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Archive for July, 2010

NT opposition questions Montara report delays; preliminary Macondo findings?

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The Federal Government is unnecessarily delaying the release of a report into last year’s Montara oil spill off Australia’s north coast, the Northern Territory Opposition says.

link

On a related note, it would be great if preliminary findings from the DOI/DHS Macondo investigation could be released as soon as possible.  There is much work to be done and all interested parties (in the US and elsewhere) need the best available information so that they can assess their programs.  Better to err on the side of releasing findings to soon with any necessary caveats and disclaimers.  In that regard, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has done a good job of making their findings available without delay.

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Posted in Uncategorized on July 11, 2010| 2 Comments »

BOE was cheering for the  Netherlands and our good friends in the State Supervision of Mines, but it was not to be.  Oh well, Rio is only 4 years away!

And how about that octupus?  Perhaps we can get that creature interested in well integrity!

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How important is deepwater Gulf production? You be the judge.

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, oil, tagged , on July 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

  1. 80% of Gulf of Mexico oil production or a quarter of total US production is from leases in greater than 1000 feet of water.
  2. Per the EIA chart above, a single deepwater Gulf platform (Thunderhorse) surpasses all but four states in oil production.  3 deepwater platforms outproduce all but 3 states.
  3. Total oil production from deepwater facilities approximates that of the State of Texas.

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BP Details Relief Well Timeline

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Notes:

  1. Click on the diagram to enlarge
  2. The 9 7/8″ liner has NOT been run yet.
  3. Note the cement bond log.  3 months too late?
  4. Step 2 is to intercept and kill the flow in the annulus.  If there is no flow inside the 7″ casing, step 2 will kill the well.  This step is scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
  5. Step 3 will be necessary to make sure the production casing is plugged, even it there is no flow inside that casing.
  6. The timeframes are understandably conservative.

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Thank you Admiral Allen

Posted in accidents, Uncategorized, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Regarding the relief wells, Development Driller III, which is the lead drilling rig for the relief wells is now at 17,780 feet measured depth, within a couple hundred feet of the proposed penetration point of the wellbore.

Admiral Allen: Thank you for reading BOE and responding to our request.  You even specified “measured depth!”

Relief Well Team:  Great work!  Time to finish the job!

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Montara Watch – Cyber Vigil Continues

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Varanus Island, Western Australia

Odd Finnestad, BOE’s Senior Vice-President for International Activities (note the recent promotion), and his talented, multi-lingual staff keep close tabs on investigations and accident reports worldwide.  Odd thinks we may be in for a long wait for the Montara report, so the BOE cyber vigil will not include any rash measures like hunger strikes.

While Australia does a great job of investigating, holding hearings, and preparing reports, they seem to struggle with the simple step of releasing those reports.  Odd reminds us that the report on the 2008 Varanus Island gas plant explosion has still not been released.  This important accident reduced Western Australia’s gas supply by one-third, and thus had major economic consequences. The Veranus report was finalized in June 2009, but maneuvering by the responsible party and legal reviews within the Western Australia Ministry for Mines and Petroleum have kept this report under wraps.  Now we are getting the same uncomfortable feeling about the Montara report.  Perhaps, Minister Ferguson will prove us wrong and release the Montara report without further delay.  We hope so!

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Acoustic switches, etc

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

  1. The big question with regard to acoustic backup systems for BOPs is whether ambient noise associated with a seafloor blowout prevents the signal from being reliably received.  The Macondo well would seem to provide an excellent opportunity for testing acoustic systems to see how effectively the signals are received under such challenging conditions.  Too late?
  2. Still no regular relief well reports, but Admiral Allen commented yesterday that they only have about 200′ to drill.  I’m assuming the 9 7/8″ liner has been set.  If all this is accurate and there are no weather or technical delays, they should be ready to intercept the well bore soon (1-2 weeks?), even with the added time for special ranging and directional surveys.
  3. Unless the relief well is delayed, it doesn’t seem to make sense to change the LMRP cap at this time.  Collection might improve somewhat with the new cap, but the well would be wide open during the change.
  4. Day 21 since the Montara report was delivered to the Ministry, and there are no recent news updates.  No interest?
  5. Very good article in Platts as the media begins to show more interest in regulatory approaches.

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Octopus Dooms Deutschland

Posted in Uncategorized on July 8, 2010| 2 Comments »

We would have had mixed feelings if Germany and the Netherlands were meeting in the final, but now that the octopus has ended Germany’s run, BOE is fully behind the Dutch.  Hup Holland Hup!

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100 degrees isn’t what it used to be

Posted in Uncategorized on July 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When I was a boy …. 🙂

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Small Request for the Unified Command

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , on July 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Those of us on the “Deepwater Response External Affairs” Mailing List received ten email updates yesterday.  Not one included relief well information. The relief well information that has been provided has been inconsistent and contradictory.

Given the importance of these wells and the apparent confusion among observers (a number of whom have contacted BOE), a daily relief well update would be appreciated, at least for the primary well.  It would be helpful if the subject line said “relief well update.”  This update should include the precise relief well depth, whether the depth is measured (total length) or true vertical, and the point of reference (e.g. below the sea floor).   A short summary of the operations over the past 24 hours would also be helpful.

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