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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phat_J
  • Start date Start date
hypothetical-we napalm the ocean and simply burn it all.
we'll accidentally the atmosphere, but who cares?
 
Cliff notes:

When you drill, you are fighting the pressure of the oil/gasses under the surface. To help equalize the area that is tapped (Drilled into), mud is injected into the well to help keep it steady.

A pressure kick can happen which is just when a bubble of pressure comes up near the well head and puts more pressure on the BOP (Blow out preventer). The BOP allows the guys up top to inject more brine or mud to mitigate and bring the kick down to a controllable pressure.

once the well is stable, concrete is injected into the well to "cap" it off. once that seats and seals, they can back off a bit to test it to see if it holds. Most times, the first pour does not seal, so a squeeze is put on and more stuff is injected.

A second pour occurs and if all goes well, it holds and everything is removed. Boom, a well is now capped off and they know it produces....

that allows BP to come back later and re-tap and open valves for it to produce.
 
I do, which is why I said that you have no idea how this procedure is working. You probably think that the "mud" they're using is dirt+water.
 
I never put stickers on my hard hat. My BP Thunderhawk stuff is stuck on my walls in my old cubicle. LOL
 
not sure what it was, but its not anywhere close to 45k. not possible.
typical formation pressure is hydrostatic...exerted by column of water... so .5psi for every ft. so if youre a mile down then 3000psi. if the fluids are trapped by a sealing layer (depends on rate of compaction/burial over overlying rock) they develop slightly higher pressure.

pressure is controlled by drilling fluid ("mud"). typically specific gravity of muds are only 1.2...1.3... a kick is an event when ur fluids (that u pump down) are not dense enough and the fluids from the formation "kick" back into the borehole. when they anticipate this they increase mud weight to maybe 1.6....1.8. its never THAT overpressured down there
 
Mud is being injected, which is heavier than the water/oil. It is getting pushed around and making the camera all cloudy.
 
It shouldnt take more than a couple hours to displace, then they will probably hold the pressure to see if the mud is holding the gases/oil down. Then they will displace with cement. Pumping the cement will probably take a couple hours depending on rates/pressures etc like someone else said.

I'm curious how they managed to get high pressure connections hooked up to that BOP stack, and how they plan on controlling flow out of the top of the BOP's.
 
Well then i'd STFU and learn once youre on board.

Is that some sort of rotational program?
 
You are talking about splitting the stack and taking of the LMRP right? I bet they are leaving it on there because it seems the riser is kinked and that is the only thing slowing the flow of oil from the top of the stack.
 
I have no idea. When I started the thread, you would have been seeing oil gushing out of a pipe. This might be a portion of the BOP.
 
I do, which is why I said that you have no idea how this procedure is working. You probably think that the "mud" they're using is dirt+water.
 
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