A compilation of research and comments concerning the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. This is happening just off the coast of my home state of Louisiana. By the way, my profession is a petroleum geologist, so my perspective is from someone who is in the energy business.
These reports are in chronological order. Scroll to the bottom to see the most recent.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Rick
May 21, 2010
How to kill the BP well and perhaps why they are prolonging the disaster.
The latest news is that the seafloor around the blow out is starting to collapse. This is bad. This is probably due to gas and oil coming around the outside of the large diameter (21 inch?) casing. Under this kind of pressure, the gas and oil can weaken the soft sediments of the sea floor around the outside of the casing. This has happen on the land many times especially in the early part of oil exploration when drillers were drilling for shallow reservoirs in loose unconsolidated rocks which are really just soft sediments. Many times the ground would collapse and the entire drilling rig would fall into a hole. In this case, the seafloor sediments are not really considered rock, but instead are soft layers of shale (really clay) and sandstone (soft sand).
I have looked at their efforts using the “containment” box. It has failed for various reasons. BP has, from the beginning, trying to salvage their well and thus their lease. Before the seafloor collapses any more and becomes a very wide, deep hole, they need to put the containment box to a different use.
They need to place the containment box over the well head and not try to gather the oil. As they get close to getting the box in place they need to be ready to pump a thousand tons of cement or what ever volume is needed to fill the containment box. Pump it down the same pipe system they are using to siphon off the oil. They do make cement that will set underwater. This would smother the well head and vent and seal off the leak. This would act as a heavy plug to stop the flow.
In the beginning they discussed using what they called a top kill method. They would run multiple pipes into the vent and pump heavy mud to stop the flow and then cement to plug the pipe. Now the flow maybe coming from outside the casing or pipe and going inside to kill the well would not do the job. A huge container box full of cement would permanently lock off their access to their well at this location which perhaps is the reason they have not tried this.
I believe they started their directional relief well in early May. It may take up to 3 months to drill this well. Sometimes it has taken much longer. They have to drill down to a certain depth and deviated from the vertical. They have to slant the hole and hit a predetermined spot about a foot wide in the current vertical hole probably thousands of feet under the sea floor bed and perhaps a half a mile away. They don’t have to go all the way to the bottom (18,000 feet). If I had to guess, they have to drill to a depth somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000’. This is a slow, tedious, highly technical task, but they can do it.
After they intersect the first well bore they should pump heavy mud into this hole followed by cement. The purpose of this is to create a permanent cement plug down hole. This is needed to take the pressure off of the containment box cement plug at the sea floor bed. This is very important to stop future leaks and kill the well permanently. By knowing the pressure in advance, this new directional relief well, would be prepared for the high pressures. They should install redundant automatic blow out preventers just in case there is a second blow out. As they are approaching the intersect area of the old well bore they should have adequate mud and cement ready to pump into the hole once they reach it.
Finally, this particular area appears to be overreaching the technical abilities of the industry. The government should not grant any more drilling permits for operations in waters this deep (5,000’).
It appears that this accident was negligence by the operator, at least on the surface. Reports from a Schlumberger crew who was on board are very disturbing. They were contracted to run a cement bond log on a long string of casing that was set after drilling to a depth of 18,000’. When they arrived on the rig, they reported that the well was still kicking (tying to blow the drilling fluid out of the hole). At this point the Schlumberger crew said the conditions were to dangerous to run a cement bond log and requested to be flown back to the mainland. The BP man in charge told them that the last helicopter was gone and would not be back for awhile and for them to get to work and rig up the logging tools. The crew then called and request that a Schlumberger helicopter come out and get them. Several hours later the rig exploded. This BP man must have been crazy.
One last note, Bush relaxed drilling regulations for these deep water wells several years ago. Obama has continued the same policy. There is a new acoustic blow out preventer device that is required equipment all over the world. It is a fail safe device. As I understand it, it permanently seals the well off, if the drilling rig cannot control the well. Every country in the world requires deep sea drillers to use this device in their territorial waters except the U. S. Why? To save a little money? No. These are multi-hundred million dollar wells. What is one more piece of safety equipment? To me, it is like the government wanted an accident to occur. From this they will surely try to get their “green economy”. And the corporations who control the government will make trillions. Despite their propaganda and what you believe, their “green economy” and their cap and trade scam will destroy the economy of the U. S.
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May 25, 2010
Continued comments.
As far as BP intentions, I had to look at it from two different angles. First there is the corporate BP. The rank and file people like engineers, geos, accountants, Presidents, and CEO’s. These corporations are in the energy business. They want to find and produce hydrocarbons. This is their profession. Then you have the big, big owners; the world elite. Like Beatrix of the Netherlands (a refuse to call her a queen). She and others like her have a different agenda even from the executives of her own company. It is the same with all the major oil companies.
And I am sure you know what her agenda is; one world government and a continuation of their economic domination. More for the haves and less for the have not’s. Their new “green economy” is just another way to continue their domination. The reason why we are still reliant on the “archaic fossil fuels” is that they wanted us reliant. And they will want us still reliant and still paying through our nose for their “green energy”.
The history of big oil is the history of creating “artificial scarcity” throughout the world. The less oil produced the more profits big oil makes. This is one of the primary reasons of going into Iraq. Iraq has as much oil in the ground as Saudi Arabia has produced. That supply had to be controlled by the west. Not to produce it, because after 7 years, Iraq produces less now than it did before the invasion, but to keep it off the market, under control of the western companies, and at high prices. The same applies in Afghanistan, only with that it is control of a pipeline.
By the way, fossil fuels, is a myth made up by the west. Russian scientists did a massive study after World War 2. There is much evidence to believe that petroleum is what they call “abiotic”. It is not made from pre-historic dinosaurs and bugs. It is part of the earth’s primordial mass, down deep below the crust. So Russia drilled deep wells, below 35,000 feet, below all sediments into the upper portions of the mantle. And found oil in fractured granitic rocks that are not even close to any hydrocarbon source beds that western geologists believe must be present to create the oil. Much of Russia’s production is from these wells. Oil has even been found on the moons of Jupiter. There are no fossils up there. The western oil companies, which support the schools, want the world to believe that oil is scarce and limited. In reality it appears that it might not be.
Google:
The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels, Thomas Gold
I am a staunch environmentalist, but not to the point of shutting down the economies all over the world and putting the lives of people in jeopardy especially if the environment cause is completely contrived. There is a lot of $150 per barrel of oil in the world. The inexpensive stuff has already been found. In other words, a higher price makes more feasible to go after deeper, harder to find deposits of oil.
The environmentalists are already going after all offshore drilling. They may ban all future drilling. As for the already producing platforms, I would bet that new regulations will be added making it more difficult to produce the existing offshore fields. The new regulations and Federal control for offshore operations is just the beginning. I am sure it will later apply to onshore drilling. It is a step by step way to nationalize the industry.
The point I have been unable to get a hold of is why Obama came out months ago talking about lifting a ban on offshore drilling. Despite the lies that come out of his mouth, he is a staunch advocate of a totally “green” economy. Just like his money masters.
The money the elite would make in the carbon credit scam and the change to “green” energy towers over what BP will lose with this disaster. Remember, BP is insured. So is the drilling rig. This is another problem, reaction, solution scenario. Create an environmental problem; change the attitude of the unsuspecting public as they react by saying “ok, we have had enough of this stinking oil!” Finally provide the “green economy” solution, which is what they have always wanted.
I have nothing against solar, geothermal, wind. However the elite that control the world also controlled and suppressed the technology that might have made the age of oil, really unnecessary. I am referring to the Tesla free energy and other over unity energy devices. They have also suppressed technology of automobile engines that run off of water. Free and cheap energy for every person is not what the owners of the Earth want. Remember, as far as they are concerned it is all about them and how they can exploit and make a profit off of us. Until we tell them no, they will continue. The “green economy” is their ultimate dream. They stand to make trillions off of creating “green energy” to market to the masses. Don’t forget, green energy is very expensive. At least the “green energy they want to sell us.
Look at the billion or so that BP will ultimately lose as an investment; an investment in their “green economy” future. In their public relations, BP now stands for “Beyond Petroleum”. I wish we were beyond petroleum, even if it cost me my profession. And remember one billion is one tenth of one per cent of one trillion. Good investment.
This is an Environmental 9/11.
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May 27, 2010
My comment in CAPS.
BLAME THIS ON BOTH BUSH/CHENEY AND OBAMA. THOSE DARN CORPORATIONS DO EXPECT COOPERATION, I MEAN SERVITUDE FROM THEIR PUBLIC SERVANTS.
“..BP chose not to equip oil rigs off the coast of the U.S. with acoustic triggers because U.S. regulations enacted in 2003 do not require companies to do so.
CBS reported that Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) sent President Obama a letter Thursday reminding him that in 2000 the Interior Department insisted “oil companies have ‘reliable backup systems’ in the event of a rig blowout.” By 2003, the plan was scrapped after a closed-door meeting with energy company executives conducted by then-Vice President Dick Cheney. “This could be one of the world’s greatest nightmare scenarios of an oil gusher,” Nelson said.
A Pensacola attorney, Mike Papantonio, whose firm filed a class-action lawsuit three days ago against BP on behalf of Gulf fishermen had this to say on MSNBC’s The Ed show:
BP didn’t want to spend the money for a system – a fail safe system, used all over the world…[that could have prevented this]. We’re talking about a company that makes forty billion a year that wouldn’t invest five hundred thousand dollars…It is the most unreported part of this story…”
LET’S BLAME THIS ON THE BUREAUCRATS. THE MINERAL MANANGEMENT SERVICE (MMS). QUESTION? WHO INFLUENCES
BUREAUCRATS MORE; LOBBYISTS OR THE ADMINISTRATION OR BOTH?
RPT-BP’s US Gulf project exempted from environmental analysis.
Thu May 6, 2010 1:49am EDT
By Jeffrey Jones and Jeff Mason
HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators exempted BP Plc (BP.L) from a detailed environmental review of the exploration project that ultimately resulted in the deadly Gulf of Mexico explosion and subsequent oil spill, documents show.
The Minerals Management Service granted BP’s project a “categorical exclusion” from full environmental analysis normally required under the National Environmental Policy Act, according to documents made available by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.
BP had argued in a letter to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a White House agency, last month that the use of the exclusion for projects did not mean environmental impacts were being ignored, only that an agency agrees they are deemed to be minimal or nonexistent.
The MMS, the branch of the U.S. Interior Department that is responsible for managing oil, gas and other resources on the outer continental shelf, approved the exploration project on April 6, 2009.
THE BLOWOUT PREVENTER EQUIPMENT WAS MODIFIED IN WAYS THAT CAUSED IT TO FAIL. QUESTION? WHO MODIFIED IT AND WHY?
Attention has focused on the novel cementing procedure[29] and the Cameron TL blowout preventer (BOP) which failed to engage.
At least four significant problems have been identified with the BOP:
There was a leak in the hydraulic system that provides power to the shear rams.
The BOP had been modified in unexpected ways. The underwater control panel had been disconnected from the bore ram, and instead connected to a test ram. Drawings of the BOP provided by Transocean to BP do not correspond to the structure that is on the ocean bottom.
The BOP’s shear ram is not powerful enough to cut through joints in the well pipe. It is only effective on the body of a drill pipe. Since 10% of the drill pipe is threaded joints, the BOP is expected to succeed on only 90% of the drill pipe.
Emergency control to the BOP may have failed in multiple ways. Cameron, the BOP’s manufacturer, has stated that the explosion may have severed the communication link so the BOP never received the instruction to engage. Before the backup dead man’s switch will engage, communications, power and hydraulic lines must all be severed; Cameron, has stated it is possible BOPs hydraulic lines were intact after the explosion, in which case the unit would not engage. Of the two control pods for the deadman switch, the one that has been inspected so far had a dead battery.
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May 27, 2010
“Cui Bono”?– Goldman Sachs
The Roman Judges used to say, “cui bono?”, when looking for the guilty. That is Latin for “who benefits”.
No joke: Goldman Sachs shorted Gulf of Mexico
It turns out that Goldman Sachs really did place shorts on TransOcean stock days before the explosions rocked the rig in the Gulf of Mexico sending stocks plunging while GS profits soared — benefitting once again from a huge disaster, having done the same with airline stocks prior to 911 then again with the housing bubble.
http://pesn.com/2010/05/05/9501645_No_joke–Goldman_Sachs_shorted_TransOcean/
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May 27, 2010
Email from Don Nicoloff documenting Goldman Sachs short puts on TransOcean stock
http://pesn.com/2010/05/05/9501645_No_joke–Goldman_Sachs_shorted_TransOcean/DonNicoloff_email.htm
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May 27, 2010
TOP KILL
Reports from the Coast Guard in the morning hours of Thursday state that the “top kill” method of pumping heavy mud into the inner casing is slowing down the rate of the oil coming out. The plan is to pump cement into the pipe once the flow is stopped.
But we are not “out of the woods” yet. This is where more problems may begin. From the beginning people have said that the cement that was set outside of the inner production casing and inside of the outer surface casing was improperly set. Critics said that the operator only let the cement set for a few hours instead of the usual, a couple of days before continuing operations on the well. Also, no cement bond log was run, because the rig blew up before the log could be run. A bond log show will the integrity or lack of in the cement sheath around the casing.
By the way, the Schlumberger (pronounce Slumberjay) logging crew arrived on the rig to run the cement bond log, they encountered very dangerous conditions. The well was on the verge of blowing out and the drilling crew was working to control it. The logging crew told the BP man in charge that conditions were too dangerous for them to be on board at this time and requested a helicopter to take them back to the mainland. The BP company man said, there were no helicopters and told them basically to start rigging up their logging tools. The Schlumberger crew called and got their own company to send out a helicopter to pick them up. A few hours later the rig blew.
If the “top kill” is successful at stopping the flow from inside the production casing, that pressure will be transferred to the cement sheath on the outside of the production casing. If the bond between the cement and the casing is not adequate, well the oil and gas can make its way up around the outside of the casing.
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A comment I posted on Washington’s Blog
May 28, 2010
Prominent Oil Industry Insider: “There’s Another Leak, Much Bigger, 5 to 6 Miles Away”
Matt Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush, is an adviser to the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, and is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Simmon is chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, an investment bank catering to oil companies.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/05/prominent-oil-industry-insider-theres.html
Some of this made good sense, some of it, well, I don’t think so. The supertanker idea of “vacuuming” up the huge layer of oil is a great idea. Why haven’t they done it? I will tell you why. They don’t want the general public to know that it exists. If they can stop the flow, that will take this story somewhat out of the news, then they can quietly, get in there and vacuum up the oil on bottom.
My assessment about the “top kill” it is futile because of the questionable cementing done on the production casing. Reports of not letting it set long enough, hours instead of days and the fact that a cement bond log was not run. Check this report out about the Schlumberger logging crew, who left the rig just before the explosion because of dangerous conditions,
http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2010/05/smoking-gun-bps-deep-horizon-mess
Also the supposed “live” feed (I have seen convincing evidence that this is just a loop type broadcast) shows 4 plumes coming from the well head area. To me this means that the flow has already breeched the casing otherwise you would see only one stream of oil (the inside casing). Unless they are going to pump mud down the 4 points simultaneously, it will not shut off the oil. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why they have waited this long to do something besides contain the oil.
Concerning the containment box: I suggest putting it to a new use. Place it over the top of the well head and let it sink into the sea floor. Then pump cement into the box, displacing the water and oil out the top. This should smother the blow out and seal off the flow around the well head area. Continue drilling the directional relief well to permanently kill the well at the bottom to take the pressure off of the containment box concrete plug at the sea floor. A 1000 ton concrete box or whatever weight it is is a large mass covering a wide area. Why would this not work?
Finally, the idea about the bomb in the hole is crazy. These are soft sediments that they drilled through, really nothing but soft sand and clay. A down hole explosion would create fractures and fissures throughout the area. Sounds like a good way to release the entire contents into the Gulf through a half a mile wide conduit. Red Adair and John Wayne used explosives to blow the oxygen away from the well head fire so they could cap the blow out. Any oxygen at the bottom of the Gulf?
Remember, Simmons is an investment banker. Not an engineer.