May 29 2010

BP: Just Cut the Riser?

An update:

Yes, what they’re doing is cutting away parts of the riser, to make way for cutting it off for the 2nd cap.

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It appears BP has just cut into the riser pipe with a robot.  Junk and oil is flowing all over the place right now. This means they have given up on the junk shots / top kill and moved on to a very risky plan–apparently they are going to try to attach another BOP to the top.  This means that oil will flow at a much higher rate, until they are successful.  How they are going to be able to see what they’re doing now that they’ve cut it, or attach the new BOP (scavenged from relief well 2) with all that pressure going out, no one seems to know.  

Of course, this might not be what they’re doing-but it looks that way. The other possibility is that they are trying to attach the 2nd cap (LMRP) to the riser, but they wouldn’t have needed to stop drilling relief well 2 for that, or take it’s BOP.

Also, the robot dropped it’s saw.  

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  1. they may be doing something else–we don’t really know because they keep on lying and lying.

    But, despite repeated assurances that ‘all is going according to plan’ it looks like they’re in full panic mode.  

    • TMC on May 29, 2010 at 18:55
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    If I can find a way to embed this I will.

    Deepwater Oil Spill – Deciphering The New Activity (Top Kill, Junk Shot, Etc.), Watching the Flows, and a Live Comment Thread

  3. …with understanding LMRP.  Started seeing this term on TOD a day or two ago.  Google searchd it, but got “Local Medical Relief Program.”  

    Thanks to you, I now know it is some kind of cap.

  4. Because that is not what is happening, and that’s the wrong end you’re looking at.  

    That’s the end of the riser pipe, not the wellhead.  Duh.  They stick things in it periodically to measure the flow rate, and what is coming out.  The sippy tube end.  A mile long tube from the BOP, bent over and looped, so it’s over a quarter mile away from the well head.  Good God.

    All this talk about cutting the riser is a crock.  They will never cut the riser on this thing.  They’ll let it sit there and act like a strainer or colander, impeding what it can, until the relief well comes in.  Once they cut the riser they have a much bigger leak on their hands.

    This “cap” thing has even less chance of working than the blue popsicle outhouse I parodied a while back.

    They are playing around with different things because they have nothing else to do right now other than experiment with the big science project.  

    • TMC on May 29, 2010 at 20:17
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    h/t Monkeyfister at Corrente

    Watch live streaming video from wkrg_oil_spill at livestream.com

    • TMC on May 29, 2010 at 20:25
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    Oil spill hearings: BP didn’t test mud prior to critical pipeline procedure, driller testifies

    This is an update from the joint hearings of the U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service held in Kenner on Saturday into the explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, which killed 11 workers and created the Gulf of Mexico oil spill currently fouling Louisiana’s coast.

    BP decided not to perform a test on the mud at the bottom of the well before starting to place the final cement lining that may have been the source of gas that eventually blew out the well, according to testimony at investigative hearings in Kenner.The top drilling supervisor on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, Offshore Installation Manager Jimmy Harrell, testified Thursday that BP decided to forego a “bottoms-up” test that would have examined the condition of drilling mud sitting in the zone where a casing shoe was about to be placed to protect the well from natural gas or oil pressing in against the hole.

    On Saturday, a driller who worked under Harrell, Micah Burgess, was asked if it was standard to perform a bottoms-up test.

    “Yes sir, you try to,” Burgess said. “Just to make sure you got good clean mud (before starting a cement job). You check for gas, too.”

    Bp s using the Gulf as a giant teat tube for experiments they already know have failed in the past. How much worse are they going to be allowed to make this until the Obama administration says enough?

  7. [new] aliilaali on May 29, 2010 – 12:49pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

    the horse and pony show continues

    BP needs to show activity at the wellsite ….they are doing that…..nice feed …coupla ROV’s switching views …..makes good TV but one sentence sums it up ” relief well , maybe august possibly early September”

    here’s how the summer will pan out…

    1- Top kill — shows good activity at wellsite …good ROV feeds buys a week for BP

    2- Junk Shot — another feel good ….problem is they holes are bigger than the size of the bridging agents they are able to get into the kill and choke like …..you really cant block a basketball net with a tennis ball kinda deal here …but hey shows activity and has a feel good factor here…..the monster well silenced by a few measly golf balls.

    so far the public has had a good time staying glued to the leak wondering if its mud coming out or HC’s…..paying close attention to the color ….again good TV for all

    now we get in the part of operations where public will have a hard time looking at the feeds …..cuz the next dog and pony show will be

    1- LMRP cap …….another good sounding solution but the HC’s leakage will significantly increase during this process when the riser is cut …..and this will make for very bad TV viewing ….this will actually combine the leaks (rmbr BP has been clever ….no single shot exists anywhere on the MSM which shows all the leaks in a concurrent view …….its always the dang ROV on top of the BOP showing the leaking mud )…..LMRP cap will make for bad TV viewing by combining leaks into a big leak so the perspective on the leak will be better than what BP has show so far…..RMBR BAD TV this process — but buys a week for BP

    2- putting another BOP on the existing BOP ….this will make for fantastic TV viewing …..a huge piece of equipment …many pipes and odd shapes ……beautiful TV right here …..but cannot work since there is no way BP can risk a hot approach on this ….the risk -reward ratios can never be favorable no matter how you dress the figures in this case…..there is DP string in there …you can bet the horse and the stable BP knows where and how long…excellent TV and buys BP another week

  8. landrew posted this comment at 2:20, 5/29/10, over at TOD.  Folks were talking about writing  books on the spill subject.  landrew came up with this idea and collection of suggested solutions.  Have a good laugh:

    Title of the book:

    American Ingenuity

    The Mississippi 252 spill and the ideas that flowed along with the oil.

    1. Giant Screw (1st. because it’s my fav.)

    2. Sinking Battle ship

    3. Liquid Nitrogen freeze

    4. Quick setting post cement

    5. Packing the pipe with ROVs

    6. Large funnel to pour cement

    7. J-B weld

    8. The Giant screen

    9. Nuclear warheads

    10. Turn this well into a production well. Really that has been an idea floated

    11. Giant clamp (maybe they got the idea from the existing BOP)

    12. Nano tech (small robots to fill the BOP)yes, really that was an idea.

    The book will feature authors and what understanding of science they used to come up with these ideas. God help us.

    Thanks landrew, for the insightful levity.

  9. … all government agencies and departments buying oil from BP to find another supplier within 6 months for current delivery and from now do not renew any BP contracts.

    punish the bastards the only place they will feel pain, their stock option prices

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