Well, here’s two graphics that show the next step. You can get high resolution versions by clicking on the images. Source: BP riser cut/cap info page. (Update: see comments for updated progress on the shearing operation, which failed on the first attempt).

You can also watch the BP LMRP capping project video that was just released. Personally, that guy who presents makes me sort of ill to watch, but you can get a sense of the project, with liberal doses of Corporate spin to reduce the impression of disaster (note especially the image of the oil coming out of the BOP stack, it’s a light gray haze, instead of an angry black cloud, which is what it really looks like).

Step 1: cut the pipes:

Step 2: lower the cover/LMRP cap onto the cleared BOP top:

And there you have it. Slice the main part of the drilling riser tube away from the BOP unit (blowout protector) with giant hydraulic clippers, then carefully slice the riser/drill pipe at the BOP with a diamond band saw.

That will in theory provide a reasonably flat surface to fit the device they will then lower down onto the top of the BOP.
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Here’s the latest summary of ROCKMAN’s best current understanding of the events that led up to the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. As usual, this was embedded deep inside the current theOilDrum.com blowout comment thread, but it is clear and concise enough to give a good overview of the information we now have that seems reasonably solid.

ROCKMAN on May 31, 2010 – 9:11pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Parent subthread | Comments top

Winter — I’ll use your question to give a brief summary, with the permission of the editors, for the benefit of the newbies who seem to be showing up hourly.

Above all else this tales goes with a very BIG IF: if we have a accurate picture of how the incident began then here goes: they had run production casing from total depth back up to the well head/BOP. Cement was pumped down the drill pipe to the bottom of this casing and forced back up between the csg and the rock. The reason for this cmt job is to isolate the oil reservoir. This cement seal would be the only barrier preventing the well from “coming in “ (flowing oil/NG up the csg). Prior to pumping the cmt the weight of the drilling mud kept the reservoir from flowing up. The backpressure stopping the flow was a result of an 18,000’ column of heavy drilling mud.

Before temporarily abandoning the well BP was required for safety reasons to set a series of cement plugs in the production csg to ensure the reservoir would not leak to the surface until they were ready to produce the well. To make the eventual re-entry of the well easier BP “displaced” the riser (that 20” tube that connected the well head/BOP to the drilling rig on the surface of the GOM) with seawater and thus removing the heavy drill mud from the well. But they did this before setting the top cmt plug which would have kept any oil/NG from flowing up should the csg cmt fail. This is why testing the validity of the cmt job was extremely critical: the column of seawater could not produce a sufficient backpressure to prevent the oil/NG from rushing to the surface. If the cmt didn’t hold there was a 100% certainty of the well flowing oil/NG. There has been much discussion about the interpretation of the tests conducted on the cmt, the nature of the cmt, who has ultimate responsibility for certifying the cmt job. Likewise the reason for waiting to set the top cmt plug until after displacement has been speculated by others. I’ll leave those debates to others. But a good cmt job wasn’t the last safeguard.
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Wall Street Journal article BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster. The Journal is digging up some pretty solid material, read the article and see for yourself.

And now a BP worker takes 5th, making prosecution a possibility.

What’s up with that? Taking the 5th? That’s got to be about the worst nightmare for BP, what do you think the US congress is going to think about that? And another says he can’t testify due to ‘health conditions’? like what? is BP threatening his family? (joke, just kidding, ok?). I guess something could make BP look worse at this particular time, but off the top of my head, I’m hard pressed to think of anything.

But maybe the damage that the guy taking the 5th will cause re PR damage is far less than what the testimony would have revealed. I can’t think of any other reason for BP to have allowed that, can you?

Not looking so good for BP and deep water drilling. Though why we focus on deep water is not clear to me, the Mexican blowout at Ixtac, which took 10 months or so to finally stop, was at ‘only’ 150 feet ocean depth, where divers could access the components directly.

By the way, very few people have much hope for the top kill, it’s considered highly unlikely to succeed, though of course, let’s hope it finds that unlikely point and does anyway.

Even the relief wells are pointed out to not be guarantees either, a very difficult procedure, that could at best take well into this September to be completed successfully (that’s assuming that poster, who yes, sounds like a near illiterate stupid 15 year old internet troll, but apparently is actually a deep sea driller with years of experience. Hopefully he’s more competent at drilling than at writing, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s new to the oil drum though, so it’s not guaranteed he is what he claims).

aliilaali on May 28, 2010 – 1:53am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | [Parent subthread ] Comments top

for the love of god

i am saying top kill is taking a piss into the wind …not worth attempting

relief well — you seem not to be able to to get the concept …this is the only solution here….what i have been saying is the procedure involved in establishing pressure communications into the leaking well is very very tough…on average it takes more than one try to get it done …..so let me dumb it down for you …..
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I’m going to continue the practice of mining theoildrum comment threads for understanding, and because most of you aren’t about to spend hours per day reading them, I’ll post some of the choicer nuggets here, the ones, that is, that actually explain in clear language things that the mainstream media is simply too sound bite oriented to explain properly.

So here’s the clearest explanation of the difference between reality and what you think reality should be.

bigtuna on May 26, 2010 – 10:48am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

FF, Shelburn, and Rockman have posted some of the most insightful things, and some of the posts here should return to the strings, to understand better what is going on.

A few words about “why didn’t they do this sooner” and “why didn’ the government do mre” to implement the top kill. There is a good video [albeit only a few mins long, and that compresses what probably took hours] of the remachining of the control pod, valves, and connectors to the BOP to get the top kill devices to be connected properly. For various reasons, these original connectors – the choke and kill lines, that were originally on the BOP were either damaged, or do not match the connectors that come from the manifold that swings the mud into the two lines. There was some pretty amazing work done with ROVs that had to cut, machine, and polish connector sites so that the new system can connect and hold pressure. When you look at the video, remember that there are people at the surface who are controlling robots at 5000′ underwater, basically cutting metal, turning nuts, etc. THe people doing this are working their asses off, and wheter they get paid by BP or whoever, we need to realize that they are doing some amazing things.

As to why not sooner, etc. If I may step off the techno talk for a minute. I think this is a symptom of TV culture, where Jack Bauer or CSI or whoever, has infinite cool technotoys to do things in 41 mins… For those of us in industry, the reality is that drilling to depth is ALWAYS dangerous, and takes time, brute force, and at the same time, requires machines and people that have to integrate and work well. People somehow think we have insta ROV’s that can zip to the ocean bottom and magically cap leaks that have never occurred before. It ain’t like that. The laws of thermodynamics, newtonian mechanics, etc. still rule. Sorry kids. Life is still governed by fundamental rules

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Here’s an interesting view from Louisiana. This guy makes a lot of very good points, and I’m glad to see him mention the plume of dead zone that is the direct result of nitrate fertilizers creating vast algae blooms at the mouth of the Mississippi river, along with the current oil spill. He covers some pretty good material from the current best understanding of the process of oversights and errors that may have led to this blowout.

He also, quite correctly, notes both Democrats and Republcans (demadon’ts and republican’ts as he amusingly labels them) are about equal in their actions as far as reality is concerned re Louisiana. He doesn’t mention the corporatism that is creeping through our society like its own monster version of that spreading oil slick down there though, but then again, once normal regular people start talking about that, well, we might actually be getting ready for real, non-symbolic changes to come about.

I’m glad this guy connects some of the dots, noting that the Gulf provides about 30% of current US oil production, or 15% or so of current US consumption (we only produce about 50% of our oil. It was 40% prior to the 2008 collapse, now we consume about 2 million barrels a day less). In other words, if you don’t like this stuff, stop consuming the oil. And that is the ground of any real change, changing your behavior, changing the rules.

Also make sure to take a look at today’s Theoildrum.com top kill thread to see the progress of the hoped for top kill of the main blowout. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

If you want to know what Louisianians are thinking right now, then listen to this Garland Robinette clip.
source

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