Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Montara, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on May 26, 2010| 1 Comment »
Also, per yesterday’s Top Kill technical briefing the flow path from the reservoir has still not been determined. While the consensus among informed observers seemed to be that the flow was outside the production casing, information in the BP memo suggests a possible shoe failure. The float collar issues (see BP memo) are eerily Montara-esque.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, top kill, well control on May 25, 2010| 1 Comment »
Not to put any more pressure on the Top Kill Team, who must already feel the weight of columns of 17 ppg mud on their shoulders, but this has to be the most significant well control operation in history. No BOE reader needs to be reminded of the environmental, economic, social, resource policy,and political importance of this operation. In Washington, where drilling experts are now plentiful, all eyes are on an operation deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
This will be a dynamic kill – the flow of drilling mud entering the well has to overcome the flow of oil and gas exiting – flow vs. flow, density vs. density, pressure vs. pressure. Can the mud stay ahead long enough to kill the well? Will the injection equipment perform as designed? Does the well have sufficient integrity to withstand the pressure? We’ll know soon. It’s time.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Key West, macondo, offshore oil, safety, well control on May 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I have been too busy to do much blogging, but thought I would share some thoughts from the past week:
Media vacates Margaritaville
– Margarita consumption declines on Key West: Now that Federal scientists have determined that the Key West tar is NOT related to the Macondo blowout, the TV networks have ended their brave beach monitoring vigil on the island. I have volunteered to man the vacated outpost pictured to the left. Tough duty, but somebody has to do it! Cheers!
–Heard on the local news in Norfolk, VA: The slick has entered the Loop Current superhighway and Virginia Beach is in imminent danger. (I am not making this up!) By the way, when will we hear again from the “experts” who predicted that oil would arrive on Florida East Coast beaches 3 weeks ago?
–A Tale of Two Spills: Listen to the concerned but rational speakers at the daily Unified Command briefings; then tune-in to the evening news. You would think they were talking about entirely different events. Excellent work by the Unified Command, but we could do without the spam-like emails that track every move of the agency chiefs.
–How many times can you throw 1700 people under the bus? May we suggest a temporary moratorium on the MMS bashing? Does it make sense to at least find out what happened and why before demonizing a Federal agency and everyone who works for it? It’s amazing how much so many people suddenly know about oil and gas operations and how they should be regulated. We could have used their help for the past 30-years when the cameras were directed elsewhere.
Back to the Future: James Watt, perhaps the most controversial Secretary of the Interior in history, was best known for his attempts to accelerate resource development on Federal lands and for banning the Beach Boys (too vulgar :)) from Independence Day concerts on the National Mall. The Beach Boys decision was reversed after Nancy Reagan intervened, and the aggressive land use policies backfired in a big way. Watt’s personality and policies galvanized environmental opposition and led to 25 years of moratoria on most OCS exploration and development.
Less well known is Secretary Watt’s 1982 decision to form the MMS in response to concerns about royalty collection practices. Prior to the creation of MMS, the OCS regulatory functions were in the Conservation Division of the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the leasing program was in the Bureau of Land Management. 
The decision to once again split these functions, which I have long supported, recognizes the importance of function-based management and independent regulators. Rest in Peace MMS. The realignment will be better for the OCS program, the employees, the public, and the regulated industry.
–Macondo well flow rate exceeds national consumption: When this well is finally brought under control, there will be no need for oil imports. While I am of course exaggerating, the spill-rate speculation is as out-of-control as the well. Fortunately, Admiral Allen has promised an official estimate from the Unified Command. Hopefully, this estimate will include a list of assumptions and an uncertainty range.
-Lastly, beware of speakers who start by saying, “I’ll be brief.” 🙂
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged macondo, oil spill on May 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
-Pacman like oil-eaters (don’t let these buggers loose in your crankcase!)
-Super-sorbents that soak up oil and convert it to an edible substance that makes you younger and better looking!
-Skimming systems that recovered 85% of the oil during the mysterious XYZ spill
To the hucksters: Show us the data!
To the media: Spend more time talking to the oil spill response professionals in the Coast Guard, MMS, NOAA, and EPA, and less time helping people promote themselves and their products.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, House Energy and Commerce, macondo, offshore oil, ohmsett, oil spill, safety, Senate Energy and Natural Resources, well control on May 12, 2010| 5 Comments »
I haven’t posted recently for a variety of reasons, but I see that folks are still visiting the blog. Thanks for checking-in. For those who are formulating their own views about what really happened and why, the documents at the House Energy and Commerce Committee site are mandatory reading.
Also, many thanks to those who have asked about my testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. My statement is here. Kudos to Chairman Bingaman and the very capable committee staff for their thoughtful and professional approach to these hearings.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Macondome, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on May 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
"Macondome" Pollution Containment Chamber
Assuming well intervention efforts continue to be unsuccessful, the next big milestone will be the installation of the subsea containment dome and the floating production system that will support it. We should know a lot more in one to two weeks. Schematics of the subsea, riser, and surface arrangements would be useful for those of us watching at home.
Relief Wells
From the BP relief well schematic, it appears that both wells will have the same target, so the 2-well program is solely for the purpose of killing the well as soon as possible. No information has been provided as to whether the flow is thought to be originating at the production casing shoe or in the annulus surrounding the casing.
Subsea Dispersant Injection System
BP is reporting good results with the seafloor dispersant system.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, turtles, well control on May 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Based on careful examination, NOAA scientists do not believe that these sea turtle strandings are related to the oil spill. NOAA and its partners have conducted 10 necropsies so far – none of ten turtles showed evidence of oil, externally or internally. ~Barbara Schroeder, NOAA national sea turtle coordinator.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Ixtoc, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, sombrere, well control on May 5, 2010| 2 Comments »
On June 3, 1979, a rig drilling off Mexico on a prospect called Ixtoc experienced a severe blowout. Oil was soon washing up on south Texas beaches. Brown and Root, the offshore drilling and supply company, improvised a device they called the sombrero. It was a funnel, or hat-shaped device, which was lowered over the runaway well. The floating oil would enter at the bottom and be funneled up the device to the surface where it was pumped into a floating tanker. The idea was good but apparently the design was not quite right. It did not capture all the oil.
Having heard about BP’s seafloor collection system, which Upstream has dubbed Macondome I :), long-time friend and leading marine scientist Gene Shinn sent me this excerpt from his memoirs. Gene talks about Dr. Jerry Milgram’s research in the wake of the Ixtoc blowout. Check it out here. Gene’s comment about Dr. Milgram’s mad genius is spot-on. Dr. Milgram was also a designer of America’s Cup boats. Hopefully the Mocondome designers contacted Jerry for his wisdom.
At first Gerry seemed to be a stereotype of the absent-minded egghead professor from a prestigious university. I really wondered if any of this would work. Boy was I surprised! That man could handle a welding torch one minute and operate a sophisticated spectrometer the next. At the same time, he was making complex calculations in his head. I was greatly impressed.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on May 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
-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.
Posted in accidents, Norway, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, PSA on May 4, 2010| 4 Comments »
The tragic events on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico have attracted great international attention, and have also promoted a flood of questions to the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA).
The PSA Norway has issued a statement on the Horizon incident, and has appropriately avoided responding to the “can it happen here?” question. Their interest and support are greatly appreciated.
