BP's Final "Top Kill" Procedure For Gulf Oil Spill 593
eldavojohn writes "So far every attempted fix has resulted in failure to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with the exception of the riser insertion method that appears to be little more than a mile-long tube sucking up oil. After attempting many options to allow the continued collection of crude oil, BP is finally considering a 'top kill' option that will kill the well. A vessel at the surface will use 30,000 horsepower pumps to slam kill mud and clay into the well's bent riser, allowing them to cap the well off with two relief wells (which won't be ready for several months). If that fails, the vessel will move on to a 'junk shot' that involves spewing larger debris like shredded rubber and golf balls into the lines to gum up the flow and stop it. Government officials acknowledge that while this may provide a solution, it may also worsen the situation if the resulting pressure causes the lines to blow or fail at other points. While this is likely one of the worst environmental disasters to hit the gulf, BP's debacle has caused Shell to pre-build cofferdams into seven wells that it is currently drilling in the gulf. These would drop into place in the event of such a catastrophic failure of a riser under the well."
2 things (Score:4, Interesting)
2) Good on Shell for being proactive, to bad it took a major disaster to get a more comprehensive disaster plan.
Streamlines and Bottles (Score:2, Interesting)
I understand they are a business, but dammit if they didn't do everything in their power to eek money out of it, even after it was deemed a catastrophe. Yes, I understand they are an oil company and that killing the well is your least favorite option because it doesn't make your money, but well, I believe intentions are a bit 'questionable' at best when it comes to the order of control methodologies.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:5, Interesting)
True, though why did we allow them a month of spilling millions of gallons of oil into the bay while attempting to save the well in a way that it could be re-used? Maybe I'm just old and jaded, but rescuing the bay should have been priority 1 over rescuing the financial investment.
Also, shrimp has been terrible for the past month. Thanks, BP!
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:5, Interesting)
From what I can tell, there are hugely involved and expensive processes in place to prevent this sort of disaster.
In the last three months of 2009, BP posted $3.45 billion in profits [bbc.co.uk]. That isn't gross income, that's PROFIT.
I think they can afford a few million to make sure their shit is set up correctly and safely.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:4, Interesting)
From the early days of the disaster, BP has (I think) said they were going to permanently cap the well with "concrete" via the relief wells. They started drilling the first relief well very quickly - I was surprised how soon they had a drill rig out there, those things aren't stocked on the shelf at WalMart.
Not a simple problem (Score:5, Interesting)
With the pressures and temperatures involved this is actually a very difficult problem to solve.
You can't just put a cork in the damaged pipes - the pressures are on the scale of being unbelivable. I believe it is around 150,000 PSI. Virtually nothing is going to withstand that sort of pressure without a lot of help.
Similarly, I keep seeing posts about how TransOcean should have "fixed" the blowout preventer when it was apparent that some seals were breaking down. Or when one of the redundant controllers failed. The problem is, it was a mile underwater. I do not believe anyone in the area had a means of working at that depth. Also, you can't just turn a valve under the blowout preventer - it is pretty much the bottom valve. So replacing this isn't an option - you are pretty much stuck with it unless you are prepared to do something drastic.
On land, you could (possibly) remove everything from the well head and accept the massive leak that would occur. I do not believe there are many land-based wells where the outflow pressure is anywhere near 150,000 PSI. So changing the blowout preventor is nasty, going to spew oil everywhere but is at least possible. At 5000+ feet of water and with the entire Gulf squeezing the oil out through that pipe changing the blowout preventer is simply not possible.
You folks do understand that the weight of the water above the well is what is causing this problem, right?
Another silly point people seem to be hung up on is that BP is working on this and the government isn't. Well, the government as a regulator has some involvement but about all they can do is make rules. There is no government oil well rescue service. The facilities do not exist within the US government, and probably for good reason - it doesn't happen all that much. The US could, I suppose, nationalize BP because of this. The problem with that idea is that a lot of other companies, oil and otherwise, would take this as an immediate indication that any US presence was no longer safe. The same thing happened in a lot of Central and South American countries upon nationalizing companies. The reason a lot of companies are in the US is because it is convenient to be close to a large market and a well educated labor force. Make noises like assets aren't safe from being nationalized and a lot of companies will take their assets elsewhere.
You folks also understand that this well is in international waters, right? The US can drill there or any other country. The US has attempted to claim 200 mile nautical boundaries before, but that is pretty much a joke today. The fact that the oil is there means it will be taken out by someone. We get to choose whether it is the US or someone else. I'd say Venezuela or Mexico are likely candidates if we abandon drilling in the Gulf. At this point I would say complete abandonment of US offshore drilling is likely, regardless of the economic consequences.
Petroleum "engineering"... (Score:4, Interesting)
...is something of a misnomer. A lot of what passes for "engineering" is actually processes proven empirically, through years of experience, rather than grounded in solid theory. Petroleum engineering is taught based upon what has worked for 80+ years. And petroleum engineers sit in office cubicles, not the rigs. Rigs are supervised by workers who are very experienced at what they do, but really have no way to handle situations "outside the box" because there isn't a drilling manual to consult when things go wrong. Rig workers depend upon the initial calculations of the engineers, and their own experiences of successful drilling operations. I suspect things on the BP rig happened so quickly, and were so outside the norm of crew experience, that there wasn't much chance of recovery. Like they used to teach us in the oilfield, if the mud comes out of the hole, you've got a problem. If the mud disappears in the hole, just wait: you've got an even bigger problem.
And yes, IAAPE.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed. But when the process that was certified does meet the industry best practices (such as acoustic triggers), there is a problem with the certification.
Re:Corporatism (Score:3, Interesting)
As someone else pointed out above, it seems the well was damaged weeks before the explosion - and it was the explosion safety equipment that was damaged. Despite this, TransOcean (working for BP), decided to carry on with the drilling.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7129225.ece [timesonline.co.uk]
If this is true, then BP is to blame for not watching over TransOcean sufficiently but TransOcean should be charged with criminal misconduct or whatever the equivalent legal term would be.
The reason: its worth gambling something bad won't happen to ensure the company makes more money. Something bad happened, and now the citizens of those countries boarding on the ocean region the well is in get to pay the price.
Corporations have no inherent morality, nor any incentive to behave morally. Profits are the only motive. This is an excellent indication of this.
Its time to change this I think. The world can no longer afford these large corporations and the destruction they wreak on our environment. Of course, we need to learn to do with fewer luxuries if the environment can't afford them too.
Worst environmental accident EVER (Score:1, Interesting)
"likely one of the worst environmental disasters to hit the gulf"
After one month and counting, this is still looking like it could be the worst environmental accident ever. Yes, worse than Chernobyl, because Chernobyl is still mostly a localized problem.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:3, Interesting)
Obama isn't being reamed on this because of ideology. It's the Republican ideology of "Drill Baby Drill!" and it's the Democrats who have been against off-shore drilling. This disaster could only have helped Obama.
Re:I think a lot of people forget this (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:1, Interesting)
It seems to me that Obama's responsibilities here were: a) prevention, b) quick detection of the spill, c) stop the spill, and d) minimize the cost of it happening again (or really, balancing probabilistic cost of threat vs. cost of prevention.)
If this is truly the disaster Obama claims it to be, then it seems to me the Federal Government should have this as a potential threat on their "probable threat chart". How did they miss this? This is EITHER a federal government failure (and the buck stops at the president), or it was recognized in advance as a potential disaster whose costs of prevention out-weighed the probabilistic benefit of prevention. Either way, it appears that our federal government, led by Obama, let us down.
Regarding quick detection and action - it seemed that it was spilling more than a week before Obama did anything public, and then all he did was give a "Wag The Dog" speech in the rain at the airport.
A leader COULD (perhaps SHOULD) formulate a task-force of the top experts and mobilize them and lead them toward getting the best ideas on the table day 1. Maybe he privately did that. He sure didn't make that public. And avoiding "taking charge", as you said, is no way to lead!
The third item, stop the darn thing, he's clearly failed on.
We've yet to see what preventative steps will come out of this.
Re:Here you go: (Score:5, Interesting)
The lengths you go to, to defend BP, are astounding. Are you a stakeholder in the corporation? The article does not say they successfully tested the preventer, it says they claimed to have tested it. Funny you question the worker's word, but not BPs. They also skipped plans to acoustically check the concrete of the plug. The list of criminally negligent activities by BP continues to mount. Surviving rig workers are claiming they were held incommunicado for forty hours and forced to sign false testimony. The Coast Guard, at the behest of BP, has been removing reporters from affected beaches.
There is a cap of $75 million on damages in cases like this. But that does not apply in cases of criminal negligence. BP is attempting to cover up their negligence, I wonder why? But what really gets my goat is all the people who bitch and moan about 'personal responsibility' when it comes to things like health care and social programs, but excuse the most egregious lack of personal responsibility by corporate executives. Why do the rich and powerful get a different set of standards? Its not as though they are going to thank you for defending them by letting you into their little sociopath's club.
Re:Most of us are at fault (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Here you go: (Score:4, Interesting)
When have I defended BP? When everything comes out in the end we'll (hopefully) know WHY this happened and then we can find out who (if anyone) was responsible for the bad decisions being made. The point I was making is that people are taking evidence of misbehavior by Transocean and using it as an argument that BP should be punished. We don't even know for sure how this accident happened. Now is not the time for figuring out how exactly we want to crucify those involved, now is the time to concentrate on fixing the damn leak and then once everything is calmed down we can figure out what went wrong and who gets the bill.
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised to find out BP execs put pressure on Transocean, but at the end of the day it wasn't BP's rig. Even as a government contractor, I have a responsibility to not do something dangerous/illegal if my customer (the Federal Freaking Government) tells me to do it. Even blaming BP for pushing the limits does not absolve Transocean of primary responsibility.
Are you a stakeholder in the corporation?
Thankfully, no. I have family in the old field, but last I checked they worked for BP's competitors.
It's not BP's word they tested the preventer, it's Transocean's! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! People can't even keep the companies involved in this disaster straight and yet they think they're qualified to decide what needs to be done to whom!
When did I say I didn't believe the employee's story as to what happened? I *DO* believe him, but that doesn't mean what happened had any bearing on the accident because WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHY THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED!
I'm not willing to believe EITHER a BP exec's word (who is looking out for his bottom line) or the word of a Transocean employee as to what happened at this point in time. I will believe the word of some independent, third party investigative body as to why the accident happened when a thorough and open examination of the evidence has been conducted. Until such a time finger pointing and witch hunts are POINTLESS.
And yet people like you are trying to heap blame on BP and ignore the fact that Transocean was in charge of the drilling! Who exactly is trying to excuse corporations of responsibility here?
Re:And this is why we'll never fix the system. (Score:3, Interesting)
Except that's just the latest theory based on anecdotal evidence. It may very well be that it's the truth, but we won't know if it is until a proper investigation is done.
Except that the entire recovery process has been out in the open and such a claim makes absolutely no sense.
If they actually proceeded knowingly with a broken BOP I don't think additional regulation would have prevented this. That's already criminal.
My point wasn't that angry people are preventing better regulation, my point was that the average layman/politician doesn't understand the industry well enough to regulate it. For instance I've seen a lot of 20/20 hindsight about certain groups that have been pushing to have relief wells pre-drilled for every well that gets drilled... On the surface, that seems like a great idea... Until you think about how many wells are already out there and what the additional cost of requiring every well to be drilled twice would be. (The CBS news article quotes a cost of 25 million for the re-drill they ALREADY had to do for Deepwater Horizon) These extra costs would be reflected in the prices we pay at the pump... All to prevent a type of accident that's only really occurred twice that I know of.
Yeah we can improve safety/regulation, but some sanity and cost/benefit analysis has to be part of the problem.
Re:Here you go: (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh. My. God. You just can't stop, can you? Now it's Transocean's fault, not BPs. Transocean said to check the concrete, BP said "No way, that'll take too long!"
BP board members also sit on the board of the company that produces the more toxic, less effective dispersant that was used.
BP executives were on the rig and countermanding Transocean's directives. Not that Transocean is off the hook, they cut corners too. There is MORE than enough blame to go around, but that is NOT what you were doing. It looks to me like you were trying to absolve BP of all responsibility. Stakeholder much?
All the public wants is some accountability. BP is going to pay, Transocean is going to pay, Halliburton is going to pay (didn't know they were in on this little fiasco?) But the real question is, will the corporate executives who made the criminally negligent decisions be held accountable? I'm sure you want that as much as the rest of us, right? You want those who are responsible to be held accountable, right?
Everything I've read points to BP overriding Transocean's safety concerns. And BP stalling, and covering up, and hiding evidence their plans time to work and to give the oil time to disperse. It's much harder to find out who was at fault after months have passed.
We have another entity to blame as well here, namely the Federal Government and specifically Obama. He demonstrated his ability to move quickly and decisively in the face of natural disaster in Haiti. Yet he has been strangely absent when he hasn't been openly kowtowing to Big Oil. He has more than likely let BP off the with his delays and inaction. By the time any real investigation takes place, the evidence will be gone. And WE will be stuck with the bill, not whoever was at fault.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:3, Interesting)
they were pressured in continuing operations regardless because they were running behind schedule and "time is money".
In another post, someone mentioned that BP is making about a billion dollars per month in profit.
Somehow I doubt this one well would have made a big difference in their overall take. And truth be told, they lost the whole thing, and took a big hit to their rep as well.
Funny thing about greed, it's when you actually lose sight of the bottom line.
Re:The myth that they want to "collect the oil" (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a fantastic comment, but it leaves something important out. I've also been very impressed with BPs actions after the accident, they've been trying everything anyone can think of and aren't skimping. Before the accident, it's another story.
They acted absolutely appallingly which allowed this to happen in the first place. Always putting speed above safety and a culture of shifting blame is the real cause of this. Watching the 60 minutes episode on this, it's absolutely disgusting how they acted. I hope they're hurt badly enough that they never recover.
Re:How many blunders will the American gov't allow (Score:3, Interesting)
The fact that you saw "Obama's Katrina?" on MSNBC seems a little disingenuous, although I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you just don't watch a lot of TV news. The fact that there's a question mark means it was probably a story about this very topic, with the left-leaning MSNBC trying to discredit such a claim. A little searching finds a clip from The Ed Show on MSNBC doing exactly that. [politicalarticles.net]
Re:And this is why we'll never fix the system. (Score:3, Interesting)
If they actually proceeded knowingly with a broken BOP I don't think additional regulation would have prevented this. That's already criminal.
It's only criminal if they get caught and end up being punished for it. Good regulations generally try to prevent bad things from happening rather than simply punishing the responsible parties after the fact. The evidence is mounting that BP knew damned well the risks they were taking and pushed Trans Ocean to take risks they were uncomfortable with. An onboard inspector could have prevented that.
These extra costs would be reflected in the prices we pay at the pump...
Honestly, the US economy would benefit greatly from consistently seeing more of these costs in the prices paid at the pump.