Great Video on BP's Relief Well Operations

Did they mention the updated time table for the "bottom kill" attempt, or did I miss it? They mentioned that the drilling process was ahead of the original best estimated schedule.

Thanks for the link. Very informative. God's speed!!

They are currently 16 feet horizontally away from the well bore. Getting close. It just a few days ago they they were at 55 feet away.

If my understanding is correct the final intersept time is not as easy to predict how long it would take to drill to a certain depth.

Sort of like we might get lucky and hit it first shot or it might take 10 shots. Just no way to predict if it will be the 1st or the 10th.

They have more than one chance. They're just trying to be sure to hit it the first time. That's why they're paralleling the other well for so long. They will line it up very accurately and then just drill straight ahead until they hit it.

So let me get this straight:

They've drilled down 3 miles or so, and put in casings/liners etc. To put that sensor down to guage the distance to the original well, they have to pull out all 3 miles of drill pipe, then drop the sensor on 3 miles of wire/cable, pull it back up, then re-feed 3 miles of drill pipe (with new drill head, of course), then drill another few hundred feet, then repeat the process a few more times until they intercept the original well. Then they pull out 3 miles of drill pipe and pump in a shite ton of mud. Is that right? Am I missing something?

First off, how long does it take to pull out 3 miles of drill pipe? And then do it all fricking over again?

Lucky, I think I saw that it takes something on the order of a day to pull the drill string. That sounds a little high to me seeing as how they've done it 3 times since they started ranging. They don't really have much choice though. Can't run a wireline tool with the drill pipe in the way. This is why they said that things would slow down when they started ranging. Once they get close enough they have an MWD tool that they'll use while they're drilling. It's not sensitive enough when they're farther away.

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Lucky, I think I saw that it takes something on the order of a day to pull the drill string.

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That's amazing. How many pieces of pipe do they have to uncouple? A section of that drill pipe is what, 20 feet? That's about a thousand pieces of pipe.

How quickly can an experienced crew add/remove 1 section of the drill pipe?

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That's amazing. How many pieces of pipe do they have to uncouple? A section of that drill pipe is what, 20 feet? That's about a thousand pieces of pipe.

How quickly can an experienced crew add/remove 1 section of the drill pipe?

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The DP they're using is either ~32' or ~44' joint lengths. This is known as Range 2 or Range 3 pipe. the pipe is racked back in the derrick in stands consisting of either 4 joints (if it's 32' joints) or 3 joints (if it's 44' joints).

new generation, high-spec semi's and drillships have a fair bit of automated pipe handling equipment, and should be able to pull on the order of 25 stands an hour if you're able to trip unrestricted. however, you can't just pull out of the hole as fast as you want -- you have to be aware of the hole conditions, where the end of the drillstring is relative to key components like liner tops and the BOP's, and you have to periodically conduct flow checks to make sure the well is still stable and not being swabbed in by pulling out of the hole.