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Senator Nelson: The BP Well May Have Lost Structural Integrity Beneath the Sea Floor
On June 2nd, Bloomberg pointed
out:
Plugging the well is another challenge
even after BP successfully intersects it, Robert Bea, a University of
California Berkeley engineering professor, said. BP has said it
believes the well bore to be damaged, which could hamper efforts to
fill it with mud and set a concrete plug, Bea said.
Bea
is an expert in
offshore drilling and a high-level governmental
adviser concerning disasters.
On the same day, the Wall Street
Journal noted
that there might be a leak in BP's well casing 1,000 feet beneath the
sea floor:
BP PLC has concluded that its
"top-kill" attempt last week to seal its broken well in the Gulf of
Mexico may have failed due to a malfunctioning disk inside the well
about 1,000 feet below the ocean floor.
***
The broken
disk may have prevented the heavy drilling mud injected into the well
last week from getting far enough down the well to overcome the
pressure from the escaping oil and gas, people familiar with BP's
findings said. They said much of the drilling mud may also have escaped
from the well into the rock formation outside the wellbore.
Yesterday,
Senator Bill Nelson told MSNBC that he's investigating reports of oil
seeping up from additional leak points on the seafloor:
Senator
Bill Nelson (D-FL): Andrea we’re looking into something new right now,
that there’s reports of oil that’s seeping up from the seabed… which
would indicate, if that’s true, that the well casing itself is actually
pierced… underneath the seabed. So, you know, the problems could be just
enormous with what we’re facing.
Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC: Now let
me understand better what you’re saying. If that is true that it is
coming up form that seabed, even the relief well won’t be the final
solution to cap this thing. That means that we’ve got oil gushing up at
disparate places along the ocean floor.
Sen. Nelson: That is
possible, unless you get the plug down low enough, below where the pipe
would be breached.
Indeed, loss of integrity in the
well itself may explain why BP is drilling its relief wells
approximately twelve
thousand feet (and see this)
beneath the leaking pipes on the seafloor.
And prominent oil
industry insider Matt Simmons believes
that the well casing may have been destroyed when the oil rig
exploded.
On May 27th, Simmons addressed this
issue on MSNBC:
On May 26th, Simmons referred
to this again on a second appearance on MSNBC:
And he referred to it again on Bloomberg on May 28th:
And again on MSNBC
yesterday:
Other updates on the Gulf oil situation:
As McClatchy wrote
yesterday, the 100,000 barrels
may still be gushing every day from the BOP/riser itself (forget the other leaks or the potentially broken well), even after the installation of the LMRP cap:
BP's runaway Deepwater Horizon well may be spewing
what the company once-called its worst case scenario — 100,000 barrels a
day, a member of the government panel told McClatchy Monday.
"In the data I've seen, there's nothing inconsistent with BP's worst
case scenario,"Ira Leifer, an associate researcher at the Marine
Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a
member of the government's Flow Rate Technical Group, told McClatchy.
Leifer said that based on satellite data he's examined, the rate of
flow from the well has been increasing over time, especially since BP's
"top kill" effort failed last month to stanch the flow. The decision
last week to sever the well's damaged riser pipe from the its blowout
preventer in order to install a "top hat" containment device has
increased the flow still more _ far more, Leifer said, than the 20
percent that BP and the Obama administration predicted.
Leifer noted that BP had estimated before the April 20 explosion
that caused the leak that a freely flowing pipe from the well would
release 100,000 barrels of oil a day in the worst-case scenario.
The oil was not freely flowing before the top kill or before they cut
the pipe, Leifer said, but once the riser pipe was cleared, there was
little blocking the oil's rise to the top of the blowout preventer.
Video images confirm that the flow of black oil is unimpeded.
"If
the pipe behaved as a worst-case estimate you would have no visual
change in the flow, and I don't see any obvious visual change," Leifer
said. "How much larger I don't know but let's just quote BP."
How
much oil is gushing from the well has been the subject of heated debate
for weeks, with independent scientists suggesting that as much as
95,000 barrels could be gushing into the Gulf of Mexico each day. For
more than a month BP and the Obama administration placed the figure at
5,000 barrels a day.
***
Leifer, who is described in the flow
rate's preliminary report released last week as a "world reknown
researcher" who's published more than 60 scientific articles, said BP
still has not delivered the data that scientists need for an accurate
appraisal of the spill's size.
"We're still waiting," he said.
»
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liquid does not compress well. the percussion wave from the explosion, would have met too much resistance, to travel down the wellbore, against the fluid inside. the above seafloor pipe would have ruptured first. the current problems, are the result of improper procedures, recklessy irresponsible drilling schedules, and inferior equipment, and supplies.
If the explosion pressure went down the hole taking debris with it and ruptured the casing below the sea bed surface (maybe in several places), this pressure could have fractured the formation providing vents for oil escape through several areas. If there was frozen methane hydrate, the problem could be even worse. It is possible that his can not be fixed. If so, the Gulf could be destroyed for many forms of sea life for decades or a century. Living on/near the Gulf would become history. The possible implications of the impact for the US and Mexico are daunting. The National disaster of health and the economics need to be prepared for now,. rather than the shuck and jive of the Obama crew. The public for once seems to be ahead of its leadership. Housing prices in Florida are way off song (again) and it was reported that Texas and Phoenix are the focus of shift.
This can not be ignored until after the November elections. The impacted states need to be designated disaster areas and ecological engineering and financial assets need to be started for the draconian events ahead of us.
OH, Bill Nelson, the senator from Florida that voted AGAINST Ron Paul's version of the Audit The Fed bill. You, sir, have NO credibility with me and are unfit to represent the People of this country. Yea, like you are going to do alot about the "spill"...... (oops, I "spilled" something).
Lies and collusion from the very start.
Best thing to do would be placing 50 deepsea oil rigs over the oil field, drill into the oil field and pump it dry as fast as they can.
1. Pressure will go down
2. Oil will be sucked out in 6 months max.
And they will money doing it.
Why not? That's about the ammount of idle oil rigs.
oil on water = no hurricaines?
Hurricanes are caused by big temperature differences (as are all weather systems). Oil isn't likely going to change this, much (any reduction due to lower density is likely going to be made up for by its darker color [absorb more heat]).
i think moisture content of air is an important factor
regarding the airs capacity to hold energy and interact
with other air / weather. so will oil "significantly" alter
evaporation from the surface of the contaminated areas?
probably not, but the rain may be partially combustible.
which reminds me of this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqxq6xqoXI&feature=fvw
.
[absorb more heat} greater evaporation, more energy in the atmosphere.
i think moisture content of air is an important factor
regarding the airs capacity to hold energy and interact
with other air / weather. so will oil "significantly" alter
evaporation from the surface of the contaminated areas?
probably not, but the rain may be partially combustible.
which reminds me of this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqxq6xqoXI&feature=fvw
.
[absorb more heat} greater evaporation, more energy in the atmosphere.
It's always been a given that the well was compromised well below the seafloor. This was always the problem; it's what blew up into the blowout preventer and monkeystomped it.
The deep relief wells will solve this problem. Once they can handle more than 15,000 bpd on the surface, they'll pretty much have this spill managed until those relief wells are completed. They'll be able to handle more than 15,000 bpd pretty soon.
The situation looks positive on getting a handle on the leak. Not complete, but positive. We are in so much better shape than we were a few weeks ago on that end of it. Reason exists for hope.
Dealing with what's already been split, though, is a nightmare. On this front the damage has not fully come ashore yet so we're still in the posture of bracing for the what's still out there but coming our way.
Reason does exist for hope, however. Take all the dire predictions with a grain of salt. Yes, it's very bad, but worse spills have happened even in the Gulf. I fully expect to be eating magnificent, huge mudpie oysters while I'm ogling tittehs at Mardi Gras 5 years from now. I hope you'll be there with me, especially if you have tittehs, because it's going to be fun. And, it will happen.
Okay, exactly WTF do we have a govt for? We don't have or can't hire our own independent deep-water subs/robots to investigate what the hell is going on/ Why don't we have a watchdog group whose whole point is to make their own observations and conclusions regarding BPs efforts.
Okay...yeah...I know...I'm assuming some in the govt already know what the hell is going on...so just freaking tell us...its not like hiding is doing any good for any on except BP who apparently think its in the interest to lie about amount of oil. We can handle the truth, in fact the truth would be quite helpful for us to determine how to handle this.
Get the military, get FEMA (even people in LA say FEMA did get better with time and is one of few agencies that can handle the scale of this problem). Get all the scientists we can muster. Get unemployed people in the empty tourist hotels, cleaning, providing grunt work to trained workers etc..
I don't care if Obama acts like a heartless sociopath or the Hulk...I just plain want to see our govt doing things to help people hurt by this, providing checks on BP activities, protecting the coasts, making sure there is transparency in regards to state of our oceans, coasts, well head, and in any legal way, making BP pay up now, not after 20 years of litigation
At what point does Obama say to BP it either stops leaking by X day or we are marshalling not only the rig, and the ships and the clean up effort, but 50% of your gas stations as well.
Think the market would like that? That would throw a wrench in the break up and sell plans that so many I-Bankers have been working on these last few days.
Anyone buying gasoline from a BP station should have sugar dumped in their tank . No undiverse reference meant .
That might let BP off easy!
But... it would also open up big attacks (some warranted, some not) on US corporations operating abroad, and This is THE reason why the US govt is so passive about this. Really, think about it- US corporations don't want to be subjected to increased foreign govt pressure; and besides, watching one of your main competitors get eaten alive in court (for damages) w/o govt interference is, well, you start to get the picture for why people are sitting on their hands...
Kaaa
Booo
ki!
Theatrical form where the absurd is used as a meaningful, but absurd, representation of the real.
What is real? Hmmmmmmmmmm.........
This is the confluence of major tipping points.
A flatulent confluent!
The fractal nature of compound interest, see my drift? Everyone thought Einstein was talking about money.
Meanwhile, he knew what he was thinking, relatively speaking!
Funny how Matt Simmons has been pushing his "Peak Oil" theory...
And yet we have a huge gusher, out of control, which if captured, could probably singlehandedly supply the U.S. with plenty of oil the next 20 years.
LOL....
The U.S. consumes close to 20 million barrels per day, there is no way the Gulf Of Mexico can come any where close to those flow rates.
Another strong evidence people do not figure out how the environment has been tapped for the last six decades...
Thinking that a single oil field leaking for six months or even one year (have not followed this story much, world cup coming and stuff) could meet the US demands for the next 20 years...
Incredible. Some people have no idea about the magnitude of the consumption. Not even an idea of a magnitude order.
Speaking of blindness...
Twilight in the Desert is about the peak of Ghawar and the overall outlook for KSA.
Over the years, though, he's fallen more into the "global peak" camp. There's not enough evidence to support those claims, however...
Also, I think he neglects to consider the possibility that the reserves numbers are manipulated upwards AND downwards. Governments lie!
What?
OPEC's output is based on its reserve sizes. Even BEFORE Simmons' book people we showing how OPEC jacked up their estimates so that they could pump MORE oil!
Let us NOT forget that OPEC largely exists because of US influence: to increase stability (which, is good in theory) It's a Texas Railroad Commission at a slightly larger scale...
It is starting to look like BP has nationalized the Obama Administratoin insead of the other way around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdwpFdpjVg&feature=related
This TV news crew was stopped from getting out to South Pass to film the oil coming on shore by a BP cotractor crew and hired mercinaries from the Coast Guard.
Law enforcement, just like government at every level only works to protect the interests of the TETF institutions. Government, be it (R) or (D) acts just as the fictional high Sheriff of Nottingham and could care less about "those filthy, lazy Saxons" now known as American citizens whose only real task, just as in the fictional day of Prince John is to till the land and pay the tax. The present day TETF corporations and the governments they control will bleed the country side dry all the while peddling an illusion that their efforts are solely to maintain lawful rule and save the realm from the ravages of blackmail.
Working under orders given by BP. If you violate them do they send you to see the BP judge and put you in BP jail?
BP should just hire Blackwater... err Xe... to handle security. That would keep the curious away!
the only piece of this that seems unlikely is the well casing being damaged 7,000 ft down into the bore, which is where the relief wells are targeting. while the casing may be damaged near sea floor, it's unlikely blowout would damage casing closer to reservoir. in that case, relief wells still likely able to cap. that said, they should be drilling 3 wells, not 2, to increase odds.
The BP Well May Have Lost Structural Integrity Beneath the Sea Floor
This was an original theory when they started the “top kill” operation. They were very tentative with pumping the “mud,” it seems when they started adding up all the pressures and flows they realized that the well casing below the sea floor had some problems and could not withstand the pressure if plugged above the floor. That is why they backed off and tried this “top hat” approach, it puts less pressure on the structure below the sea floor. These structural issues may have been due to a lousy job with the original well installation (cement and rings), the explosion or both.
We will see, but it would not be too surprising to see this all come out at a later date. Their hope is to be able to plug the well pretty deep with the relief well approach. In the end, depending on the damage etc, they may never completely plug this thing. Hope not.
Most of this is on The Oil Drum, if you can get around all the junk posters there.
sschu
Darcy becomes important. If the well was in hard stone, such as granite with low permeability (Darcy), we would be in better shape. But,in alluvial deposits, with higher Darcy, it is more likely that the oil will escape and find its way to teh surface outside the well. Not good.
Thre are two major tasks. BP owns the task of capping the well, and the government can only help. The US and states own the problem of cleaning up oil on the coast. A better leader would have brought hundreds of thousands of folks with booms, rags, and othe cleaning stuff so all oil that hits the coast gets picked up right away. The govenment failed in this task completely.
Same as Katerina. The government failure was its inability to get folks away from New Orleans and away to safety. Its second problem was to finance reconstruction of some of the destroyed housing, and declare the most dangerous as commercial, industrial only.
Keating - the geologists at The Oil Drum have some idea, but no details.
They're talking about doing a FOIA request ...
That will go the same route as BBG's Fed request. Remember George, BP is an TETF institution, just like the fed and its private shareholders. Perhaps in two or three years there may be a court hearing on these requests as well. No wonder the administration and BP don't give a fuck. No check or balance worthy of the concept. The case will be assigned to "Judge" Jed Rakoff who will rule that BP is a private individual and not subject to FOIA.....
I wonder why the local authorities are not issuing littering citations for each clump of oil and dispersant that arrives on shore within their jurisdictions? This looks like the rack 'em up citation potential could go a long way in making up for lost tax revenues from the spill itself.
Hey there Smiles. I concur with your assessments here. BP is extremely well connected and remember the outcome of the $5 billion fine in the Exxon Valdez spill in the Supreme Court... 10 cents on the dollar 15 years later. This will see it's day in court long after the memories of the disaster have faded...
BP was involved with the Valdez spill too!
From http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/25/national/main6516877.shtml
Since a busted oil well began spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico a month ago, the catastrophe has constantly been measured against the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. The Alaska spill leaked nearly 11 million gallons of crude, killed countless wildlife and tarnished the owner of the damaged tanker, Exxon.
Yet the leader of botched containment efforts in the critical hours after the tanker ran aground wasn't Exxon Mobil Corp. It was BP PLC, the same firm now fighting to plug the Gulf leak.
BP owned a controlling interest in the Alaska oil industry consortium that was required to write a cleanup plan and respond to the spill two decades ago. It also supplied the top executive of the consortium, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Lawsuits and investigations that followed the Valdez disaster blamed both Exxon and Alyeska for a response that was bungled on many levels.
People who had a front row seat to the Alaska spill tell The Associated Press that BP's actions in the Gulf suggest it hasn't changed much at all.
---
I suspect that the memories of this epic fail will never be forgotten by many. As the GoM becomes the Gulf of Obama. Gulf of Obama or GOO, you heard it here first.
Ha! I hear that the president of Mexico is considering a public request to change the name to the "Gulf of America"... it's a tourism loss mitigation thing... :)
(Has a nice ring dontcha think? :)
Gulf of Obama. GOO:
Perhaps the President of Mexico may have the means to really attach a lable to Obama... The ultimate GOO. Just imagine if this were the age of Jheri Curl..
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=goo
GOO = sludge: any thick, viscous matter
OK OK... I see I can't move you on this point... perhaps a compromise for both?
"Gulf of Obamanation" ?
Let's put the blame where it deserves to be. Blame the MMS, British Petroleum, and the party that loves deregulation to a fault. I just can't get behind GOO.
The new name is the GOP, not GOO. It's called the Gulf of Petroleum--what a grand old party, indeed.Ya... I don't know Mr. Beale... GOP has kinda been taken already.
Since BP will claim that the initial blowout was an unforeseen act of God... how about GOG? That should be popular with the bible crowd down there.
heh. And I understand you completely Howard and cool cat.
For me the whole R-D thing is two sides of the same coin. Perhaps a compromise is in order. Dick's - GOO?
Just like our last compromise Howard, I still think we should dress 'em all up in those white jump suits, boots, gloves, hard hat & reflective vest like in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9bS1dE0ps8
How do they figure what BP did with this stupid cap fixed anything? These stupid reporters keep saying this over and over. The damn oil is spewing even faster now according to several reports I have read. The American people are so damn gullible, they believe any freaking thing they are told by this stupid ass government. GOD, people wake the F**K UP!
they believe what they see and here on tv. try this one from cnn on jeff's site. incredible.
http://www.bullionbullscanada.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=122&func=view&catid=6&id=652
Yo!
JK
Think about it son.
If they stop this leak 100% that you keep looking at on TV how will they explain the 2 other leak locations.
In other words :
How can they make the Satelittes hovering overhead see Nuttin ? (light goes "ON" in JK's head)
See ((O-O))
Here I found one of the other 2 leaks for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWHLrcxLVkg
Thats why I say they will always have some kind of leak at this location that you can watch on TV until the relief wells are complete.
I love America !
Its all about the Drama !
American's question authority? Are you mad?! This is BP you're talking about here. Do you really think an honest hardworking corporation - a corporation that pays taxes and doesn't live on welfare - do you think a corporate leader would intentionally mislead the American people?! This is crazy liberal talk!
Let me see. I don't live anywhere near the Gulf or the Atlantic (check). I don't have any kids (check). I've only got 30 years left to live (check). I don't give a rat's ass about the future of the greatest country in the entire whole-wide universe (check). I don't give a rat's ass about God's favorate country (check).
Ok. I don't care about it.
Dont understand how this comment got flagged.
Maybe because it involved God's favourite country.
Because that is the attitude most US citizens have in regard with the rest of the world.
At least, one US citizen who treats equally...
WOW! How did you manage to set a date with death 30 years out?
loving the simmons Mao hairdo
Here is another link covering this story
http://dailypaul.com/node/137042
we the people have to take control sooner rather than later...these scum will keep looting and stealing until someone cuts their hands off..they are programmed this way....
Don't like what you're seeing, then quit consuming their products!
Time for people to look into the mirror...
McClatchy is now a credible source ?
they are consistently credible.
On another note, this explains why they shit on James Cameron's plate. The last thing those guys want is for 'outside eyes' down there until they can get the relief wells drilled and hopefully neutralize all of the pressure.