OT: BP Engineering

Looks like the bolts go thru from the top. With the cap on you cant get to them.

Cheers

I guess adjustable wrench is NIH ()Not Invented Here) at BP.

I didn't understand why they cut the pipe off so close to the flange. If they'd left it longer, they could have fitted a long sleeve over it and squeezed it all around with hydraulics. That ugly little stub isn't enough to work with. And they didn't leave any margin for attempting a second clean cut if the first one messed up, which it did. Was the idea to use the flange itself as a thing to latch on to?

Why *don't* they clamp onto the bottom of the flange? Then they could apply enormous amounts of force to a seal on the top side, instead of using that absurd bouncing dunce cap.

Lots could go wrong unbolting the flange. Good luck.

I wonder why they can't insert a smaller pipe inside the one that's flowing, at least while they muck with the flange. Granted, it's

Conspiracy theories:

1. They didn't want to capture all the oil because they had no surface gear to cope with it all.

1. They still want the oil. The current flow rate works out to roughly

1. Whoever is making the final technical decisions isn't very good.

John

1. Top cap, top kill, top hat are all for TV shows. They will never cap it. Once it's capped, deep drilling is off-limit. Right now, they have a monopoly on GOM deep drilling. Two additional wells are being drill, they will redirect some oil and relief the main well. They will declare it a partial success and start drilling two more, and so on.

BP has an email address and a phone number.

Why not give them a call and tell them they are wrong.

At the same time you can share your education and engineering awards in underwater oil drilling.

I am sure they will listen to you.

hamilton

arting to unbolt the old flange.

Many have tried and failed, including the rich and famous. BP and WH have their own agenda. We were arguing with self-proclaimed young petroleum engineers in the BP yahoo board that

1. They cut at the wrong direction. Diamond blade would work better with the pipe falling away from it. They are too young to have cut a tree.
2. The pressure is too high for loosely attached pipe. The "hydraulic expert" said the lighter oil column would create back pressure to seal it, but they did not do the calculations.

BP don't answer emails. I would go to the GOM if I know I can contributed something, but I wouldn't hold my breathe.

starting to unbolt the old flange.

Stardate 20100420, the Enterprise accidentally fired at the Valcan Sea at 5000 feet and accidentally damaged the drilling of 13000 feet below the sea level. The crew immediately beam down to the sea floor to contain the leaking oil and gas.

Riker: Captain, Embassador Spock is hailing. He wants to know what the hell are we doing there.

Picard: Tell Embassador Spock that it's a small problem, only 1000 barrels leaking.

Data: Captain, we know that's not true and Embassador Spock know that's not true either.

Picard: I know. But it is 1000 barrels offically, no question asked.

Data: But, Captain ...

Riker: Shut up and do as you are told.

Spock: How the hell do you expect me to lie to my people?

Picard: Tell them you are not officially involved in it. You have no first hand knowledge.

Spock: So, how much is actually leaking.

Data: 61,453.56 barrels, Sir.

Riker: Close enough, 1,000 barrels.

Spock: How the hell are you going to fix that.

Picard: I have a plan, just bear with me.

Spock: OK, I am all ears.

Picard: I know that we need 4 to 6 additional relief wells to contain it. But if we tell the public now, they will panic. Let's start with

Spock: OK, but I will tell the public that you wanted to drill one well, but I forced you two drill two. I want to take some credits.

Picard: Done.

------ To be continued -------

Maybe you should swim down there and show those ROVs how it's done, personally?

But why? That's why we invented computers to do the dirty job.

I think the real issue was with the drill stem still inside the outer riser pipe.

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The first messed up cut was made with a diamond saw wire. Which got bound up when the pipe above the cut pinched the wire saw. So then they had to shear the pipe off, leaving a distorted end which was harder to seal to.

Anyone who has ever cut a tree with a chain saw, or a board hanging off the end of a saw horse with a skill saw knows how easy it is to pinch a saw. And with only ROVs to do the work, correcting such a problem was impossible.

I can't figure out why they didn't lop off the few hundred yards of twisted pipe with the shears to begin with and then make the precision cut a few feet below that point (a few feet of pipe not being as likely to pinch a saw as a tangled mess of wreckage).

Several people on the yahoo boards said that, hours before the saw was stucked. But the operators were sealed from the public, rather than the leak being sealed. BP were too busy making up stories and the regulators were too busy watching porns.

"Paul Hovnanian P.E." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com:

might be something to do with accessibility for the ROVs. IOW,maybe they can't maneuver their robotic vehicles to those points.(without fear of losing the ROV.)

I'm sure there are a lot of variables that we are not familiar with.

@Hovnanian.com:

The did exactly that after the fact (when the saw was stuck).

Lack of experiences, plannings and sleeps. BP couldn't afford to bring in rotating groups of managers/operators.

snicker

I'm sure he does not realize that those bolts are 1-13/16" or bigger.

Cheers

Size does not matter. They have 80+ days and a few billion dollars to make a custom socket and/or wrench. They are just bolts on the outside of a flange. No access restrictions. There is still a section of the old pipe attaching to the flange. Removing the loosely fitted pipe does not make it easier or harder, except for 20K barrels per day of more oil leaking. I am not sure about the current status, but they took 10 hours to remove the first one, and five to six more bolts to go.

snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com...

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de quoted text -

The irony is, if there really is a piece of drill pipe wedged in the blowout preventer, that itself constitutes a "junk shot", doesn't it? I guess we'll know for sure when they bring the blowout preventer to the surface, (hopefully) not too long from now!

-mpm

.The irony is, if there really is a piece of drill pipe wedged in the .blowout preventer, that itself constitutes a "junk shot", doesn't it? .I guess we'll know for sure when they bring the blowout preventer to .the surface, (hopefully) not too long from now! . .-mpm

This explains it in detail. There are two pipes in the riser.

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Not sure what they were trying to accomplish with "junk shot", other than for landfill. "Top kill" at least worked to verify that the well is ruptured.

More stories at

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Picard: Ambassador Spock, Admiral Kirk IV wants to nuke the well.

Spock: Hell no, we won't do.

Riker: We are just studying it.

Spock: Do what you need to show some PR.

Data: Sir, may I suggest that we pump some mud into the well to test it first. Just make up some name, like "top kill"?

Riker: By the way, we can also unload some plastic and rubber junks in our cargo bay. We have been trying to bury them somewhere for a long time.

Jordy: I want to name it operation "junk shot". It will be a backup for "top kill".

Picard: Good, make it so.

Jordy: Captain, we pumped thousands of barrels of mud, but they are leaking all over upto 1000 feet below sea bed. We can't nuke the sea bed, it will just leak below it. If we nuke 1000 feet below, we might unsettle other wells. The Kingons will kill us for ruining their liquid gold mines.

Picard: Mr. Spock, can you help us get rid of the Kingons? Perhaps a six months moratorium that will last forever. We need to pick up some rigs for cheap anyway. We want to be the only driller in Vulcan. We will pay 20 billion for the right to do so.

Spock: I'll check with the council and get back to you later.

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