Oil Spill In Gulf - General Questions

[jyl]

I am interested in the on-going oil spill in the Gulf.

What are the options to stop the spill, how effective, how long? Why didn't the safety measures work?

Impact so far on the environment, what is expected ahead, cleanup options?

How will this affect the local economy? Should I stock up on frozen shrimp?

Effect on oil industry and offshore drilling? On local or national public support/opposition to it? Implications for regulation of drilling and/or opening new areas to drilling?

Wonder if this is going to be another 1969 Santa Barbara spill.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I'm interested in the lack of technology.

Where are the skimmer boats that drive through the slick scooping up oil and water?

Where is is temporary sump that just gets loosely fitted over the leak sucking up oil/water and transporting to tankers?

Where are the reagents that capture/crystallize/separate the oil?


Don't we have 35,000 wells in the Gulf? You'd think given that number and the statistical certainty of human error/nature leading to a leak, of any magnitude, that oil companies would be better prepared to handle this situation.

[URY914]

I heard today on the radio that a safety valve was not used at the base of the drill pipe which would have prevented the open gusher we have now. Don't know if this is true.

[GH85Carrera]

One thing for sure it will forever change off-shore drilling.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One thing for sure it will forever change off-shore drilling.

I'm not sure of that. I think it will be business as usual for years to come.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I am heading down to FLA Friday morning with the kids for a beach vacation in Seaside.

Any info as to whether the oil will hit the sand in the Destin area over the next 2 weeks?

[dhrcr911s]

Just got this in email this morning..

You may have heard the news about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which caught fire, burned for two days, then sank in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found.

The rig belongs to Transocean, the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP’s Macondo ex ploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract.

The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.

The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning.

The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the work necessary to bring the well into production.

It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or ‘BOP’s” as they’re called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig.
In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even fail-safe Deadman sy stems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface.
The flames were visible up to about 35 miles away. Not the glow – the flames. They were 200 – 300 ft high. All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.
T he well still is apparently flowing oil, which is appearing at the surface as a slick. They have been working with remotely operated vehicles, or ROV’s which are essentially tethered miniature submarines with manipulator arms and other equipment that can perform work underwater while the operator sits on a vessel.


These are what were used to explore the Titanic, among other things. Every floating rig has one on board and they are in constant use. In this case, they are deploying ROV’s from dedicated service vessels. They have been trying to close the well in using a specialized port on the BOP’s and a pumping arrangement on their ROV’s. They have been unsuccessful so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up.
In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – wit h a target radius of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation’s pressure, thus causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last.

It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole.
I t’s a sad day when something like this happens to any rig, but even more so when it happens to something on the cutting edge of our capabilities.
The photos that follow show the progression of events over the 36 hours from catching fire to sinking.


Regards,

[dhrcr911s]

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by dhrcr911s

Just got this in email this morning..

You may have heard the news about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which caught fire, burned for two days, then sank in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found.

The rig belongs to Transocean, the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP’s Macondo ex ploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract.

The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.

The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning.

The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the work necessary to bring the well into production.

It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or ‘BOP’s” as they’re called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig.
In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even fail-safe Deadman sy stems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface.
The flames were visible up to about 35 miles away. Not the glow – the flames. They were 200 – 300 ft high. All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.
T he well still is apparently flowing oil, which is appearing at the surface as a slick. They have been working with remotely operated vehicles, or ROV’s which are essentially tethered miniature submarines with manipulator arms and other equipment that can perform work underwater while the operator sits on a vessel.


These are what were used to explore the Titanic, among other things. Every floating rig has one on board and they are in constant use. In this case, they are deploying ROV’s from dedicated service vessels. They have been trying to close the well in using a specialized port on the BOP’s and a pumping arrangement on their ROV’s. They have been unsuccessful so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up.
In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – wit h a target radius of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation’s pressure, thus causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last.

It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole.
It’s a sad day when something like this happens to any rig, but even more so when it happens to something on the cutting edge of our capabilities.
The photos that follow show the progression of events over the 36 hours from catching fire to sinking.


Regards,

Thank you for posting that. It saved me a lot of time. Your post nailed it and was filled with real facts, not speculation and fantasy.
I'm am often amazed at how much rumor and BS surfaces.

[kaisen]

My uncle is a executive petroleum geologist for Conoco Phillips and he said the exact same things

[motion]

I'm amazed about the environmental uproar and impact this accident is generating. I read a couple days ago that they are estimating that 1.8 million gallons of oil have leaked, which is something like 2 1/2 olympic-sized swimming pools worth of oil. That seems really minute to me, compared to the vast gulf area. I don't mean to minimize the significance at all, but it just seems like not a lot of oil?

[island911]

There are good ratings in hyping the impact.

Jyl, I have read that the likely reason for the shut-off valve not working is that a hard part of the drill is right where the pinch valve lives.

[porsche4life]

5,000 feet of water makes it a tricky job....

[jyl]

Exxon Valdez spilled 10MM gallons. I read est 200K gal/day spill here (though unclear, I thought initial estimates were 5K). At 200K, in another 40 days the BP spill will equal Valdez in volume. 1969 Santa Barbara spill was 3MM gallons.

I went to Alaska for the Valdez spill, flew around the tanker as it leaked, visited the salmon hatchery. That area was gorgeous and pretty pristine wilderness, not actually all that much economic activity.

The Gulf is hardly as beautiful, but lots more economic activity at risk. But perhaps there is some cleanup advantage to a spill in warm ocean waters as opposed to a cold Alaskan sound?

[daepp]

[A930Rocket]

I read that write up yesterday when looking for pictures of the leak underwater. It was interesting and matches up with what Pazuzu wrote in the "Obama's Katrina?" thread in PARF. Pazuzu has some good insight.

I also found a link to an interview with a guy on the rig when it exploded with Mark Levin.

Mark Levin

[David]

The story I heard yesterday was that they got ahead of themselves and disconnected the deadman cutoff valve, before they disconnected the rig. I bet someone was thinking, "nothing ever goes wrong so let's take this shortcut"

[HunterVonWurst]

We need Red Adair back!

[jyl]

David, the charts of global oil spills is interesting, but most Americans could care less about spills in some foreign water. I've never even heard of most of those spills.

Do you have a chart of oil spills in American waters and on American beaches?

I also notice that chart omits both Exxon Valdez and Santa Barbara, which is bizarre as both were very important American spills.

[porsche4life]

We've got companies now that make what Red Adair did look like childs play.....

Problem is... Those guys are used to working on the ground.... noot at 5,000ft below....