Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Nonsapient]

OR, we could just get a very large hydrolic press and close the pipe by crimping the end...

You're forgetting that its 5,000 feet below the surface, whatever hydraulic press is sent down there is going to have to be adapted to those pressures and its not going to be easy to use it down there with the ROVs.

The BOP that is installed on every wellhead is basically just a set of hydraulic rams and the last ditch defense is the blind/shear ram that's supposed to cut through the drillstring and block the hole, so the idea is sound and in use. Then again, it didn't work when they needed it to in this case.

By the way, 1500 metres (5000 feet) sea depth isn't very deep in offshore-drilling terms these days. They've got wells down at 3000-3500 metres.

As I understand it the drill itself was in the way of the ram?

Anyway I think this current solution of cut the pipe clean, mount a valve, and close it off works well enough.

Not the drill itself, I believe,  but rather a pipe joint.

You know when you screw two pieces of pipe together, where the threads are?  That area is reinforced because it has to deal with more torque and tension than the rest.

On drill pipe, for every 32 feet of pipe, that area makes up  about 2 feet (depending on the age of the pipe and how many times it has been refurbished).

That reinforced area was caught in the rams.  They couldn't shear it.

[LordMelvin]

OR, we could just get a very large hydrolic press and close the pipe by crimping the end...

You're forgetting that its 5,000 feet below the surface, whatever hydraulic press is sent down there is going to have to be adapted to those pressures and its not going to be easy to use it down there with the ROVs.

The BOP that is installed on every wellhead is basically just a set of hydraulic rams and the last ditch defense is the blind/shear ram that's supposed to cut through the drillstring and block the hole, so the idea is sound and in use. Then again, it didn't work when they needed it to in this case.

By the way, 1500 metres (5000 feet) sea depth isn't very deep in offshore-drilling terms these days. They've got wells down at 3000-3500 metres.

As I understand it the drill itself was in the way of the ram?

Anyway I think this current solution of cut the pipe clean, mount a valve, and close it off works well enough.

It would, except that it doesn't.
They've not got sufficient surface capacity to cope with the flow rate, so they have it "one-quarter" sealed off.
The other three vents on the 'cap' they fitted a mile down are still wide open and belching toxic goo into our precious national bodily fluids. We must take immediate steps to prevent the flouridation of our nations seafood supply. We Must maintAin our Purity Of Essence in OrdEr to EnsurE Peace On Earth!
Come on, Mandrake! We'Ve GoTta Get sOmE Of thEsE damnablE cOmmiE aPParatchicks! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[PTTG??]

Thank you, Lord Melvin.

[LordMelvin]

Further, in the tradition of Magritte, This is not a Forum Post.

(and dammit, if there's one thread that calls for dadaist social commentary and absurdist humor, it's the one about the biggest man-made disaster in recorded history.)

[olemars]

OR, we could just get a very large hydrolic press and close the pipe by crimping the end...

You're forgetting that its 5,000 feet below the surface, whatever hydraulic press is sent down there is going to have to be adapted to those pressures and its not going to be easy to use it down there with the ROVs.

The BOP that is installed on every wellhead is basically just a set of hydraulic rams and the last ditch defense is the blind/shear ram that's supposed to cut through the drillstring and block the hole, so the idea is sound and in use. Then again, it didn't work when they needed it to in this case.

By the way, 1500 metres (5000 feet) sea depth isn't very deep in offshore-drilling terms these days. They've got wells down at 3000-3500 metres.

As I understand it the drill itself was in the way of the ram?

Anyway I think this current solution of cut the pipe clean, mount a valve, and close it off works well enough.

Not the drill itself, I believe,  but rather a pipe joint.

You know when you screw two pieces of pipe together, where the threads are?  That area is reinforced because it has to deal with more torque and tension than the rest.

On drill pipe, for every 32 feet of pipe, that area makes up  about 2 feet (depending on the age of the pipe and how many times it has been refurbished).

That reinforced area was caught in the rams.  They couldn't shear it.

Fun part is, this was exact same reason for the other large oil spill in the Gulf too and a few other blowouts. You'd think this obvious flaw in vital safety gear would have raised some eyebrows somewhere in the space of 30 years, but apparently no. Current BOP designs are virtually identical to those used in the 70's. A very neglected area of oil production technology.

[kuro_suna]

That's a good point since current blowout preventers I think are entirely reasonable for land based rigs where leaking oil would be contained and evacuation would be much easier but a solution with more fail safes is really needed for ocean drilling.

[Nonsapient]

OR, we could just get a very large hydrolic press and close the pipe by crimping the end...

You're forgetting that its 5,000 feet below the surface, whatever hydraulic press is sent down there is going to have to be adapted to those pressures and its not going to be easy to use it down there with the ROVs.

The BOP that is installed on every wellhead is basically just a set of hydraulic rams and the last ditch defense is the blind/shear ram that's supposed to cut through the drillstring and block the hole, so the idea is sound and in use. Then again, it didn't work when they needed it to in this case.

By the way, 1500 metres (5000 feet) sea depth isn't very deep in offshore-drilling terms these days. They've got wells down at 3000-3500 metres.

As I understand it the drill itself was in the way of the ram?

Anyway I think this current solution of cut the pipe clean, mount a valve, and close it off works well enough.

Not the drill itself, I believe,  but rather a pipe joint.

You know when you screw two pieces of pipe together, where the threads are?  That area is reinforced because it has to deal with more torque and tension than the rest.

On drill pipe, for every 32 feet of pipe, that area makes up  about 2 feet (depending on the age of the pipe and how many times it has been refurbished).

That reinforced area was caught in the rams.  They couldn't shear it.

Fun part is, this was exact same reason for the other large oil spill in the Gulf too and a few other blowouts. You'd think this obvious flaw in vital safety gear would have raised some eyebrows somewhere in the space of 30 years, but apparently no. Current BOP designs are virtually identical to those used in the 70's. A very neglected area of oil production technology.

Well, a little different if I'm reading correctly;  collars are a bit different from pipe.  They're tougher and heavier, almost like casing.  You use a collar to act as weight, or to protect a high dollar tool.

But yeah.  BOPs need a bit of a change apparently.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Obviously we need to drain the ocean and then scrape the oil off the seabed.

[Jacob/Lee]

BP now stands for "Big Problem"

[smjjames]

*snip*

Well, a little different if I'm reading correctly;  collars are a bit different from pipe.  They're tougher and heavier, almost like casing.  You use a collar to act as weight, or to protect a high dollar tool.

But yeah.  BOPs need a bit of a change apparently.
[/quote]

More like ALOT of change. Not to mention more than one failsafe.

To make an analogy since nearly all of us play DF. You know how sometimes something might get stuck on top of a floodgate or something which is part of a critical mechanism to block off a flood, wouldn't it be smart to overengineer and have more than one backup?

Seriously, planes have redundant systems to take care of a faliure, and the Oil Industry could certainly follow that idea to have multiple failsafes which are adapted to work in the depths.

If only it weren't corrupt (don't know about other companies, but it sounds like BP is the worst of them all) and they had a profit over safety mindset.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

BP now stands for "Big Problem"

Ho ho ho.

[PTTG??]

BP only set the guidelines and demanded the performance; it's TRANSOCEAN that operated the rig and ran everything.
 
And, incidentally, the group that's trying hardest to limit their liability.

[Kogan Loloklam]

I've got a perfect solution!

Let's ask a film actor to help!

Wait, they beat me to it...

[Grakelin]

This is a terrible idea. Kevin Coster will just try to make the oil spill seem a lot smaller by expanding the ocean across the entire world.

[Jackrabbit]

This is a terrible idea. Kevin Coster will just try to make the oil spill seem a lot smaller by expanding the ocean across the entire world.

Oh God, I can see it now. I really need to take that movie back to the video store, actually.