Regarding the relief wells, Development Driller III now is at a distance of 11,641 feet below the seafloor. As you know, they’re going through a series of operations which we call ranging. They’re into their fourth cycle of this. In ranging, they withdraw the drill pipe and put down an electrical cable and actually try and sense the magnetic field around the wellbore. They are within around 15 feet of the wellbore at this point. They will continue down 700, 800 more feet, slowly close into the wellbore, and when they know they’ve got it exactly in range, know exactly where the drill pipe is in relation to the wellbore, then they will attempt to move in and drill through the wellbore and then the casing as well. At that point they’ll be in a position to be able to try the bottom kill or to be able to insert the mud, and hopefully after that, put a cement plug in that will kill the well.
Posts Tagged ‘macondo’
Relief Well Status Per Admiral Allen
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, DD3, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, oil spill, relief well, safety, well control on July 2, 2010| 1 Comment »
Relief Well Fever
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, DD3, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, relief well, well control on July 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »
DD3
BOE doesn’t really care about where LeBron James chooses to play basketball, but we are big fans of the team on the Development Driller III or DD3. The DD3 crew, some of whom are Deepwater Horizon survivors, is ahead of schedule and predictions for an early intercept and well kill are approaching irrational exuberance levels. This may be the most important well in history, and crew has responded to the challenge.
After the DD3 crew finishes the job, we owe them a victory parade in New Orleans. “Throw me somethin’ mista! 🙂
Does anyone know if this is true?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged discharge standards, EPA, macondo, oil spill on June 30, 2010| 2 Comments »
Quote from a Financial Post article:
The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn’t good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million — if water isn’t at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.
Is (was?) this EPA discharge standard being applied to water that is collected during the oil spill response operation? If so, the author’s harsh criticism is justified. Why haul mixtures that are 90% water to shore when you can separate the oil and discharge relatively clean water? Why make all those trips to shore delivering cargoes that are mostly water? A lot of the reporting on the spill has been inaccurate, so we don’t want to jump to conclusions. Can anyone confirm or refute the author’s charge?
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, international, Jane Cutler, macondo, Montara, NOPSA, offshore oil, safety, well control on June 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Interesting comments from Jane Cutler, CEO of Australia’s National Offshore Safety Petroleum Safety Authority, in NOPSA’s excellent newsletter:
The incidents in the Gulf of Mexico (Deepwater Horizon) and at the Montara wellhead platform are different in many respects, particularly in technical matters. However, they share some common factors prompting regulatory action.
I agree entirely with Ms. Cutler. International regulators and operators must work in concert to address and resolve these issues.
Updates on the relief wells
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, relief well, safety, well control on June 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
BP has released a slide presentation and animation on the relief wells showing the intercept point below the 9 7/8″ casing shoe. The exact sequence of operations once they reach the intercept point will be interesting to observe. They should encounter flow when they reach the 7″ casing annulus (assuming that is a flow path; there still seems to be some uncertainty in that regard). Will they attempt to kill the flow in the annulus before milling into the 7″ casing? Is there flow inside the 7″ casing via channels in the casing shoe? Is there drill pipe inside the casing?
More Montara and Macondo
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged 76, Australia, blowouts, BOE, Deepwater Royalty Relief Act, macondo, Montara, offshore oil on June 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
-The duration of the Montara blowout was 75 Days. Ironically, Day 76 of the Macondo blowout will be the 4th of July.
-Eleven days have elapsed since the Montara Report was presented to Minister Ferguson, who has apparently retained his cabinet position in the new government. Now that the cabinet has been settled, perhaps there will be more public clamor for the report?
-Cap Summit in DC? – According to Admiral Allen, government and industry experts will convene on Wednesday to decide whether to change the collection cap. Other designs would provide a better seal and facilitate higher recovery rates via free-standing risers, but the well would flow unabated during the changeover.
-More Macondo irony: Since the oil spilled is “avoidably lost,” royalties will presumably be due on both the oil spilled and the oil “produced” at Macondo. However, for fields in water depths greater than 800m, the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act of 1995 exempts the first 87.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from Federal royalties. Court interpretations of this poorly written legislation have determined that this relief must be applied on a lease (not field) basis, making the royalty exemption much more generous. Ironically, Kerr McGee (now part of Macondo partner Anadarko) filed the law suit that resulted in this favorable decision for industry. MMS, which has been repeatedly (and incorrectly) denounced for being “too cozy with industry,” fought hard for the less generous interpretation.
First Post-Macondo Well Control Legislation
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Blowout Prevention Act, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, macondo, oil spill, safety, well control on June 26, 2010| 1 Comment »
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has posted a discussion draft of the Blowout Prevention Act of 2010. A hearing is scheduled for 30 June.
Be very concerned about “sudden storms”
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, sudden storms on June 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Hurricane Juan - "Sudden Storm" killed 9 offshore workers in 1985
The offshore industry has an outstanding hurricane evacuation record, but the Macondo blowout adds a significant new dimension to the decision making process. Disconnect the production risers and 35,000 to 60,000 bopd flow directly into the Gulf. Suspend the relief wells and the final Macondo solution gets moved that much farther into the future.
There will be pressure to minimize the downtime and that would be a mistake. Days, not hours, will be needed to prepare for the evacuations. Decisions will have to be made well in advance of a storm’s arrival and will be based on less reliable long-term weather forecasts. If a shutdown decision is made too soon, hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of oil pour into the Gulf. If the decision is delayed, lives are threatened.
The most frightening scenarios are associated with “sudden storms” which can form in or near the Gulf and explode into hurricanes in hours, not days. The rapid formation and development of these storms precludes an orderly shutdown and evacuation process, and poses a major safety threat to workers. In 1985, nine offshore workers were killed when Hurricane Juan formed suddenly in the Gulf and personnel could not be safely evacuated.
Let’s hope that the well is brought under control before any hurricanes enter or form in the Gulf. If not, decision makers need to exercise extreme caution and shutdown operations before lives are threatened.
Interesting Comments from Admiral Allen
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, BOE, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on June 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I believe they’re going to try and intercept somewhere around between 16,700 and 17,000 feet. We will confirm that for you and put out a statement tomorrow.
Comment: I pasted that portion of the well cross-section above. It looks like the plan is to drill into the 7″ x 9 7/8″ annulus (the most likely flow path) and secure that annulus. Based on the float and casing shoe issues that have been reported, the flow could also be inside the 7″ production casing or both inside the casing and in the annulus. (Also, sealing the annulus could force flow through possible shoe channels inside the production casing). They will presumably have to drill through the 7″ casing (after the annulus has been secured?) and set a cement plug inside the casing.
They decided not to use the blowout preventer because of the uncertainty regarding the status of the wellbore and what pressure might do going down. That’s the reason they abandoned the Top Kill and the capping exercise at that point.
Comment: Admiral Allen confirms reports that the second BOP option was dropped because of downhole issues. Poor well integrity sure makes things difficult. Concerns have been raised about the strength of the 16″ casing, and possible fracture paths outside casing. If the ROV had been able to actuate the BOP and seal the well, would casing failure and formation fracturing have occurred; or are subsequent events (erosion?) the primary reason for these well integrity concerns?
Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu had a meeting last week in Washington with other industry representatives beyond BP, other oil-producing companies that are out there, and we’ve actually identified a couple of platforms that are in the area that might be capable of taking the product coming out of the wellbore through pipelines and either producing it or putting it back down into the reservoir. We’re exploring that over the next couple of days.
Comment: Yikes!
Judge Overturns Moratorium
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Deepwater Horizon, macondo, moratorium on June 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
