Top kill procedure to cut off gushing oil well supposedly under way .

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phat_J
  • Start date Start date
Thats what the reports are saying . That would be a normal size for a choke and kill line.
 
The live feed is still showing a LOT of flow but seems to be mud. They are probally still pumping mud just to make sure it stays dead
 
Many of the world's brightest minds work in the oilfield.

What BP needs to do though, is stop being so damn tight lipped about it and let more companies help out.
 
I'm currently working on location for kinder Morgan in north Dayton. If I'm not mistaken we had a member here that worked at that same plant for a while. I don't see him posting anymore. Was it big country?
 
If you're such a scientist then you should easily understand my comment about the pressure of the sealant having to be greater than the oil coming out.
 
The top kill really never had a chance to work IMO. The proper thing to do from the beginning was cut the riser off, stop dicking with collecting 2000 b/d from your bullshit riser insertion tool and stab into the fucking BOP.

You've got a reference pressure at the wellhead of 2,200 psi where your seawater and well fluids have to be at the same pressure, a reservoir at 13,500 psi and a (best case for most pressure loss) wellbore full of water (5850 psi). 13500 - 2200-5850 = 8000 That's 5,000 psi that is being dropped across something. Where is that choke at and what is the gradient up to that depth? These are HUGE issues. If the choke is close to surface, you have near reservoir pressure at surface, which you will not be able to pump into the well without a giant surface pressure which you probably won't get with that leaky riser. They are probably just pumping drilling mud into the ocean.

Example:

13500 psi reservoir
Well choked at 10000 ft
Well full of water

13500 - .45(18000-10000) = 9900 psi at 10000 ft (probably higher because the well is probably not full of water)

5000 ft of 16ppg mud = 4100 psi

9900-4100 = 5800psi surface injection pressure to inject into the well. Is that pressure being created in the BOP even with the seawater? I don't think so.
 
They're going to kill the well either way when they finish drilling the relief wells. They can always drill a new well into this reservoir. I really can't imagine that the PR nightmare and cost of cleanup is worth trying to save the bit of oil that they would from the top hat.

More than anything, the dome and top hat are quick solutions that reduce the flow into the Gulf and buy time for engineering. What they're trying has never been done before at 5000ft below sea level. It's been done at the surface in the Middle East, but accounting for hydrate formation from the methane, current, temperature, pressure, and all of the other variables present at that depth make this one hell of an engineering task.
 
basically yes. The stuff they have now is probably thicker and heavier but basically the same.

anyone know exactly where this video is showing in relation to the wellhead/stack? I wish they would zoom out so we can see what the fuck it is we are looking at.
 
I still would have cut the riser pipe off and stacked a second BOP or done a flexible riser. Oh well.

The people who have worked with BP before realizes how hard it is to work with them when they have to make a decision. LOL
 
Yeah I don't get how they thought the mud would plug the huge holes and not escape into the sea like the oil either. This doesn't seem to be a good plan, but in the end they probably know more about the situation than we do.
 
the only good that can come out of this is maybe people will stop listening to the stupid hippies saying nuclear power is too dangerous
 
Back
Top