ENVR Explosions Collapse Seafloor At Deepwater Horizon Well Head (Unsubstantiated So Far)

Awful News From The Gulf: Explosions Collapse Seafloor At Deepwater Horizon Well Head
By: Mason Sunday May 23, 2010 8:31 pm


http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50368/

A series of explosions appears to have collapsed the seafloor and blown up the BOP at the well head. Oil and gas are billowing out of a depression in the seafloor where the BOP used to be at an exponentially greater rate than anything seen before.

My theory: The well consisted of the casing with the drill pipe inside it. The sand and rocks that turned the gusher into a giant sandblaster that blew out holes in the riser pipe at the kinks was coming from the walls of the well that the cement between the casing and the wall was supposed to protect. Therefore, the hole has been getting bigger and bigger and now it’s like a volcano vent with the piping inside it probably a twisted mess.

The relief wells can’t possibly stop this because anything they add will just be blown out of the volcano.

Now what?

Yep, we're f*cked....

Can anyone find a news link for this? (link is a blog)

Well just frickin GREAT....
Being in Pensacola and oh...maybe just a stone's throw from the Bay....is it time for me to pack it up and head inland?

My biggest fear since day one of this terrorist attack has been the humongous possibility of the oil suddenly STOPPING and the seafloor caving in producing one gigantic mother-of-all tsunamis....free oil for EVERYBODY and a Gulf FULL of dead people!!!

Everything I've found about this, points to firedoglake, godlikeproductions and abovetopsecret. it MAY be a self-perpetuating rumor.

VesperSparrow said:

Well just frickin GREAT....
Being in Pensacola and oh...maybe just a stone's throw from the Bay....is it time for me to pack it up and head inland?

My biggest fear since day one of this terrorist attack has been the humongous possibility of the oil suddenly STOPPING and the seafloor caving in producing one gigantic mother-of-all tsunamis....free oil for EVERYBODY and a Gulf FULL of dead people!!!

Click to expand...

It definitely wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure one's BOB is in good order and that one could be ready to leave within 30 minutes of an evac order.

I hope that doesn't happen. I have a friend in Gulf Shores. He told me the other night the oil smell was so strong it gave him a splitting headache.

I said to him "do you have a BOB ready?". He said "I ain't leavin". "I'm standing by my flag". I guess he hasn't been paying too much attention to the way the TPTB works in an 'emergency'.

I said :what are you going to do if the NG pulls up in your driveway like they did after Katrina, and this time instead of getting groceries for you (they did, after they initially went tactical on him and surrounded him with a squad of men packing M4's 3 days after Katrina when he was the only resident left on the beach there west of GS).

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. I told my friend he always had a place here, and he sort of laughed it off. I hope he is right and I am wrong.

But I ain't bettin' on it. Better safe than sorry I always say.

China Connection said:

Awful News From The Gulf: Explosions Collapse Seafloor At Deepwater Horizon Well Head
By: Mason Sunday May 23, 2010 8:31 pm


http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50368/

A series of explosions appears to have collapsed the seafloor and blown up the BOP at the well head. Oil and gas are billowing out of a depression in the seafloor where the BOP used to be at an exponentially greater rate than anything seen before.

My theory: The well consisted of the casing with the drill pipe inside it. The sand and rocks that turned the gusher into a giant sandblaster that blew out holes in the riser pipe at the kinks was coming from the walls of the well that the cement between the casing and the wall was supposed to protect. Therefore, the hole has been getting bigger and bigger and now it’s like a volcano vent with the piping inside it probably a twisted mess.

The relief wells can’t possibly stop this because anything they add will just be blown out of the volcano.

Now what?

Click to expand...

Where do they come up with this shit? Relief wells intersect well below surface, I read in this case, about 15k feet.

China; For the health and wellbeing of all of us that live here on the Gulf Coast please change the title to read UNCONFIRMED REPORTS. Until we can get confirmation this is nothing more than theory as stated in the article.

BTW, when I clicked on the link my anti-virus went nuts blocking crap from there.

I do appreciate all of you staying on top of this situation and trying to find out what you can for us. It's unfortunate that not all news is valid news and even more unfortunate that we aren't hearing shit from those that we should.

BoatGuy said:

Everything I've found about this, points to firedoglake, godlikeproductions and abovetopsecret. it MAY be a self-perpetuating rumor.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Over at glp they don't seem particularly concerned about it and usually they are the mother of all panic.

Is that live feed still up? Or, did it disappear?

I think from the logical standpoint of a layman, the collapse is inevitable anyway.

That rig and other rigs like it pump "mud" down the shaft in order to equalize the pressure so it will not collapse onto itself. I would imagine the pressure at that depth is exceptional.

With the chamber that the gas and oil is venting from emptying and the intense pressure of the ocean weighing down upon it without anything being put back like "mud" to equalize that pressure it seems only a matter of time before the sea floor collapses.

Does anyone have an idea as to what direction that undersea deposit went? As in, north to south, east to west? And, how far did it extend? How close to land?

This thing has opened up a can of worms.

Mike

I got it from a normal news site

I watched most of the weekend.

Something happened down there. I saw quite a few bright flashes, like I saw at night in Iraq back in '03.

China Connection said:

My theory: The well consisted of the casing with the drill pipe inside it. The sand and rocks that turned the gusher into a giant sandblaster that blew out holes in the riser pipe at the kinks was coming from the walls of the well that the cement between the casing and the wall was supposed to protect. Therefore, the hole has been getting bigger and bigger and now it’s like a volcano vent with the piping inside it probably a twisted mess.

The relief wells can’t possibly stop this because anything they add will just be blown out of the volcano.

Click to expand...

Your theory is for shit.

Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher
By Ben Raines
April 30, 2010, 2:18PM

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html




spillnewser.jpgView full size(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano uses a map of the Gulf of Mexico during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 29, 2010. A leaked memorandum obtained by the Press-Register on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the Deepwater Horizon well site could be on the verge of becoming an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf. 'The following is not public' document states



plume.jpgView full size(AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Saturday April 24, 2010, shows oil leaking from the drill pipe of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig after it sank. A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could be on the verge of becoming an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf. A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf.

"The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."

Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, "I'm letting the document you have speak for itself."

In scientific circles, an order of magnitude means something is 10 times larger. In this case, an order of magnitude higher would mean the volume of oil coming from the well could be 10 times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day coming out now. That would mean 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.1 million gallons a day. It appears the new leaks mentioned in the Wednesday release are the leaks reported to the public late Wednesday night.

"There is no official change in the volume released but the USCG is no longer stating that the release rate is 1,000 barrels a day," continues the document, referred to as report No. 12. "Instead they are saying that they are preparing for a worst-case release and bringing all assets to bear."

The emergency document also states that the spill has grown in size so quickly that only 1 to 2 percent of it has been sprayed with dispersants.

The Press-Register obtained the emergency report from a government official. The White House, NOAA, the Coast Guard and BP Plc did not immediately return calls for comment made early this morning.

The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead and kinked piping currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels -- or 210,000 gallons -- per day.

* LATER REPORT: Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill

If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate.

"Typically, a very good well in the Gulf can produce 30,000 barrels a day, but that's under control. I have no idea what an uncontrolled release could be," said Stephen Sears, chairman of the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University.

On Thursday, federal officials said they were preparing for the worst-case scenario but didn't elaborate.

Kinks in the piping created as the rig sank to the seafloor may be all that is preventing the Deepwater Horizon well from releasing its maximum flow. BP is now drilling a relief well as the ultimate fix. The company said Thursday that process would take up to 3 months.
View from above
Gulf oil spill
See continuing coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010 on al.com and GulfLive.com.

To keep track of the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, visit www.skytruth.org or follow its Twitter feed.

To see updated projection maps related to the oil spill in the Gulf, visit the Deepwater Horizon Response Web site established by government officials.

How to help: Volunteers eager to help cope with the spill and lessen its impact on the Gulf Coast environment and economy.

"I'm not sure what's happening down there right now. I have heard there is a kink in what's called the riser. The riser is a long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig. I really don't know if that kink is a big restriction. Is that really a big restriction? There could be another restriction further down," said LSU's Sears.

"An analogy would be if you have a kink in a garden hose. You suspect that kink is restricting the flow, but there could be another restriction or kink somewhere else closer to the faucet.

BP Plc executive Doug Suttles said Thursday the company was worried about "erosion" of the pipe at the wellhead.

Sand is an integral part of the formations that hold oil under the Gulf. That sand, carried in the oil as it shoots through the piping, is blamed for the ongoing erosion described by BP.

"The pipe could disintegrate. You've got sand getting into the pipe, it's eroding the pipe all the time, like a sandblaster," said Ron Gouguet, a former oil spill response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

oilinhand.jpgView full size(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Oil scooped up from the Gulf of Mexico 17 miles southeast of the South Pass of the Mississippi River is seen on the hand of deck hand Jordan Ellis on the Louisiana coast Friday, April 30, 2010. The oil originated from a leaking pipeline after last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon."When the oil is removed normally, it comes out at a controlled rate. You can still have abrasive particles in that. Well, now, at this well, its coming out at fairly high velocity," Gouguet continued. "Any erosive grains are abrading the inside of the pipe and all the steel that comes in contact with the liquid. It's essentially sanding away the pipe."

Gouguet said the loss of a wellhead is totally unprecedented.

"How bad it could get from that, you will have a tremendous volume of oil that is going to be offgassing on the coast. Depending on how much wind is there, and how those gases build up, that's a significant health concern," he said.

The formation that was being drilled by Deepwater Horizon when it exploded and sank last week is reported to have tens of millions of barrels of oil. A barrel contains 42 gallons.

Smullen described the NOAA document as a regular daily briefing. "Your report makes it sound pretty dire. It's a scenario," he said, "It's a regular daily briefing sheet that considered different scenarios much like any first responder would."

Green Co. said:

Where do they come up with this shit? Relief wells intersect well below surface, I read in this case, about 15k feet.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

Like I said: His theory is for shit.

At Deepwater Horizon Well Head

http://pidnews.com/?p=6138

If the interpretation of BP’s live camera feed is correct (particularly since some now claim BP is feeding a continuous ‘loop’ that covers up what’s really happening), then the situation in the Gulf has gone from really bad to Biblically bad. — PID

(THE SEMINAL) — A series of explosions appears to have collapsed the seafloor and blown up the BOP at the well head. Oil and gas are billowing out of a depression in the seafloor where the BOP used to be at an exponentially greater rate than anything seen before.

via Awful News From The Gulf: Explosions Collapse Seafloor At Deepwater Horizon Well Head | The Seminal.

See also: http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/ for information about the BP live feed that appears to show new ‘holes’ in the seabed floor.

mt4design said:

I would imagine the pressure at that depth is exceptional.

Click to expand...

Yeah. About 2,100 psi. (corrected figure is ~2,200 psi)

5,000 feet = 60,000 inches. A 1 square inch column of water 60,000 inches tall = ~260 gallons of water (cubic inches divided by 231 = gallons). At ~8.57 pounds per gallon of seawater, 260 gallons of water weighs over 2,200 pounds.



Edit to add: Forgot to take into account that seawater is heavier than fresh. About 8.57 lbs/gal, or ~64.1 lbs/cu. ft. According to Doc1, who is a former professional diver, the short formula is 14.7 psi (one atmosphere) per every 33 ft. of depth in seawater. So, 5000 divided by 33 = ~151.52. 151.52 times 14.7 = ~2,227 psi.

mt4design said:

I would imagine the pressure at that depth is exceptional.

Click to expand...

At 5000 feet the water pressure is about 2300 psi. The well pressure is somewhere between 60,000 psi and 170,000 psi. The water pressure is totally insignificant by comparison.

With the chamber that the gas and oil is venting from emptying and the intense pressure of the ocean weighing down upon it without anything being put back like "mud" to equalize that pressure it seems only a matter of time before the sea floor collapses.

Click to expand...

It will drain slowly and the floor will subside slowly, but no collapse. The ground doesn't collapse near oilfields on land. The amounts sound large, but proportional to the terrain there's just not that much being taken out.

Does anyone have an idea as to what direction that undersea deposit went? As in, north to south, east to west? And, how far did it extend? How close to land?

Click to expand...

One post said it ran under Louisiana and Mississippi, which led me to wonder why they drilled out at sea anyway. It saved them 5000 feet of drilling, but a real mess if it goes bad. They drilled (according to another post) at the very southern fringe of the reservoir, where they expected lower pressures.

bw said:

At 5000 feet the water pressure is about 2300 psi. The well pressure is somewhere between 60,000 psi and 170,000 psi. The water pressure is totally insignificant by comparison.



It will drain slowly and the floor will subside slowly, but no collapse. The ground doesn't collapse near oilfields on land. The amounts sound large, but proportional to the terrain there's just not that much being taken out.



One post said it ran under Louisiana and Mississippi, which led me to wonder why they drilled out at sea anyway. It saved them 5000 feet of drilling, but a real mess if it goes bad. They drilled (according to another post) at the very southern fringe of the reservoir, where they expected lower pressures.

Click to expand...

Maybe as it runs under the landmass of LA and MS the formation gets much deeper, so this well was accessing the formation at its shallowest point?

Foothiller said:

It definitely wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure one's BOB is in good order and that one could be ready to leave within 30 minutes of an evac order.

I hope that doesn't happen. I have a friend in Gulf Shores. He told me the other night the oil smell was so strong it gave him a splitting headache.

I said to him "do you have a BOB ready?". He said "I ain't leavin". "I'm standing by my flag". I guess he hasn't been paying too much attention to the way the TPTB works in an 'emergency'.

I said :what are you going to do if the NG pulls up in your driveway like they did after Katrina, and this time instead of getting groceries for you (they did, after they initially went tactical on him and surrounded him with a squad of men packing M4's 3 days after Katrina when he was the only resident left on the beach there west of GS).

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. I told my friend he always had a place here, and he sort of laughed it off. I hope he is right and I am wrong.

But I ain't bettin' on it. Better safe than sorry I always say.

Click to expand...

Your friend's attitude would be admirable if there was something he could do to stand ground and fight.

What does he intend to do? How is he gonna fight this?

Stop breathing? Blow the fumes back toward the ocean like something in a superman movie?

One of the fumes associated with this is Hydrogen Sulfide. Nasty stuff, it smells like rotten eggs in non-lethal amounts. But one of it's characteristics is that is deadens the nose's ability to smell it after a while. This kills people because they then can't tell when it's really bad and has reach deadly levels.

Tell your friend to reconsider, this is one classic case where a person should retreat until it is safe.

FWIW, after a short search, the most reliable number that I've found for bottom hole pressure on the well, seems to be about 13,104 pounds... which seems reasonable based on my past history in that area. I keep seeing numbers quoted up to 60,000 to 80,000 AT THE WELLHEAD, which I have NEVER seen anywhere in the Gulf. In fact, as a former wireliner, I've never seen more than 15,000 lb equipment used, and that was a relative rarity.

I'm not saying that the number is wrong. I'm only saying that it seems to be, and I keep on seeing that number quoted in various posts.

BTW, the bottom hole pressure is just as it describes... at the very bottom of the drilled hole, where the pressure is greatest.

Can anyone point me to a reputable link that shows the wellhead pressure (at the top of the hole) to be 60,000 pounds, or even in that vicinity?

Just sayin... no offense intended.

If this is for real it is good to know tho not much we can do about it and while I do not think you deserve to be kicked for posting this then you post a link from a place called 'monkey fister'....

Light off a nuke about 50 feet above the gusher.

Don't tell anyone.

Make up a story about Obama personally capping the well. Even go so far as to take video of him in a diving suit.

Edited: The explosions were probably set off by BP / the feds in an attempt to not use nukes.

They will have to nuke it and then cover up the radiation (in the news).

Watch for a news blackout surrounding the issue..... then a sudden resolution to the whole problem.

BoatGuy said:

Can anyone point me to a reputable link that shows the wellhead pressure (at the top of the hole) to be 60,000 pounds, or even in that vicinity?

Click to expand...

I was quoting other sources, and have no special knowledge. I yield to anyone with experience in the field.

I have no industry experience either but late last week I read on another website that a North Sea platform had an emergency shut-down when sensor detected a significant over-pressure condition. This site host was trying to tie together a rise level of oil pressures all over the globe.

China Connection said:

At Deepwater Horizon Well Head

http://pidnews.com/?p=6138

If the interpretation of BP’s live camera feed is correct (particularly since some now claim BP is feeding a continuous ‘loop’ that covers up what’s really happening), then the situation in the Gulf has gone from really bad to Biblically bad. — PID

(THE SEMINAL) — A series of explosions appears to have collapsed the seafloor and blown up the BOP at the well head. Oil and gas are billowing out of a depression in the seafloor where the BOP used to be at an exponentially greater rate than anything seen before.

via Awful News From The Gulf: Explosions Collapse Seafloor At Deepwater Horizon Well Head | The Seminal.

See also: http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/ for information about the BP live feed that appears to show new ‘holes’ in the seabed floor.

Click to expand...

RE that "loop" thing---I started, yesterday, to post that it was a "Loop", because I watched it intensely for a while, counting seconds between one "frame jump" and the next, and then seeing the same picture repeat all over again from the beginning at each 'frame jump' over that specific tract of time. I started to post to that effect, but then stopped when the angle of the shot changed, and told myself, "Oh. Oh--okay. It's okay then. It IS a live feed. They wouldn't do that---surely---surely even THEY wouldn't do that."

I didn't stop to think--what if the "live" feed re-loop was more than a few seconds? What if it was "this 10-second loop, repeat 5 times; next 10-second loop, repeat 5 times, etc."?

In the beginning, we DID have a video of the BOP and wellhead--does anyone still have that link or is it active now?

I do believe SOMETHING has happened

Just heard the latest "blurb" from BP on the 4 o-clock news (special news bulletin) here----BP is no longer talking about the possibility of a "junk shot" or an operation to put "mud" down the pipe or any such----

BP SAID THEY PROBABLY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO STOP THE LEAK BEFORE AUGUST !!!

Now I know someone above was making fun of the "monkeyfister" name, but silliness aside, he DOES have a good many good PICTURES of a VERY different type of venting from the area. Now the only link I can find (BP's, of course, since it's the only game in town) is the one showing the little (in comparison) riser pipe on the ground, venting. But even that looks different--it's half buried in debris---AND THAT WASN'T THERE LAST NIGHT LAST TIME I LOOKED AT IT.

I strongly suggest folks go over to the Monkeyfister blog, if that's the only game in town---BP sure as H*** is NOT going to tell us they've just opened HELL in the Gulf.

Here is a short except from the link (Monkeyfister's) given above:

I've been watching the live Spillcam, and discussing it with folks, here all day long. About 5pm last night, we all started taking note of gas bubbling out of the seabed floor. It started earlier than that, actually-- see pic a few posts down. About 1am this morning, the eruptions began to increase in spew volume. At about 8am, CDT, as I watched, things started changing rapidly. Where the water around the two major gush points used to be very clear, it is now super turbid, and detritus is flying everywhere in a chaotic manner. seabed venting is obvious to see when ROV cameras pan around.

Yet-to-be-confirmed rumors are that the casing wall has finally worn through, about 300 feet below seabed, at an annulus (coupling), and the gas and oil are now finding a new way out to the seabed.

Not good news, as it will make the Top-Kill/Junk Shot nearly ineffectual... At the least, it means that more pressure and mud/cement is going to be required.

Of course, as I said above, per the 5 o-clock news, BP isn't even talking about TRYING a "junk shot" or a "Mud-cement" approach anymore---and there's GOT to be a REASON for that.

Double_A said:

I have no industry experience either but late last week I read on another website that a North Sea platform had an emergency shut-down when sensor detected a significant over-pressure condition. This site host was trying to tie together a rise level of oil pressures all over the globe.

Click to expand...

That would be very interesting. If you find something, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Wells that are in production, have safety limit switches installed. A well could shut in for a PSH (pressure safety high) which is pretty commonly called a "kick", or a PSL (pressure safety low), which can also happen. A well usually doesn't just stay at a constant pressure. The pressure in production can vary a great deal, by how much you bleed off at once, using a "choke" to find that optimal balance between flow and pressure. This can vary on a daily basis and is why the production platforms and satellites are constantly manned. They monitor it and adjust accordingly.

In this situation, the well is free-flowing, with only the tubing creating any resistance. So, it's anybody's guess how the pressure is varying. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't develop some sort of "pumping" action, where the pressure would vary, like the action of a spring, as the flow varied. Add to that the well could still kick as the formation collapses and expands.

My intent with the previous post wasn't to ruffle any feathers. But, there is a big difference between 60, 000 psi (which would probably render any ROV useless for precision work, due to turbulence near the well) and 5-10000 psi at the wellhead. Like I said, it's not impossible, I suppose. But, I've never seen those kind of pressures anywhere I've ever worked, or from anyone I've ever talked to.

Just while I'm thinking about it... Someone asked (on this thread or another) if they couldn't just slip an open valve over the well. Notwithstanding the welding involved, it would also involve lowering it from a surface crane to the seafloor. On a really calm day, you could expect to see a boat rise and fall, maybe a foot or less. A really good Dynamic Positioning system, in those conditions, could probably hold the vessel in a 1/2 meter circle. But now, put a valve weighing 10000 pounds, on the end of 5000 feet of cable, and try to stab it on a broken casing and hold it in position so that the welding can be done. Are you seeing the problem? At those depths, and in the middle of Mississippi Canyon, nothing is very easy. Even when they tried to put the bell over the whole wellhead, it took them a couple of days to do it.JMHO.

bttt---in the light of BP's the the gov.'s announcement about AUGUST, I think this bears watching.

I'm off to see the 5 pm Fox news--they just did a "teaser" and said something about "worst-case scenario" in the Gulf--will let you know...

Looks like they're working on the well. http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_int...local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

I hope so, but Happy Retiree posted that pic, too, and as someone observed, the robot doesn't appear to be moving...

Countrymouse said:

bttt---in the light of BP's the the gov.'s announcement about AUGUST, I think this bears watching.

I'm off to see the 5 pm Fox news--they just did a "teaser" and said something about "worst-case scenario" in the Gulf--will let you know...

Click to expand...

Apparently just a "teaser"--they made no reference to the 4 pm News Update that the soonest we can expect the well to be fixed is August, but instead just showed various Obama admins. and BP suits telling us how "frustrated" they all are and how they're "doing everything they can" and how BP "will be held fully responsible"--yada yada yada...

CNN live view
http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream3&hpt=T1
Oil pouring out like a Mother....er. I haven't view it before so maybe it's normal?

On the Dylan Ratigan show
He said the flow rate could easily be 120,000 barrels/day and that the only way to stop the leak is by bombing the well head.(nukes????)



He said BP was concealing the extent of leak from the start and the new videos released show 120k barrels, easily, flowing into GOM.

Bubba Zanetti said:

Light off a nuke about 50 feet above the gusher.

Don't tell anyone.

Make up a story about Obama personally capping the well. Even go so far as to take video of him in a diving suit.

Click to expand...

I've actually heard this suggested on liberal talk radio

I'g guessing you won't mind if Obama takes a nuke down and personally stuffs it into the well....

I see oil getting more expensive as time goes by as oil cos (in US water at least) will be required to have basic blowout preventers (IN WORKING ORDER) as well as Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, etc.

Pricer oil is not altogether a bad thing as it makes Chinese imports less competitive with US produced goods.

FJ

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50380?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Gulf Residents Now Have Daily Oil Slick Forecast
By: Jim White Monday May 24, 2010 5:53 am

While those who monitor the live feed of the oil spill are debating (see especially the comment thread for this diary by Mason) whether the flow worsened on Sunday, the sad reality of what Gulf residents now face is driven home by the fact that along with weather forecasts, forecasts of the oil spread are now a daily event. Television station WKRG in Mobile, Alabama now hosts the spill live web cam, but also is posting a daily "Oil Forecast". Here is the most recent:

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50380?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

BoatGuy said:

FWIW, after a short search, the most reliable number that I've found for bottom hole pressure on the well, seems to be about 13,104 pounds... which seems reasonable based on my past history in that area. I keep seeing numbers quoted up to 60,000 to 80,000 AT THE WELLHEAD, which I have NEVER seen anywhere in the Gulf. In fact, as a former wireliner, I've never seen more than 15,000 lb equipment used, and that was a relative rarity.

I'm not saying that the number is wrong. I'm only saying that it seems to be, and I keep on seeing that number quoted in various posts.

BTW, the bottom hole pressure is just as it describes... at the very bottom of the drilled hole, where the pressure is greatest.

Can anyone point me to a reputable link that shows the wellhead pressure (at the top of the hole) to be 60,000 pounds, or even in that vicinity?

Just sayin... no offense intended.

Click to expand...

One of the benchmarks for maximum pressure control in oilfield equipment is 20,000 psi. That's because that level of pressure is very seldom, if ever, encountered (whether at bottom hole or the wellhead) and something that can withstand 20,000 psi is probably going to handle the more ordinary pressures encountered in the average well, which are usually well below 10,000 psi.

What was the wellhead pressure at the moment of the blowout? We may never know for sure, but if it was over 20,000 psi, it would have been a very, very exceptional event.

The figure of 60,000 psi is pretty much unbelievable, in my mind. I'm not sure there's any oilfield tubulars made that can handle that kind of pressure.

All the OMG the BOP is gone is a bit much.

I have no idea why we're not seeing any images from the BOP. It is still there or there would be no flow from the damaged riser at the RIT spill cam.

If the BOP were to be moved or separated from the wellhead there's be no oil or a real change in the amount coming off of the RIT Damaged riser laying on the ocean floor.

If that were to happen they'd be moving ships out of the area for safety reasons. They would not be able to hide it. Nor do I think they'd even try to hide it. Their efforts would be focused topside with containment and support to the relief wells.

I'm under the impression BP PR would prefer to show the success they're having with the RIT instead of the top of the BOP damaged riser spewing oil.

At the same time since there are no video images it does lead to speculation. So hopefully they'll put some up again soon.

The explosions are likely an interpretation of what the camera sees when it either enters the plume, and what materials are stirred up by the ROV.

I've read the ocean floor is a lot like powder at this site. Soft and easily disturbed.

There are tremendous surges of the flow of the blowout as gas and oil rise through the well and BOP. After all it's a gusher, wild with three miles of pipe to get to the wellhead. I can well imagine the damaged riser where the RIT is operating moves from time to time. When it does material from the floor will kick up, and there's going to be a hole where the pipe sits.

As far as pressures, it's highly unlikely there's anything going on over 20,000 psi. Even that would have to be in some weird small/very small opening in the BOP.

To present an idea for comparison - a 9mm pistol cartridge contains about 33,000 psi when it fires. Without the lead bullet leaving the barrel, it'd blow the pistol up.

To contain those kinds of pressures the BOP would have to be several orders of magnitude larger than it is.

60,000 psi - Not happening.

BOP off the wellhead, moved, exploded, whatever - not happening. For now anyway.


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Thank heaven.

And do you have any explanation for why BP (and their toadies, the Coast Guard) is not letting even the press come in and take pictures, threatening those who do take pictures with arrest, etc.?

That just makes BP look WORSE, and fuels speculation as to what they have to hide...