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Rig Explosion and Fire

Rig Explosion and Fire

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Why isn't the well shutoff?   Did the BOP malfunction?

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Here in Texas nobody gives a crap about an oil spill, but this will probably kill development off the east and west coasts for a long time.  Is it fair to blame BP?  They seem to be a showcase for how not to run an oil company.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
A report on some of the problems being faced on this endeavour.

http://www.mms.gov/tarprojects/311/311AA.pdf

Anecdotal:
The approach now being discussed about using a bell shaped device. Sombrero. direct the oil to some collection device is 79's technology which this paper gives credit to Brown and Root when actually the idea came through Red Adair and was proposed by a local gentleman I knew quite well. Tex Edwards owned a steel erection and crane rental service and was quite the tinker and inventor.  He had a tower crane long before they hit the scene in Europe, He had two working wheeled hydraulic cranes very early on. He was notorious for adding extremely long jibs to existing lattice boom friction cranes.  

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
I have been wandering when this scenario would come up, now evidently it is being considered a serious possibility.
Earlier today there had been no comment from the government but the article was updated with a response.  

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html

I've talked to my wife' daughter's in-laws, a total of five who are in the drilling business both as rig owners and one driller on an offshore rig. To a person they can't understand why this blowout got s far as it did as they said the well would have been giving all types of signs that something was wrong at the bottom.  Their only explanation was that supposedly there was a cementing crew on the floor operating the rig at the time of the incident.     

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

IMO- The BOP was either 1- not operating correctly(valve, actuator malfunction, etc), which could be due to improper maintenance. 2-The electronic linking to the BOP was either disconnected, or malfunctioned. Which could be an operator or maitenance error. However, there are none of the original operators around to answer some of these questions.

Like you said,Unclesyd, there are all sorts of warning signs of BOP failure, and I know for a fact that the Deepwater Horizon had a minimum of 4 failsafes to stop flow from escaping the wellhead. It seems odd to me that none of them did. Honestly, the whole thing doesn't make sense to me. Failsafes that should have worked, didnt. That's pretty much the sum of it.


Will Chevron Corp.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the well may be leaking 25,000 barrels of oil per day. I sure hope not.   

 

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

I hope BP ceases to exist and that at least some top managers are civilly and criminally liquidated. Somehow their propaganda department has managed to stay ahead of numberous incidents on the ground that show a company that struggles with the most basic operations and safety. Beyond the legendary stupidity that led to the 2005 explosion, BP was unable to even produce a supervisor (in the draft report anyway) who would admit to being in charge, and is still fighting the record breaking but otherwise lenient fine.

To essentually claim in their environmental impact assessments that the risk of deepwater drilling was the same as any other drilling project was utterly irresponsible, possibly criminal. Unfortunately, my congressional representatives in Louisianna (Charles Boustany, etal) have repeatedly protected oil company profits in the belief that cheap energy and jobs were more important than a responsibility to employee and public safety, and the environment. I don't really blame politicians because it is their nature to do what gets them elected, and we can just as surely predict that they will act shocked and angry in the aftermath.

BP announced multi-billion 1st quarter profits well above expectations on the same day as the rig accident. I think that there is a a pretty good chance this company will go the way of Union Carbide before all the congressional hearings, clean-up costs, safety and environmental fines, civil and (hopefully) criminal suits are even concluded. Sell any BP stock you own, but don't cry for BP! The workers and assets will continue on under new and hopefully more responsible management.

best wishes,
sshep

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

" I fish in the general area of the spill quite lot and have made many trips to west and north of the area snapper fishing."
 Haha, You and me both. Im originally from Beaumont, TX, but have lived in Baton Rouge ever since college, currently working in the Norco area.

  


Will Chevron Corp.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

If they get off only to the present value of what Exxon paid for their 1889 spill, this would "only" be a $25billion accident. However, I think BP could end up folding because you will have multiple states involved and the spill is in the face of millions more people.

Does anyone know what insurance company holds the liability with BP?

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Is the BOP still in place? We saw a picture of an ROV trying to operate the BOP controls. Are these controls at the BOP or are they at the sunken platform?
If the BOP could be operated, would it stem the flow, or fail and become part of the debris?
Any estimates of the amount of reserves and the time for the well to deplete and stop on ts own?

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
sshep,
According to reports BP is self insured and I haven't heard or seen anything about any secondary insurance.  

{b]waross[/b],
The BOP is still in place and their is some contention as to actually which panel the ROV is trying to operate.  

A BOP similar to the one a the well site

http://oilstatesintl.com/_filelib/ImageGallery/Products_Services/OSIAR2005_022.jpg

Sketch of the riser as it now stands,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4563035602/in/photostream/

Here is the MMS report on the DWH incident there is some good discussion as well as some not so good.  

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

Anecdotal:  
Just think that I paid a $150.00 fine for a small sheen from diesel fuel by my boat while fueling because the fuel man laid his delivery nozzle on the rail a few drops went overboard. This was kick in the butt until about 5 years before this the state used to spray diesel along the shoreline two or three  times a year to kill the Dog Flies.  

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
sshep,
I jsut listened to a news broadcast where a Senator from Alabama stated under the current legislation BP was only responsible for the cleanup and not the damages, I hope he miss stated even though he said it twice.

That fact might be the reason that BP was requiring anyone who signed up for cleanup work had to sign aa contract stating that they wouldn't file future claims.

That could also explain the reason that have received 2 calls from legal firms concerning our fishing boat.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

It appears that the CYA culture at BP continues and the spill rate may be several times greater than reported by BP.
Citation: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14oil.html?hp
I am sure that there are many others besides myself who would appreciate any comments that our experts in this field are free to make.
Thanks  

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
waross,
I know you have been in industry long enough to realize that when a problem starts you hear from the experts, but as the situation deteriorates they quickly disappear into the wood work only to reappear if there is progress in the resolution of the problem.

When all the plans depends on a plan by one entity and it turns out they have no real plan, the old empty bag syndrome comes into play.   

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

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
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
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.  

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Has BP become another example of the Peter principal at work?
 

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Based on size estimates of the plume, I'm now reading that the Exxon Valdez may have been surpassed on day one.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
 

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
BP and the Government have succeeded in turning the oil spill into a none event or a misstatement.

At this moment the Google news page doesn't have one line about the spill or response.  Talking about falling off the radar.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

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
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

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.

David

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
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.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

Thousands, Millions, whatever...

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

To paraphrase the BP boss, it's nothing compared to the size of the gulf.
I guess we don't have anything to worry about then.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
 

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

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?

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
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.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

It just seems that the weakest link in this high-pressure chain is the well casing.

RE: Rig Explosion and Fire

(OP)
"Top Kill" has been killed.  

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