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why is the top kill taking so long?

Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:24 am
Posted by The Hamburglar
McDonaldland
Member since Jan 2005
3345 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:24 am
an article on NOLA.com said it was originally planned for May 18. Now it is planned for Wednesday morning and I have no faith in that. What is the delay?
Posted by back9Tiger
Island Coconut Salesman
Member since Nov 2005
17645 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:28 am to
They are going over the engineering i think to make sure there are no snags but hell, I don't know what is truth anymore. Seems BP is walking on egg shells. This fails, they are gonna get pummelled.
Posted by The Hamburglar
McDonaldland
Member since Jan 2005
3345 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:49 am to
another poster made the suggestion that BP knows this is going to fail, knows they are going to get slammed when it does, so they are just trying to drag it on to buy themselves some time to come up with another excuse.

Supporting the above, the COO of BP said on the Today show this morning that he gives the probability of success by topkill a 6 out of 10, with 10 being sure it will work. He then went on to say that BP is ready to try other options if this fails. They are like a broken record.
Posted by diat150
Louisiana
Member since Jun 2005
47259 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:53 am to
I dont see how it is going to work. seems like any kind of liquid they put into the bop would just get blown out of the pipe. unless I am missing something.
Posted by Indiana Tiger
Member since Feb 2005
4127 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:54 am to
quote:

an article on NOLA.com said it was originally planned for May 18. Now it is planned for Wednesday morning and I have no faith in that. What is the delay?

The guy at the link below does a good job of explaining some of the issues. He's a production guy, doesn't work for BP, and he's not sure of some of his assumptions. More knowledgeable posters here may disagree with it, but this would be a good starting point for a discussion. The bottom line is that they are being as cautious as they can be because they really don't know if this is going to work and it could make things a lot worse.

LINK

If you go to his home page, he has some good posts on how screwed up the booming has been.
Posted by tiger91
In my own little world
Member since Nov 2005
40010 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 4:25 pm to
How can it make things worse? Not an ugly question ... I've read that/heard that but how? Thanks.
Posted by Indiana Tiger
Member since Feb 2005
4127 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 4:37 pm to
quote:

How can it make things worse? Not an ugly question ... I've read that/heard that but how? Thanks.

There are others here who could answer more authoritatively than I, but here's one reason. The BOP's aren't working in the sense that they didn't shut off the flow of oil, but they are restricting the flow of oil. How much? Depends on how much is really leaking and what the max flow could be.

If the top kill fails the BOP's could completely fail. Not a certainty, but a distinct possibility. We could see flows well in excess of 100MB/da (4.2 million gals) if it happens.
Posted by tiger91
In my own little world
Member since Nov 2005
40010 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 4:59 pm to
Wasn't one theory that the BOP got some of the cement in it and therefore that's perhaps why it failed??? I heard one oil/gas guy on the Moon Griffon show this am .. gave a basic rundown of how things should work ... I think he said that the problem must have happened outside the casing as the BOP didn't work ... and that there is a "triple redundency" (yeah, I know spelling) meaning 3 chances for it to have worked and it didn't ... ?????
Posted by paulie
NOLA
Member since Dec 2007
675 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:10 pm to
Here's a video of the underwater operations with the ROVs modifying the BOP. It is kind of amazing what they are able to do 1 mile under the water. Let's hope this dang top kill method works!

LINK
Posted by oilfieldtiger
Pittsburgh, PA
Member since Dec 2003
2904 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:17 pm to
quote:

Wasn't one theory that the BOP got some of the cement in it and therefore that's perhaps why it failed

that's extremely unlikely. after the primary cement job was completed, the order operations in setting the casing hanger required the BOP to be functioned and hold pressure -- which it did. furthermore, the negative test, while unacceptable, required additional BOP functionality and pressure integrity and this was shortly before the incident occured.

quote:

outside the casing

what he may be saying is that the well is flowing behind the production casing then enterring the BOP stack basically immediately below. that the well is not flowing up the 9 7/8" x 7" production casing, rather it is flowing behind it in the annular space. this is for the most part the theory BP advanced before congress.
Posted by MoreOrLes
Member since Nov 2008
19472 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:22 pm to
quote:

oilfieldtiger


Do you think they will leave in the insertion tube in while they try this. Sounds like they inject the cement/debris from a different point?
This post was edited on 5/24/10 at 9:23 pm
Posted by neutrino
Chicago
Member since Feb 2009
1210 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:23 pm to
quote:

an article on NOLA.com said it was originally planned for May 18. Now it is planned for Wednesday morning and I have no faith in that. What is the delay?

Then, why ask?
Posted by Schwaaz
Member since Sep 2009
7375 posts
Posted on 5/24/10 at 9:24 pm to
That link is cool. Thanks
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