Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
(OP)
There was an interview this morning by John Roberts on CNN, talking to Owen Kratz, the CEO of Helix Energy Solutions, the company which has just provided a ship capable of processing 60,000 barrels per day. There are some problems with having the right hardware to make the connection, and that will limit the additional capacity to 25,000 bpd, but the total capacity of the two ships will then be 50,000 bpd, and that should allow them to finally stop the flow at the bottom. According to Mr. Kratz, BP is also planning on adding additional capacity in case the flow is more than 50,000 bpd.
What I take from this is that the problem is *not* with the cap or the riser, but the capacity to process the oil at the surface. That would explain all the bogus information we have been hearing about the problems with shutting off the vents, making a better seal, etc.
My question now is - Why not get all the oil to the surface, even if they can't process it? Surely burning it will be better than letting it discharge at such great depths.
What I take from this is that the problem is *not* with the cap or the riser, but the capacity to process the oil at the surface. That would explain all the bogus information we have been hearing about the problems with shutting off the vents, making a better seal, etc.
My question now is - Why not get all the oil to the surface, even if they can't process it? Surely burning it will be better than letting it discharge at such great depths.





RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
The reasons given so far for allowing the leak to continue are:
1) Can't shut off the vents on the cap, because that will allow hydrates to form and plug the riser.
2) Can't shut off the vents on the cap, because it will raise the pressure in the well too much, risking a possible blowout of the well casings.
These reasons don't make sense because:
1) The water is kept out of the cap by a small positive pressure inside the cap. Closing the vents will raise that pressure, and make it even more difficult for water to get in.
2) The pressure just below the well head is 4400 psia. That drops to 2500 psia at the cap. Adding a few tens of psi at the cap will have no significant effect on the pressure below the wellhead.
There must be a reason. I just have no clue as to what it might be.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
I remeber posting something along these lines on one of these boards a few days ago.
Now that a proper FPSO and subsea manifold has been mobilised and installed, hopefully, all of the fluid flowing from the well can be captured.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
It may not be secret what is going on, but it is certainly being kept quiet. Reporters don't know what questions to ask, and BP seems happy to let the misinformation go uncorrected.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
OK, here is my theory. There is no technical problem with closing the vents and stopping the leak at the bottom. There is some legal or political factor at work. Someone has made a calculation that the additional few weeks of oil dumped into the Gulf will cost them less than the alternative we are discussing.
If this is true, then the Coast Guard should intervene, and tell BP to do what is right for the environment. Maybe the Coast Guard is not the right agency. They don't seem to have an engineer who can recognize BS, like what we have seen so far.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
Sounds hard? Times that by 1,000,000 and go swim down to the bottom of the gulf and shut off a bop. You have to kill the well first. It's not like your kitchen sink where we just need to get someone down there to turn a valve off.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
To re-phrase the question that is the subject of this thread: Why don't they turn those vent valves all the way OFF and push *all* the oil up the riser?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
This just doesn't make sense to me - tens of billions in extra damages that are real, and that BP will pay for, just to generate some uncertainty in the amount of a possible fine, an uncertainty that could go either way?
I guess the response to BS from BP is BS from the anti-BP crowd.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
To separate oil, gas and water at the surfacs is what PRODUCTION RIGS do. They process large quantities of hydrocarbon every day and have the safety systems to permit this. A DRILLING rig like Deepwater Horizon is not designed to do that. They are designed to allow small quantities of hydrocarbon onboard occasionally.
The production plant capacity is designated in barrels of oil per day, total liquids per day and total gas per day. The hardware to handle this varies from 1500 tonnes for small simple production to 30,000 tonnes for big, gassy production.
Since the US has only recently accepted FPSOs as a proper way of oil and gas production, there is limited capacity of mobile floating production available to help here.
That includes;
1) DISCOVERER ENTERPRISE - a drillship, with a tiny 18,000 bopd well test spread and limited probably more by gas than oil
2) tiny well test vessel TOISA PISCES
3) small capacity on Helix Q4000
4) reasonable capacity on the Helix producing vessel (60,000 bopd) but she has no storage, so needs permanent connected tanker
Personally, I think big risks are being taken with handling this oil flow at Macondo with inadequate vessels and inadequate protection against it. These would not normally be accepted.
There has alreqdy been a fire on DISCOVERER ENTERPRISE when lighning ignited a gas vent.
Lets hope there are no major accidents in all this. So many vessels close together.
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
RE: Why not collect all the oil at the bottom?
This will be a huge PR triumph, maybe enough to offset the bad PR they have been getting. Had they just installed LMRP #4, with only a rubber seal around the old flange, it would collect all the oil, but not shut off the flow up the riser. The PR would have been - Why didn't you do this weeks ago? Now, they can say - it really took all this time to design and build LMRP #10.
It all comes down to a calculation of PR impact vs cost of the additional pollution.