27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf

quote:

---

The sat photos at the end are of naturally occurring seeps.

---

I know... and I found them interesting.
Any comments on the contention about the wells?

A small leak from a well abandoned 40 years ago is possible. But the Macondo well and those well leaks have zero in common.

And those wells have been abandoned for a reason. They are either exploratory wells that didnt find a drop of oil or gas or they were producing wells that have miniscule amounts of producible volume left.

quote:

---

Another Bull shite article to scare the children & old ladies

---

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Ticking Time Bombs. What a joke!!

quote:

---

Listen to the words carefully. This is what he said. We do not know of any leaking wells.

---

This! Just another example of the media trying to whip up a frenzy by being uselessly dramatic. Sad what that "profession" has become.

Old wells. Anyone here ever heard of the rigs to reefs projects. What is the deal with old wells. Oil wells were being removed per the law within a certain amount of time after being abandoned. The rigs to reefs program was designing to try to keep some of the rigs here as artificial reefs.

The rigs are cut beneath the mudline and cut up and dropped back into the water in designated areas to serve as reefs.

Not saying it isn't true but how can we have all these abandoned wells if it is law they must be removed so they don't become navigation hazards?

Who has the scoop?

I am simply asking a question. I want to know the answer!!! How is asking a question being an apologist. I even suggest in my post that I am not saying it isn't the case just wondering how this law doesn't apply to some of the structures.

Just answer the question, this isn't pro BP or pro PETA! Just a simply fricking question that I want the correct answer too.

quote:

---

You're nothing more than an apologist omegaman.

---

No he's not. Can you point to any P&A'ed well blowing out in the GOM?

it's the same on the operator side federal. no one w/ actual technical expertise speaks on our behalf, only public relations guys or managers.

as to the discussion, the first thing we need to do is agree on some terminology.

a platform is a structure set in the water with producing equipment, living quarters, etc on it.

a well can produce on it's own and be connected to a small platform via flowlines -- like the hundreds of wells that sit immediately offshore and you can see from land. or there can be anywhere from 3 or 4 to dozens of individual wells that are drilled from and produce to an individual production platform. this depended upon the field development plan -- how much oil and gas was originally in place, and how much money the operator wanted to spend.

then there are subsea wells -- they sit on the seafloor, but are tied back to a production facility some distance away.

when wells are finished producing, typically because all of the commerically viable oil & gas has been produced, or because the well has experienced a mechanical problem that is too expensive to resolve; the well is abandoned. this abandonment involves removing some amount of the production equipment that was installed, pumping large cement plugs, testing those plugs, and ultimately cutting and removing everything beginning at a point just below the mudline.

this is heavily regulated w/ very specific requirements on the # of barriers in place, where they have to be placed, and what kind of testing is necessary.

after all of the wells have been abandoned, the platform will be abandoned. it either will be removed, or it can be dropped as part of a reef program.

so yes, there have been thousands and thousands of wells abandoned in the GOM, and there's many, many times more on land throughout the US. these wells have been abandoned for a reason -- they either never were or are no longer commercially viable. meaning they no longer have remaining recoverable hydrocarbon, or never had any.

furthermore, in the case of rigs to reef type of programs, recreational divers will not hesitate to call the government to report an instance of a leaking well, as Federal can attest.