On the BP web site I listened to almost half an hour of confident evasions as a BP press confrence didn't actually explain what happened.
Did the BOP almost work and close most of the way? Is the junk shot to try to plug an almost closed BOP or are they going to try and block the casing where it is folded over?
BP's explanation had no hint of what the original issue was with the BOP.
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
I've seen two references and heard one that stated it was the top ram that partially closed. Is this where the known hydraulic leak was? Supposedly they have taken pressure readings at the BOP and they are much lower than initially perceived. By this something in the BOP is acting as a choke so today after one press conference they stated that they were going pump some special mud into the well at the BOP and maybe later use the "junk shot" for the mud to work with.
One operation that evidently going on is the "siphon" that is supposedly working with some flow of oil to the surface;
which can be increased. Some reports say 4" riser and some say 6" riser. It would be nice if it was the 6" as it would take the 80%-90% of the leak. If you could get night picture it would be nice to see a flare on the recovery ship.
I too would like to see some of the transparency promised by our government. It looks like the government is just parroting BP.
They have had a triumphant success. They were capturing 20% of the escaping oil yesterday. The have reduced a world scale disaster to a mere 80% of a world scale disaster.
Time to change the name from British Petroleum to British Saviors. Appropriate in more ways than one. Grin
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
By the way the name "British Petroleum" ceased to exist about 10 years ago. When they bought Amoco and became "BP Amoco" it was a mouthful, then they bought Castrol and were confused what to do, finally they bought Arco and just gave up. The name of the company is "bp" and it "doesn't stand for anything" (take that any way you want, we always did). People in the company are always making up names like "Beyond Parole" for the time they cleared the consent decree over an environmental problem in Alaska, "Beneath Profitability" for 2008 performance, etc. What it isn't is "British Petroleum". People are always trying to sue bp and name "British Petroleum" as the plaintiff and no one at bp will accept the service because that entity doesn't exist.
They just announced that they are getting another 1,000,000 barrels for total of 3,000,000 per day so it has changed to a 70 percent spill.
I caught one report where it was stated that they opened the choke to get more pressure on the siphon.
If you get a look at the video of the leak #2 on top of the BOP if you look close you can see two leaks, one is from a smaller pipe than the riser and looks more like an emulsion while the big one is real stuff.
Just watch a CG briefing where they are going to try a "top kill" this weekend.
This is just a hypothetical question, but would the doubled pressure of the both the oil and mud being pumped against each other cause the structure to lose integrity?
If so, what would happen if there was a catastrophic failure in the rig? How could they stop the spill thereafter?
If they busted the well casing blow the BOP the only hope then would be the relief well. Hopefully if this happens it leaves a stub above the sea floor.
The big question with the leaks on the kink in the drilling riser is how much pressure drop is it providing, if any. If the current "Top Kill" fails they have another device ready to attach the the current BOP. They can either direct the oil to the surface or if needed attach another BOP to this device.
They just stated on the new that they have stopped drilling at the second relief well. The news stated that they are keeping it around for spare parts.
