong.

Hard to say exactly when they might get to depth to cement in the formation.

I know they are going as fast as they can.

[MsDoodahs]

By August, the Gulf will be completely destroyed.

This is bad.

[YumYum]

By August, the Gulf will be completely destroyed.

This is bad.

By August, it will spread up the Atlantic coast.

[MelissaWV]

Just so folks don't facepalm over the August thing:


Doug Suttles, chief operating officer at BP, has said that the oil could continue to flow until early August at the latest when work on a new well to contain the liquid can be completed. Throughout the past few weeks, researchers for the company have been working to quell the flood, and they seem to be down to their last ideas before the end of the summer.


The permanent solution to the leak, a relief well currently being drilled, won't be ready until August, BP says.

etc.

[TheFlashlight.org]

Well, they've now done more damage than the entire market value of BP plus the value of all their executives' assets. Looks like bankruptcy is the only just option. Let's watch and see if they have to go into bankruptcy, or are just givin a wink and a nod.

[QueenB4Liberty]

They deserve to go bankrupt.

:( This is so sad.

[Anti Federalist]

I'll go on the record and state that the solution now being contemplated, cutting away the ruined riser and attaching a new BOP and control valve, is what should have happened from day one.

[squarepusher]

Just so folks don't facepalm over the August thing:





etc.

http://www.theleehousehold.com/pics/lion_face_palm.jpg

[sevin]

Soon the Gulf of Mexico will be referred to as the Gulf of Oil.

[Old Ducker]

I'll go on the record and state that the solution now being contemplated, cutting away the ruined riser and attaching a new BOP and control valve, is what should have happened from day one.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about the industry to even have an opinion but since I often opine about shit I know little about, I'll just say that I would have tried top kill first. This one seems risky in that it might just make matters even worse by eliminating all the little pressure restrictions that exist in the current damaged wellhead, if they fail to connect a new head after cutting the old one off, or only partially succeed in removing the current one. How do they even attach a valve at that depth?

[Peace&Freedom]

Well, they've now done more damage than the entire market value of BP plus the value of all their executives' assets. Looks like bankruptcy is the only just option. Let's watch and see if they have to go into bankruptcy, or are just givin a wink and a nod.

Count on the latter, as in failing upward. Think of all the heavy PR damage control the media has already been doing by referring to the company involved as "BP" instead of "British Petroleum." That protective ruse keeps people from thinking to then ask "what is a British oil company doing drilling for oil in a US zone?

Perhaps there was a plan all along (or at least since the start of the spill) to produce so much damage than 1) the government comes in to fix it, paid for by taxes (NOT BP), and/or 2) the government freezes drilling by all other companies in the area EXCEPT BP, who then go on to monopolize whatever oil and profits that can be salvaged.

[Anti Federalist]

I'm not knowledgeable enough about the industry to even have an opinion but since I often opine about shit I know little about, I'll just say that I would have tried top kill first. This one seems risky in that it might just make matters even worse by eliminating all the little pressure restrictions that exist in the current damaged wellhead, if they fail to connect a new head after cutting the old one off, or only partially succeed in removing the current one. How do they even attach a valve at that depth?

That's a given, the flow rate will increase when the mangled riser is cut away.

The analogy is a gunshot wound.

You'll increase bleeding in the short term by cutting away and removing the slug, but without doing that, long term slow bleeding and infection will set in.

The valve will be lowered by heave compensated cranes on another rig that is already standing by with a new BOP.

[Brian4Liberty]

More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.

What exactly is this "mud"? An innocent mix of dirt and water comes to mind, but is there anything else in it?

[tangent4ronpaul]

I'll go on the record and state that the solution now being contemplated, cutting away the ruined riser and attaching a new BOP and control valve, is what should have happened from day one.

They did try this first and failed. Some points I picked up from testimony, mainly: The riser has a 21.5" diameter and with successive casings they were down to a 7" production pipe. That's 7.25" of cement casing + the riser pipe thickness and I get the impression that there are lesser diameter screw together pipes separating the increasingly narrowing layers of casing. That's a lot of metal and cement to cut through.

There was also mention that there is a producing NG well in that "block" - though I don't know how big a "block" is. I'm guessing 1-5 miles. This is for a deep dril like was being done. I believe they said there were shallower wells in that block also, but that the nearest deep (as in from the ocean floor, not deep as in overhead water) were 10+ miles away. There are also underwater pipelines in the region. Clearly a nuke is out of the question.

To make matters worse, sometimes the ocean floor gives up oil on it's own. Some tarballs that washed up on one of the island had "different DNA" than the oil coming out of this well link. Thy found the source of that, but as it wasn't a drill site, so one is at fault and I haven't heard any more about that.

The kink in the riser seems to hold promise if more could be "installed". alternately the BOP is normally installed on top of a well and has a ram to cut the riser/casing. Any reason that couldn't be placed in 2 pieces around the riser and activated?

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

What exactly is this "mud"? An innocent mix of dirt and water comes to mind, but is there anything else in it?

mud is a goop mixed at different densities to push back against the oil pressure and keep the well contained until it's ready for production.

-t

[Anti Federalist]

What exactly is this "mud"? An innocent mix of dirt and water comes to mind, but is there anything else in it?

Synthetic drilling mud (which is what is being used) is mostly water, propylene glycol and barite with smaller amounts of heavy salts, anti foam agents and bentonite.

[Anti Federalist]

They did try this first and failed. Some points I picked up from testimony, mainly: The riser has a 21.5" diameter and with successive casings they were down to a 7" production pipe. That's 7.25" of cement casing + the riser pipe thickness and I get the impression that there are lesser diameter screw together pipes separating the increasingly narrowing layers of casing. That's a lot of metal and cement to cut through.

There was also mention that there is a producing NG well in that "block" - though I don't know how big a "block" is. I'm guessing 1-5 miles. This is for a deep dril like was being done. I believe they said there were shallower wells in that block also, but that the nearest deep (as in from the ocean floor, not deep as in overhead water) were 10+ miles away. There are also underwater pipelines in the region. Clearly a nuke is out of the question.

To make matters worse, sometimes the ocean floor gives up oil on it's own. Some tarballs that washed up on one of the island had "different DNA" than the oil coming out of this well link. Thy found the source of that, but as it wasn't a drill site, so one is at fault and I haven't heard any more about that.

The kink in the riser seems to hold promise if more could be "installed". alternately the BOP is normally installed on top of a well and has a ram to cut the riser/casing. Any reason that couldn't be placed in 2 pieces around the riser and activated?

-t

43 million gallons a year of naturally occuring seeps.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=247222

I don't know that there is such a thing as a two part BOP.

[Brian4Liberty]

Synthetic drilling mud (which is what is being used) is mostly water, propylene glycol and barite with smaller amounts of heavy salts, anti foam agents and bentonite.

Is this it?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drilling_fluid

# Synthetic-based fluid (SBM): Synthetic-based fluid is a mud where the base fluid is a synthetic oil. This is most often used on offshore rigs because it has the properties of an oil-based mud, but the toxicity of the fluid fumes are much less than an oil-based fluid. This is important when men work with the fluid in an enclosed space such as an offshore drilling rig.
...
Composition of drilling mud

Water-based drilling mud most commonly consists of bentonite clay (gel) with additives such as barium sulfate (barite), calcium carbonate (chalk) or hematite. Various thickeners are used to influence the viscosity of the fluid, e.g. xanthan gum, guar gum, glycol, carboxymethylcellulose, polyanionic cellulose (PAC), or starch. In turn, deflocculants are used to reduce viscosity of clay-based muds; anionic polyelectrolytes (e.g. acrylates, polyphosphates, lignosulfonates (Lig) or tannic acid derivates such as Quebracho) are frequently used. Red mud was the name for a Quebracho-based mixture, named after the color of the red tannic acid salts; it was commonly used in 1940s to 1950s, then was made obsolete when lignosulfonates became available. Other components are added to provide various specific functional characteristics as listed above.


http://www.lloydminsterheavyoil.com/rotary.htm

Drilling mud is usually a clay and water mixture. A common drilling mud is made of bentonite clay and is called gel. A heavier drilling mud can be made by adding barite (BaSO,). Various chemicals are also used in different situations. The drilling mud liquid is usually water (freshwater based or salt-water-based) but is sometimes oil-based. Drilling muds are described by their weight. Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Average bentonite drilling mud weighs from 9 to 10 pounds per gallon. Heavy drilling mud weighs from 15 to 20 pounds per gallon. The heavier the drilling mud, the greater the pressure it exerts on the bottom of the well.

[Brian4Liberty]

News article on the "mud":



http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/special-drilling-fluid-helps-clog-oil-leak.html

The so-called "drilling mud" isn't mud at all, but a slurry of compounds typically used to lubricate and cool wells during the normal drilling process. BP officials have said they are using a water-based drilling fluid, rather than a more toxic oil-based mud, which is regulated for offshore drilling by the EPA.

The mud is probably made with a sea water base, fortified with the mineral barite and bentonite clay to make it more viscous, said Martin Chenevert, a petroleum engineering senior lecturer who specializes in drilling fluids at the University of Texas at Austin.

"This particular type of mud is classified as non-toxic," he said. "Certain types of muds that we use, we are not allowed to use offshore. The type of mud that is acceptable, you don't have to have any special permission to dump it if you had to. If you spill a little bit, it's OK. I don't think that mud is going to be damaging to the ocean fish or wildlife."

Some difficult drilling situations require the use of synthetic drilling fluids or fluids with a diesel or mineral oil base, which are more toxic to the ecosystem.

While a typical drilling operation uses about 100,000 gallons of mud, BP has stockpiled more than two million gallons ships in the gulf for this operation, an unnamed BP official told the New York times.

Chenevert said the mud currently in use is probably around 16 pounds per gallon, or about twice as heavy as of a gallon of milk. At that weight, it has a better chance of suppressing the quick-flowing oil.

While some environmental advocates have fought the use of chemical dispersant and other substances at the site of the spill, the "top kill" method also carried risks of exacerbating the flow of oil.

"I think contamination from drilling mud is a tiny risk compared to the risk of continuing not to cap the well," said David Pettit, a lawyer for the National Resources Defense Council.

[Brian4Liberty]

Is the propylene glycol added as an anti-freeze because of the depth of the well? It is considered safe, especially since humans can eat it (cats, on the other hand, can't). In the gulf environment, the biggest side effect would be that as it breaks down it takes up a lot of oxygen, more than the run-off from the Mississippi river (that causes a dead-zone in the Gulf due to lack of oxygen).

[JVParkour]

Is there a way to cause an endothermic reaction with the sea water? If so, they could just pump a bunch of sea water inside the well mixed with the right chemicals to draw in the heat, and the temperature should fall below freezing, causing a frozen plug of seawater.

Are there any chemicals that would work like this?

[Brian4Liberty]

Is there a way to cause an endothermic reaction with the sea water? If so, they could just pump a bunch of sea water inside the well mixed with the right chemicals to draw in the heat, and the temperature should fall below freezing, causing a frozen plug of seawater.

Are there any chemicals that would work like this?

Seawater wouldn't stay frozen at that temperature and pressure. There are lots of options for substances that would harden there, but once again, the problem is getting it to harden (and stay in place) in a flowing, high-pressure stream.

[TheFlashlight.org]

Dump a mountain of granite chunks on it which is going to redirect the high pressure fount into many tinier streams, then dump a mountain of cement on that.

[JVParkour]

lol, the key to this operation being "MOUNTAIN."

[TheFlashlight.org]

And I still think the Russian nuke/explosive idea is good. As long as they don't explode the entire reserve open, but just collapse the hole.