Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

• TKO update: BP is wise not to declare victory prematurely, but the Top Kill Operation (TKO) seems to be proceeding as planned.
• Better than a lava lamp?: I’ve heard from some people who can’t stop watching the live BOP and leakage videos.  Is this addiction treatable? 🙂
• To those suggesting a military takeover of the response: The US Coast Guard is already in charge and is doing well.  The last time I checked the Coast Guard was still part of the military.
• Why hasn’t the flow path been determined?:  There appear to have been so many well planning and construction mistakes that one can make a good argument for both backside (annular flow outside the production casing) and inside flow (up the shoe track and inside the casing).

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-The responders have successfully installed a valve on one of 3 leak points – the drill pipe protruding from the riser.

–Installation of the first pollution dome will begin today.  This is really a production system and more information on the design will presumably be forthcoming.

Discoverer Enterprise

I assume there will be some type of pipeline riser connecting the dome to the Enterprise  through the moon pool, that the rig’s tensioning system will be used to keep the riser taut, that the oil and gas will be processed on the enterprise, that the gas will be flared,  and that the oil will be stored on the rig and offloaded to a shuttle tanker.  In essence, the Enterprise will serve as a temporary FPSO.

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The Deepwater Driller III (pictured) has spudded the first relief well.

Discoverer Enterprise will support seafloor contaiment system.

While BOE’s eager but poorly managed staff struggles to keep pace, Upstream is providing excellent coverage of the well intervention, relief well, and seafloor containment system stories.  This is the news of greatest interest to our small, but highly sophisticated readership.  (For extensive coverage of news celebrities standing near the shore or bravely venturing into streamers of oil, turn your attention to the network news.)

Anyway, lots of new developments: the relief well was spudded, another rig is on the way to drill a second relief well, the seafloor containment system is ready to be transported to the site, and plans to install a second BOP stack (on top of the first) proceed.   But perhaps of greatest interest to BOE readers is the report that BP had closed the rams but did not stem the flow.  The BP spokesman suggested that the rubber portions of the rams may have been eroded and were thus unable to seal the well.   This makes sense for the pipe rams and annular preventers (although some flow reduction would still be expected), but what about the shear ram?  Was it closed?  Was it unable to cut pipe that was inside the stack?  What happened when the crew attempted to shut-in the well prior to evacuation?  When can we expect a statement from Cameron, the BOP manufacturer?

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This blowout is a national tragedy with 11 fatalities, 3 critical injuries, many lives disrupted, and a major ongoing oil spill.  Nonetheless, as with every disaster, there are some positives.  A  few come to mind:

1. 115 workers were rescued following the initial explosion.
2. The first ever deepwater oil containment and collection system is being built.  Should the responders not be able to soon stop flow from the well, this system will be deployed and evaluated.
3. An innovative and unprecedented attempt may be made to install and operate a second BOP (above the failed stack).
4. New spill cleanup options such as underwater dispersants are being studied.  The resulting data will be very useful to oil spill researchers.
5. Lessons from Macondo are likely to trigger improvements in BOP systems and well integrity assurance procedures.

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