Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Gulf of Mexico, Jay Grimes, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, oil weathering, oil-eating bacteria on July 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »
oil-eating bacteria
“When a large amount of oil comes into the environment, then they quickly muster, if you will, and they can sometimes grow to 1,000-fold,” said Jay Grimes, a professor of microbiology at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged macondo, offshore oil, oil spill on July 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
“For southern Florida, the Florida Keys, and the Eastern Seaboard, the coast remains clear,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “With the flow stopped and the loop current a considerable distance away, the light sheen remaining on the Gulf’s surface will continue to biodegrade and disperse, but will not travel far.”
The scare is over, return to your stations and enjoy the sunsets.
Dr. Lubachenco’s announcement is no surprise to the savvy readers of this obscure blog, but it’s nonetheless good to hear the official word. Don’t expect any apologies from the fear mongers who predicted that the loop current superhighway would carry oil to east coast beaches as early as the first week of May or from the media folks who were eager to report the pending doom.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, Tony Hayward on July 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It’s much too soon to make a call, but the early data seem to favor A. The Telegraph and Time have posted interesting articles on this topic.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Bayou St. Denis, blowouts, Lousiana, safety, well control on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
CEDYCO Inc. of Houston owns the wellhead, but the company declared it “orphaned” under the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources “orphaned well” program in 2008.
That program allows companies to abdicate some responsibility for the well and gives the state permission to plug it and prepare the site for redevelopment.
Comments:
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, fire, firefighting, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, safety, well control on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Fighting Deepwater Horizon Fire
This question is receiving a lot of attention since the topic was discussed at the Department of the Interior – Coast Guard investigation.
To the best of my knowledge, this concern was first raised by a one of our very smart and experienced contributors, Dr. Malcolm Sharples, who did not wish to be identified at the time. Malcolm is now comfortable being identified, and I thought I would draw attention to his insightful comment. See item 3 in this 30 April post.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, safety, well control on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
As promised in “Deepwater is Not the Problem,” comparative performance data for surface and seafloor BOPs follow. Every study and informal review that I have seen has indicated that subsea BOPs are more reliable than surface BOPs. These data are not surprising. Because of the time and cost involved in pulling and repairing subsea stacks, preventive maintenance programs tend to be more comprehensive.
The studies cited below were completed 10+ years ago, but to the best of my knowledge the conclusions are still valid. If there are any more recent studies, BOE would like to hear about them.
Recent data indicate surface BOP reliability is only one-tenth that of subsea BOP equipment.
Subsea BOPs have smaller failure rate than surface BOPs.
SINTEF study: This study is limited to seafloor stacks, and shows there is no difference between failure rates for deepwater and ultra-deepwater wells.
(For wells in >400 m WD) It seems that there is no correlation at all between the failure rate and the downtime related to the water depth.
Sintef Subsea BOP Reliability Study (click to enlarge)
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, oil weathering, SINTEF on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than anyone expected, a piece of good news that raises tricky new questions about how fast the government should scale back its response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
A very good article in the New York Times confirms what experienced oil spill observers expected – oil from the Macondo spill is disappearing rapidly as a result of natural processes (see SINTEF diagram below). While marsh and coastal damage could be significant, more oil from Macondo shouldn’t add to those problems.
SINTEF Weathering Diagram
Posted in Uncategorized on July 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Per the transcript:
Morning Admiral. My question is did you receive my documentation that indicates that possibly a nuclear submarine had ran into the drill shaft and caused this explosion?
No, but the ROVs discovered an advanced alien society on the seafloor.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents on July 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Does the well have a subsurface safety valve?
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, BOE, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Montara, offshore oil, oil spill, relief well, safety, well control, well integrity test on July 27, 2010| 1 Comment »
Water depth is just one well planning consideration. Abnormal pressures and temperatures, shallow gas, hydrogen sulfide, ice, permafrost, storms, currents, extended reach targets, and horizontal completions are some of the others. To prevent another Macondo, in the US or anywhere else in the world, we need to focus our attention on the 3 categories of issues listed below. These issues are important in all water depths and in all environments.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 