re: Oil Spill and Offshore Fishing (Latest Developments)

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I will assume that all you know about the oil and gas industry is that you can pull up to the gas pump and fill your vehicle with the gas that is processed with the oil that is brought to surface by the oil wells in the Gulf.

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False. I work in the industry and have been on rigs many times. I have also been on the planning team for several wildcat and development wells.

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The Operator (BP) hires out Transocean to drill a well for them. They work very closely together in all decesion making and planning. They have BP reps on location as well as Transocean Reps. They have meetings several times a day with the folks in the office to discuss current operations and operations moving forward, as well as any unplanned events. They were well aware of the downhole pressures. Everyone was, that is the only way they could have drilled it. They used proper mud weights to offset the reservoir pressures to drill the well safetly. You make it sound like BP hires Transocean and tells them. "Hey I want a well drilled at this location, go drill it and let me know when you are done

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When did I ever say that? I was saying that BP is the ultimate responsible party because they are involved in so much of the planning and they are writing the checks. People were trying to absolve BP and point the finger at the service companies. All i was saying is that there are scenarios where maybe BP dropped the ball and it wasnt a failure of equipment. Not saying that is the case here but it may be. I guarantee you BP will be under investigation just as much as TO.

sorry for the late reply.

My bad on confusing annulus and annular, and I pride myself on good word useage....I am so embarrased!

Ok, I think I get the general idea of the succesively smaller casing in the hole, all cemented in at some point.

The risers are bolted?? Is it a flange joint??

The choke, kil etc are smaller pipe of some sort I understand. how does the drill stem/pipe (the APT threaded stuff ive seen...about 4" od and very heavy wall) progress through the riser with all the other lines in the riser?

What space does the mud return to the rig through?

What goes through the BOP? ie casing, drill stem, riser, choke etc.

Oh yea, It sounds like the BOP is operated as a valve during certain procedures when I hear "open the annular" What am I missing.

Thank you for you response, in my opinion you are doing a very good job explaining, clear, concise, and precise!

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I said that statement in response to someone who stated that operators and drillers have no idea what they are going to encounter when drilling wildcat wells, which is flat out untrue.

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I apoligize for questioning your knowledge.

holy cow! thats a pricy looking joint, no wonder it comes in 75' joints.
thanks, that helps.

Casing is steel. It is usually cemented into the bigger casing it is fitting inside of. Each progressively smaller string of casing goes deeper and deeper into the well bore to keep it patent. None of the casing top end is thru the BOP

German or not, that was a good read. Thanks for the link.

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prolly a dumb question, but did the rig sink due to damage from the fire or from being inundated with seawater from firefighting vessels?

in other words, could the massive spill have been avoided if the fire had continued at the rig/the surface?

obviously the rig couldn't hold up forever with that kind of heat..

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Was it not leaking until the rig sank?

And Cadello, ???