re: Links to live feeds from remotely operated vehicles (ROV)

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MountainTiger

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Love the sig quote! So true!

ROV showing lots of little fish swimming around one of the ships.

I'm just catching up on the progress today. 11,000+ bbl captured yesterday is encouraging news. Like someone said earlier, that's 11,000 bbl that aren't leaking into the gulf.

The decision to go with the top hat vs the LMRP seems a bit clearer now if the capacity of the Enterprise is 15,000 bbd.

For those that know, after a normal well is completed with drilling and the well is cemented and abandoned for production at a later date, don't they remove the BOP? Prior to production a "christmas tree" is installed on the wellhead in lieu of the BOP?

The Enterprise is operating with a damaged BOP and no "christmas tree". The "top hat" with its "loose" leaking flange and open vent valves allows for some sort of pressure relief as a safety measure.

I'm only speculating on these details, but it seems to make sense now. I know we all aren't happy with the amount they are capturing right now, but "it is what it is" and is better than no capture. Without a "christmas tree" and the capacity to fully take on all the well can produce with the Enterprise vessel, we must take into consideration the safety of the personnel on the Enterprise ship.

Use of the auxillary Q4000 ship will allow more recovery of the oil / gas through another outlet in the BOP.

I don't know about the removing of the BOP part so I won't comment on that.

But on the second part. The LMRP they first wanted to use was not used because of the cut and capacity would be the same for either do to the ship... which is only temporary. But I am thinking that the LMRP would have been better because what it didn't catch would have been contained in the well possibly.

Apparently the resulting increase in pressure at the BOP wasn't an issue or it wouldn't have been their first choice.

So everything you said seems to make sense except it must not be valid or they would never have tried the LMRP.

Yes the BOP is removed after the well is TA. I can't see how having a xmas tree on would change the amount of oil they capture much. If they capture more than the Enterprise's capacity simply transfer it to another vessel. I would assume they have vessels offloading the Enterprise and taking the oil to the nearest production platform. I know the large work boats can carry 10,000 + bbls of mud and water.

I think there will be two risers going to two different ship.

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Yes the BOP is removed after the well is TA. I can't see how having a xmas tree on would change the amount of oil they capture much. If they capture more than the Enterprise's capacity simply transfer it to another vessel. I would assume they have vessels offloading the Enterprise and taking the oil to the nearest production platform. I know the large work boats can carry 10,000 + bbls of mud and water.

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I wasn't referring to the storage capacity on the Enterprise but the processing capacity of 15,000 bbl / day. With that comes some sort of flaring rate which I don't know. A few days after the explosion they were concerned with methane hydrates possibly causing the explosion? Still a lot of unanswered questions, but my point is that the Top Hat or LMRP as they are calling it now, with the loose fit allows some pressure relief and regulation of the flow. The Christmas Tree in a "normal" well would provide some sort of pressure drop and control when a well goes into production, although it does look like the Enterprise has some sort of valve package hanging off the bottom of it too. In summary, all I'm saying is the route they took with the looser fitting cap (LMRP) was the more conservative one and safer for now until they know what they are dealing with.

Also, in the audio clip, Kent Wells describes that the cap they currently have in place occupies a lot of volume and what we are seeing on the feed is the oil / gas coming around the void space in the annulus between the cap and the cut riser so not all of that volume we see is actually oil (looks a lot bigger than it actually is).

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No the BP audio update link above, near the end a reporter asked "When the riser was cut it appeared as though two drill pipes were in it. Was that the case?" The answer that was given was alarming. "We are not sure. When we get it topside we'll know better why it appears that way."

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I has heard this but had not posted because it was only mentioned once and never again. I think the two pipes were visually observed by ROV camera in the section of the riser that was cut. Not sure how that would happen. I would have thought the riser would be topside by now.

This would explain a lot as to why the top kill did not work (or why their calculations were off). Twice as much was escaping through the top of the riser as they anticipated so not as much mud whent down hole as calculated.

Are you sure about that?
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I am making the asumption that is top side based upon the fact it was in a sling attached to a crane topside. Much easier to bring it up than to get an rov to detach it.

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Just went and listened to the technical update. Wells indicated that the riser has not been brought topside yet. I had not heard that it had either.

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I believe Wells said that. However, I believe it is topside. Why would they not want to look at it? Why would they unsling it?
Totally my believe based on nothing more than that.