Deep Horizon Oil Leak

[AcWxRadar]

In case you are interested:

You can view the video of the Deep Horizon oil well leaking (billowing) from the Gulf floor on CBS Newspath. Galaxy 16 @ 99.0°W, TP 11771 KHz V SR 14321.

RADAR

 

[Mikhel]

Thanks Radar! i'm glad i am not the only owl still 'walking' trough the net =P

Cheers man!

Mike

 

[pedrogarcia]

Makes you wonder, if they can get a camera down to it why the heck can't they seal it up.

Probably because they don't want to, cheaper to try a way to re-joint than seal and drill another bore hole

 

[AcWxRadar]

Did anyone see that? 6:06 PM CDT or roughly thereabouts? I think a gas pocket blew out! Look for reports on the news, but I gaurantee that it just got worse! WOW!

RADAR

 

[Mikhel]

Radar: I didn't get to watch it, i went to the doc a bit after i posted and i got home until 10am pacific time =(, boy i hope it doesn't get any worse than already is right now. EDIT: i didn't see it was PM, nope i was watching the Yankees pre-game only for them to loose again =P.

Makes you wonder, if they can get a camera down to it why the heck can't they seal it up.

Probably because they don't want to, cheaper to try a way to re-joint than seal and drill another bore hole

For one the pressure at those depths are REALLY high, take into account the atmosferic pressure augments 1 every 10 meters, and the rapture it's 1,500 meters below the sea surface, we're talking of roughly 15,000 atm, that plus the freezing temperatures makes it pretty difficult to maniobrate there because crystals of methane hydrate form in everything you put near the leak which is dangerous to robots (the bouyancy of those crystals it's pretty high compared to the body of the robot, making it hard to control because it's constantly floating more than it should), i guess that's the reason they have had no luck with their attempts on closing the valves.

The last i heard this past week is that "my" faculty will help in everything possible so the problem can be solved, they have the best scientific personnel in México in relation to marine sciences:

Marine Sciences Faculty = the first and nowadays the best of it's kind in México and along one from Chile, one of the best two in hispanoamerica;

CICESE (Ensenada's Scientific Investigation and Superior Education Center = Centro de Investigación Científica y Educación Superior de Ensenada);

and IIO (Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas = Oceanologic Investigation Institute);

Those three have a working agreement and cooperation with SCRIPPS (UCSD, UCLA, etc) and NOAA, and from my understanding are analizing a lot of remote imagiery to create and analize different scenarios and their possible consequences AND possible remedies.

And it seems there are more and more countries collaborating, i really hope this can be 'solved' promptly.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Tron]

Oil is getting into the marshes near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Fortunately, the flow of the river should prevent the oil from polluting New Orleans' drinking water supply...

 

[boom]

Ah this is a depressing channel

 

[FaT Air]

The Exxon Valdez cleanup is going to be nothing compared to this, I am afraid.

 

[pedrogarcia]

For one the pressure at those depths are REALLY high, take into account the atmosferic pressure augments 1 every 10 meters, and the rapture it's 1,500 meters below the sea surface, we're talking of roughly 15,000 atm, that plus the freezing temperatures makes it pretty difficult to maniobrate there because crystals of methane hydrate form in everything you put near the leak which is dangerous to robots (the bouyancy of those crystals it's pretty high compared to the body of the robot, making it hard to control because it's constantly floating more than it should), i guess that's the reason they have had no luck with their attempts on closing the valves.

Mike

Thanks Mike
I understand the depth pressures/ temperatures and this should be used as an advantage and be key to the solution. I'm thinking composite alloy plugging that can be contracted at temperatures well below zero that would expand when injected into position. I did not appreciate they even had valves in place to close.
Hope it is solved fast

 

[mediageek]

i saw the ROV actually doing something today. first time i've seen that camera move and do something other than check the ROV's gauges. saw a report that they've only used something like 15% of a WEEK'S PROFITS to fix this.

They should be doing EVERYTHING to fix the dang thing.

 

[empiretc]

Seeing this video is cool. You can tell the majority of it is NG.

 

[B.J.]

Seeing this video is cool. You can tell the majority of it is NG.

Exactly (re NG). They had one expert on some news show who had calculated leak rates based on the speed that the stuff was coming out of the pipe, assuming that it was all oil, completely ignoring the fact that it was mainly gas coming out of the pipe. That gas is probably why they couldn't trap it all via sticking the sucking straw pipe into the leaking pipe, ie the volume of gas probably just blew most of the oil past the little pipe trying to suck it up.

Anyway, I've been watching the video of the leak most of the morning, hoping to see it suddenly stop, however the BP people weren't too optimistic on the morning news shows today. NOW, the switched that sat feed over to the shuttle landing... which just went over CUBA (I'm surprised Castro didn't object). I guess once the shuttle gets down they'll go back to the leak.

 

[FaT Air]

just found this, for all of us who cant tune in the sat feed, like me, Gotta tune that BUD!

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

 

[AcWxRadar]

I heard on PBS last night and again on ABC news radio that BP was supposed to attempt the TOP KILL today (Wednesday 5/26). Either they haven't got to the task yet or it didn't work.

It almost looks like it is a bit worse this evening, but hard to really tell. The scene looks different, but that could be the position of the ROV or simply a change in the gas/oil ratio being belched out. It does look like there are is now a smaller, additional "fumeral", at least I didn't see it the other day.

It really is amazing that we are able to view this live, but I wish were weren't.

RADAR

 

[digiblur]

I heard on PBS last night and again on ABC news radio that BP was supposed to attempt the TOP KILL today (Wednesday 5/26). Either they haven't got to the task yet or it didn't work.

It almost looks like it is a bit worse this evening, but hard to really tell. The scene looks different, but that could be the position of the ROV or simply a change in the gas/oil ratio being belched out. It does look like there are is now a smaller, additional "fumeral", at least I didn't see it the other day.

It really is amazing that we are able to view this live, but I wish were weren't.

RADAR

The top kill is still going on. The extra pressure is what you are seeing, you could also be seeing some of the drilling mud.

 

[B.J.]

The top kill is still going on. The extra pressure is what you are seeing, you could also be seeing some of the drilling mud.

Yeah, that had me real confused yesterday. I think they started around noon eastern time, and the views really looked like it got MUCH WORSE, however they explained that in the news this morning, that they were pumping that drilling mud in there at high enough pressure to keep the oil/gas from coming up, and it was mainly the drilling mud that was spewing out now. I guess it's still too early to tell if it's working. I think they said that they would occasionally be turning off the pressure to see if the mud seal is working, then eventually pump cement in there to top off the mud. But I just wonder what happens if the mud seal doesn't hold, and then they can't close the valve that they opened to pump the mud in, and then a hurricane come along and rips out the pipes.... (I always like to think positive.... ) Anyway, hope it works.

While typing, I was watching the video. They have some interesting views now showing what some submersible sub is doing, with a little mechanical hand grabbing onto the thing. Then it let go, and started drifting away, and the view got lost in the muddy water. It's now following some line, apparently trying to find it's way back. Neat views.

 

[digiblur]

There are reports on the news stating that the process is working, but they are not 100% sure just yet but it looks good so far.

If they can get enough mud down there and create enough hydrostatic pressure without blowing out the formation then it will stop leaking.

 

[AcWxRadar]

If you were watching the live feed of the vent hole, when it was black in color, that was oil. When it was grayish or whitish, that was gas and when it was brown, that was the drilling mud.

They forced about 1.2 million gallons of drilling mud into the well and that didn't plug it up. That is one hell of a reserve that they tapped into.

Very saddening that the top kill did not work. It is going to get really bad. One of the next possible attempts to shut it down is going to be extremely scary because they could actually make it worse if it fails. Part of the damaged pipe is kinked and that is restricting the release. In order to take the next step, they have to cut that damaged pipe off and attempt to cap it with a new valve and blowout preventer. Obviously, this means removing that restriction. If this fix doesn't work, it will be belching out much more.

RADAR

 

[digiblur]

Of course it is one hell of a reserve... they wouldnt spend over 500k a day to drill a well for something small.

 

[metal head]

you can also watch it on 89w tp 11955. Lots of stuff happening tonight!