Resolving the BP oil spill - related news

Nola some post have been moved to another thread, because they were taking advantage of this and other other topics to "regurgitate" yet more political propaganda!

Now an on-topic update on the "Well stoppage":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10665003

Gulf of Mexico oil stoppage going well, BP says

BP says it is encouraged by the first test data following its stoppage of the oil from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well.

Pressure within the well is steadily rising, a good sign, said Kent Wells, BP's vice president.

The oil has been stopped for the first time since 20 April, as part of a 48-hour test.

There is currently no evidence of the well rupturing.

The flow of oil was shut off at 1425 local time (1925 GMT) on Thursday. The stoppage is part of a test of the integrity of the well.

If the pressure within the new cap on the well stays high, that could mean there are no other leaks or ruptures within the wellbore. If it drops, that could suggest problems..

But he added: "One of the problems with having this camera down there is, is that when the oil stops gushing, everybody feels like we're done - and we're not."

The pressure within the well is currently 6,700 pounds per square inch (psi) and steadily rising, said Mr Wells.

As with so many other aspects of the response to this leak, the latest steps are being taken without the luxury of being able to test them first.

Engineers are concerned that an increase in pressure might cause new ruptures in the sea floor that could increase the amount of oil leaking into the water.

They will also be looking specifically at the well bore - the 4km or so of piping that stretches into the oil reservoir. The rise in pressure caused by stopping the flow could cause leaks or fractures in this pipe.

And the relief wells are edging ever closer to the source of the problem. One is less than two metres away. Any leak into this well would be disastrous for the efforts to permanently stem the flow.

If it were to drop below 6,000psi that would probably mean there was a problem within the well. If it continues rising and stays over 8,000psi that would probably mean the well was intact, Mr Wells said.

There is currently "no negative evidence of any breaching" of the sea floor, Mr Wells said. BP will soon run another seismic survey to check for any evidence of ruptures.

BP is also resuming work on a relief well that has 30ft left to drill before it hits the original leaking well. Once the wells intersect, mud and cement will be used to permanently deal with the leak.

The current pressure test could last for up to 48 hours, with BP and government experts reviewing results every six hours.

If the test is successful it is not clear what will happen next.

BP has suggested it might be possible to keep the well shut, with oil collection vessels left on standby.

I had high hopes for A Whale, the giant skimmer. It looks like the high volume of dispersants used by BP is causing the skimmer to be ineffective.

Giant oil skimmer 'A Whale' deemed a bust for Gulf of Mexico spill

The Gulf Coast will be economically hammered as a result of the spill and a lengthy cleanup.

Uh oh. Big Government gets involved again.

U.S. Orders BP to Reopen Gulf Well and Capture Oil After Tests

Another perspective on the closed well testing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10674719

BP extends testing of capped oil well in Gulf of Mexico

Testing of BP's newly capped Gulf of Mexico oil well has been extended for a further 24 hours.

The US official in charge of the spill clean-up, Admiral Thad Allen, said the "integrity test" would not stop until Sunday afternoon.

He added that when the test ceased, containment of the spill using surface ships to collect oil would resume.

The new cap has managed to stop the flow of oil for the first time since the well exploded three months ago.

The flow of oil was shut off at 1425 local time (1925 GMT) on Thursday.

In a statement, Adm Allen said: "Based on the data and pressure readings compiled to date, the test has provided us with valuable information which will inform the procedure to kill the well and a better understanding of options for temporary shut-in during a hurricane.

"As we continue to see success in the temporary halt of oil from the leak, the US government and BP have agreed to allow the well integrity test to continue another 24 hours."

He added that at the end of the test, the surface ships resuming collection of leaking oil would have the capacity to take up to 80,000 barrels per day.

Alabama news media gathers water samples and brings them to a chemist, who tests the water. Media says the samples exploded.

Censored Gulf news: Water test sample explodes

Video accompanies the article.

More conflicts between government and BP.

BP, government disagree over keeping well capped

Looks like someone now wants to give the appearance of being in charge.

I don't see one man saying "should" and another saying "might" as a "disagreement". Someone is playing with "headlines" again to enhance the impact of the article!

And perhaps someone is posting them for similar reasons.

Doug Suttles said earlier in the day that the cap, originally meant as a temporary measure, should stay in place until relief wells are drilled. But a Reuters report cited Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, in charge of the U.S. government's management of the oil spill, as saying the cap might need to be reopened.

Let's keep in mind that this thread is concerned with the actual progress in resolving the spill, not perceived disagreements with Government or other "peripheral" issues.

This so called cap is in fact just a smaller BOP than what was originally in place with only 3 rams rather than the usual 4 or even 5 rams plus other BOP’s that are called annular preventers.

The new cap is latched to the lower section of the original BOP in place of a section of that BOP that is called a Lower Marine Riser package. (LMRP) The original LMRP was removed and this new cap hydraulically latched onto the existing BOP.
This new cap can be closed in permanently and no fluid or gas can escape from the well as long as the pressure that is shut in does not exceed the rated pressure of the cap, which in this case is rated at 15,000 psi.

The burst strength of all the well components just below the closed rams must also be able to with stand that surface pressure. Other casing components of the well will need to hold even more pressure for each increment of depth.

The pressure under that cap is now around 6770 psi and slowly rising so the pressure is far less that the caps rated 15,000. But from what information I receive it is not high enough to equal bottom hole pressure when added to the hydrostatic pressure of a full column of oil and gas in the well bore.

If this is case the lower surface pressure is due to either the well bore fluids escaping somewhere or due to reservoir depletion which is normal when an oil reservoir is allowed to flow at a full rate over a period of time. When you shut the well in the reservoir pressure should slowly return to the original pressure. But this may take a week or more. Hence BP’s delay in declaring the well safe.

When the riser that connected the old BOP to the Deep water Horizon rig fell into the sea if would have created a large bending force to well head which is what the old BOP is supported by as the riser went from vertical to horizontal on the sea bed.
That riser was also supporting some of the weight of the BOP at the surface and it is almost guaranteed that the well head casing would have sustained some bending and possible damage to the steel structure that would reduce its rated burst or collapsed pressure.

The sole reason that BP may have to open the well to the surface again will be to reduce the pressure inside the well to prevent the well fluids and gas escaping elsewhere.

The reason they have to be ready to do that will be due to the possibility that the well head surface casing may burst or the pressure inside the well bore at one of the casing shoe depth points may exceed the formation pressure and force what is known as an “Underground blow out”

The 6770 psi they are reading now is a surface reading only and that pressure is now applied to all the structure at the surface. That pressure then increases with each inch, centimetre, foot or meter of whole depth by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluids and gas in the well. The bottom hole pressure could be double that 6770 PSI. There is no way to read this bottom hole pressure at the surface. However, It is known by using hydrostatic calculations based on known reservoir pressures from previous tests.

I receive up dated reports regularly from people in the industry. I was informed this morning that the ROV’s which monitor the well at the sea bed may have located hydrocarbons escaping from the sea bed some distance away from the well head and BOP cap. If this is in fact true it means one or more of the casing strings has failed or the formation at the shoe of one of the casing strings has been fractured and allowing hydrocarbons to rise through the formation to the sea bed.
This well will not be dead until the relief wells intersect the blow out well and pump kill mud into the well to stop the flow first and then pump cement plugs.

Further good progress being made by BP towards finally "bottom killing" the Macondo Well later this month.

WRAPUP 6-BP cements Gulf oil well ahead of permanent plug

Kristen Hays, 23:14, Thursday 5 August 2010

HOUSTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - BP finished pumping cement into its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday to seal off the source of the world's worst offshore spill, paving the way to permanently plug the blow-out later this month.

The daylong cementing operation followed earlier injections of heavy drilling mud this week that had subdued the upward pressure of oil and gas inside the deep-sea Macondo well. The crippled wellhead was provisionally capped in mid-July.

"This is not the end, but it will virtually assure us that no oil will be leaking into the environment," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the U.S. oil spill response operation, said at a briefing in Washington.

"Monitoring of the well is under way in order to confirm the effectiveness of the procedure," BP said in a statement announcing completion of the cementing work.

The so-called "static kill" at the top of the well is due to be finished off with a "bottom kill" later in August with more mud and cement injected through a relief bore being drilled into the ruptured well shaft. This relief well is regarded as the final step in plugging the reservoir 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) beneath the seabed.

"I will declare this well dead once we've intercepted the annulus (the space between the well pipe and surrounding rock) and we've assessed how much mud or cement we need to do from the bottom to finally kill this well," Allen said.

Allen said BP would likely resume drilling the relief well 24 to 36 hours after the cementing was done, with the initial intercept expected within five to seven days after that.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup ... 8980b.html

and from the BBC news website:

BP finishes cementing damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well

BP has finished pumping cement into the top of its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well as part of its "static kill" procedure.

The move comes the day after it was announced that almost three-quarters of the oil spilled had been broken down by natural forces or cleaned up.

Oil leaked into the Gulf from 20 April when the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion killed 11 workers. The flow was stopped on 15 July.

Work on a relief well can now continue.

Cementing through the top of the well is complementary to a "bottom kill" that will be carried out soon.

The cementing of the well "will virtually assure that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment", US oil spill response commander Thad Allen told reporters.

The relief well is about 100ft (30m) from intersecting with the damaged well. It will then be killed with mud and cement from the bottom.

For those interested in the investigation by BP using independant investigators to look for the causes for the BP Blow out, cut and paste the below link and look at the 21 minute Video.
This video report is not a US goverment report.

The Deep water Horizon BOP has been recovered and is now being examined by government engineers.

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/deepwater_ho ... t_long.htm

marshallb66 wrote:For those interested in the investigation by BP using independant investigators to look for the causes for the BP Blow out, cut and paste the below link and look at the 21 minute Video.
This video report is not a US goverment report.

The Deep water Horizon BOP has been recovered and is now being examined by government engineers.

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/deepwater_ho ... t_long.htm

Glad you are back Marshall.it is great to have an expert in the field,explaining everything!There was alot of mainline nesia coverage of BP blaming RIG and Halliburton.I would be interested in your opinion on that topic,although a conclusion might be premature!Thanks again!