re: Deepwater Horizon - question about the cement

Posted by redbaron

Member since Aug 2011

710 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 12:45 am to slackster

Did it bother anyone else that there were bubbles coming out next to the wellhead?

I've never heard any mention of there being a wellhead failure so...

Posted by redstick13

Lower Saxony

Member since Feb 2007

38712 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 8:29 am to Champagne

quote:
The movie made a salient point out of this situation and portrayed Vidrine as the strongest advocate AGAINST running the CBL and running other remedial operations for the suspect cement.

That decision would have been made by a superintendent (probably more than one) in a BP office someplace (likely Houston). Nobody on the rig would have the authority to cancel the CBL run.

Posted by redstick13

Lower Saxony

Member since Feb 2007

38712 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 8:33 am to JusTrollin

quote:
This probably would have been caught by a FIT test... not sure if/why they didn't do one. I didn't look to see if they did.

FIT would not tell you anything about the cement behind the casing. It would only tell you the formation integrity and the integrity of the cement at the shoe. I assume the gas channeling through the cement job was happening up the hole.

Also this was a nitrogen injected cement job to reduce the hydrostatic head on the lead (not sure on the tail). These type of cement jobs are very complex. BP should have taken the extra step to run the CBL when their cement samples on the deck didn't look good.

2 ...

Posted by Chad504boy

4 posts

Member since Feb 2005

167117 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 8:42 am to redstick13

Why they cementing the hole when there's still so much oil down there?

Posted by redstick13

Lower Saxony

Member since Feb 2007

38712 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 9:22 am to Chad504boy

Exploration well. There's no production infrastructure in place. They were evaluating the lease. Obviously it was a positive find.

This post was edited on 1/14/17 at 9:23 am

Posted by barry

Location, Location, Location

Member since Aug 2006

50382 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 10:18 am to redstick13

I had some text that explained it but i deleted them, sorry.

Posted by Rebelatheart42

Down South

Member since Sep 2016

862 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 10:56 am to redstick13

You're right on the decision makers being in Houston. I can say for facts that Transocean did try to speak to all involved with BP and wanted to take more steps before displacing. BP would not listen to any of it since the rig was behind schedule and costing more money every minute. BP cares about one thing only and that's making money and will do whatever they can to cut corners. And I'm not saying everyone with BP is that way, because there's actually some really good guys who work for them.

I haven't watched the movie and don't think I will. The main character Mike Williams is dumber than a box of rocks. He couldn't find his way around a rig for anything. He was all talk and that's how he got his position. He has no business being a main character. Even in his interviews after the incident he didn't have a clue what he was saying and lied. He is only trying to get all the money he can out of this without even thinking about how others may feel.

I'm gonna stop there for now cause I could go on but it would really be a tl;dr.
All in all yes more steps should have been taken and yes most of everyone knew that. But the guys who are not even on a rig calls shots.

Posted by Finch

Member since Jun 2015

3233 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 11:11 am to SlapahoeTribe

quote:
Okay... that's six replies and nothing but "bemusement" post. What am I missing? I thought I was asking a legitimate question?

Given this is the same line of work that has mud "engineers", I imagine they pounce on any opportunity to look smarter than someone.

Posted by redbaron

Member since Aug 2011

710 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 1:42 pm to redstick13

Not too mention they hadn't drilled ahead yet.

Now a casing (positive) test...at least that way you're not making it easier for the well to flow. But hindsight is 20/20

Posted by redstick13

Lower Saxony

Member since Feb 2007

38712 posts

Posted on 1/14/17 at 2:32 pm to Rebelatheart42

I haven't watched the movie either but it was common practice to displace straight to the boat at that time. It has always been a controversial practice. It violates the very fundamentals of well control. You cannot accurately monitor displacement. If you cannot do that you are essentially blind.