Offshore Oil Drilling and the Oil Rig Disaster in the Gulf

[Bostech]

Did anybody thought of calling Joe the Plumber to stop oil leak?

[Timkin]

Could not agree with you more , Stephen.  

I am still not clear on the position of the leak.. as much as I have read... Is the leak (s) on the Ocean Floor around a well head , or is  the sunken platform sitting on top of this thing ,making an already next to impossible situation, worse?   If the platform is not on the well head but somewhere nearby, I do not see how dropping an aircraft carrier would help.  IF the area around this thing is fairly flat, why not cap it with a huge cement (already Fabricated) Dome that is mega mega Heavy. If we are talking a pretty small area around this thing, then neither idea would work.

Again ...and this is no disrespect to anyone ...finger pointing and blaming is pretty much for not.  One thing is seeming to be more and more abundantly clear : BP needs SOMEONE's Help on this , otherwise after over 40 days, I would think they would have capped it.. What if dropping a nuke or some other type detonation device , intending to cave this well in, ruptures it and makes the problem worse?  Again I go back to the sunken platform.. if it is in the way, and I suspect it well could be , how the hell would one move it out of the way to get to this.

There are sure alot more unanswered than answered questions, and I wholeheartedly agree with Stephen.. If this were a possible outcome,  it should never have been allowed to start with.  When we pollute our oceans enough( and this spill is WELL on its way to ruining the Gulf)  ,, WE ARE ALL SCREWED , regardless of how much money we have.

[stjr]

I am still not clear on the position of the leak.. as much as I have read... Is the leak (s) on the Ocean Floor around a well head , or is  the sunken platform sitting on top of this thing ,making an already next to impossible situation, worse?   If the platform is not on the well head but somewhere nearby, I do not see how dropping an aircraft carrier would help.  IF the area around this thing is fairly flat, why not cap it with a huge cement (already Fabricated) Dome that is mega mega Heavy. If we are talking a pretty small area around this thing, then neither idea would work.

My understanding is it is neither.  Rather, a pipe extends from the ocean floor and has become bent with a broken end to it.  Thus, they had desired to try and either plug the pipe, fully cover it with a dome that funneled the leaking oil to a new pipe connected to the dome, or try to suck (as if with a straw) as much of the oil out of the pipe as possible.  All three efforts have now been attempted and none have worked.  They are concerned about further damaging the pipe making the leak even worse or harder to fix.  The main hope now appears to be the drilling of dual relief wells that would pierce the well below the ocean floor and stem the flow currently going to the broken pipe.  These new wells are under way but will take until August to be completed.

As to a nuclear solution, well, that seems like just one environmental disaster on top of another.  Aside from likely making the hole far bigger, it will radiate all the water and sea life surrounding it for eons to come.  Just imagine now having radioactive oil coming upon our shores!

[NotNow]

The Horizon rests about a quarter mile northwest of the well head. 

The well head probably consist of the blowout preventer and an associated manifold or piping.  These can get pretty big.

A modern nuke can be pretty small and have a small residual radiation footprint.  Any burst radiation would likely be absorbed by the sea column.   But a detonation at this depth would require a substantial casing and detonation device.  One would need knowledge of the bottom and its makeup to determine the likelihood of success with an untried (at least underwater) method. 

It would seem that if the casing is intact, it would be prudent to attempt to cap the existing structure.  But geez, can you imagine trying all of this at the pressures of 5000 feet below sea level?  May God help these folks.

[Bostech]

Can they drill hole on each side on 45 degree angle (or whatever is appropriete) toward well pipe.One hole can be lower and other higher,then put explosives and blow up so that ground collapses and plugs main well pipe,then blow second hole above so it colapses second time to double block main well pipe?

[NotNow]

I think it depends on what the strata below the surface is made up of.  This is the work of a geologist.

[Bostech]

I am sure its solid rock,since its takign them to August to drill down to pipe.
And why not cut pipe above ground then send explosive down into pipe as far as you can then blow it and let ground collapse and plug whole well?

And can you imagine what kind of pressure is that oil blewing up when even ocean above with its all water and pressure is not able to stop it and oil is spitting like crazy.

[NotNow]

I don't think they can get anything in the casing.  That is the pressure that blew explosive gas all the way up to the rig.  Also, explosives only cave in the tube with rock and rubble.  If it doesn't hold then you will have no "pipe" or spot where the petro comes up.  Picture a large pile of rubble (even a small hill) with oil just coming out from all over.

[JC]

They need to drill the relief wells ASAP, start sucking and processing those plumes and never, ever do this dumb shit again.  All the money being pissed away on this cleanup could have been used to subsidize further technological advancements in renewable energy sources!  The drilling of oil is subsidized after all!

[Timkin]

The Horizon rests about a quarter mile northwest of the well head.  

The well head probably consist of the blowout preventer and an associated manifold or piping.  These can get pretty big.

A modern nuke can be pretty small and have a small residual radiation footprint.  Any burst radiation would likely be absorbed by the sea column.   But a detonation at this depth would require a substantial casing and detonation device.  One would need knowledge of the bottom and its makeup to determine the likelihood of success with an untried (at least underwater) method.  

It would seem that if the casing is intact, it would be prudent to attempt to cap the existing structure.  But geez, can you imagine trying all of this at the pressures of 5000 feet below sea level?  May God help these folks.

May God help us all if they do not contain this problem in short order.  What is the pipe made of ? steel ? probably not in salt water, so PVC or Concrete?  if this pipe is bent/damaged ( I know this is a mile down so keeping that in mind)  I wonder if they could fabricate a snap-together (two-halves) pipe or rubber grommet type to clamp around this area  ..sort of like a heavy rubber or pvc pipe just over the leak areas,  If these machines they have at those levels have "hands" they could possibly clamp over the existing pipe.  I dont know, I'm just throwing an idea out there to ponder.  Having no idea what the psi of this flow actually is this may not be feasible, but it does not seem to have tremendous pressure,,,in other words thousands of pounds psi or something like that, so what about patching these leaking areas and if nothing else, way slowing down this thing?

I dont know that drilling or detonating is an option.. I guess the drilling part is going to happen regardless, but I am concerned deeply of this becoming worse.  Obviously something has to be done.

[NotNow]

Well, you have to figure that there is enough pressure to push mud, drilling fluid, petroleum and natural gas up over 5000 feet and cause the explosion.  If they could just "match" the pressure and hold it still long enough to set some concrete, but at that depth and with the apparent pressure and flow from the well it must be very difficult.

[Timkin]

then it seems to me , another option is to cut this pipe wherever it is leaking ,and attach onto it another slightly larger inner diameter pipe....perhaps with a long rubber coupling so as to seal it around the existing pipe.. leaving the other end of this new pipe either opened flowing (for the time being ) and/or with suction-ready when it is placed onto the existing pipe. If they could thread a smaller pipe into the ruptured line , seems the psi is not so great that they could not do this.

I keep in mind always, we are talking about a mile down in the water so easier said than done.

[Timkin]

The idea of detonating this well does not sound like a smart idea. we could end up with something we cannot fix at all then

[NotNow]

Admittedly I lack any expertise in this area, but I agree with you as near as I can tell.  I think if explosives could solve the problem, they would have been used by now.

[Timkin]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/bp-turns-to-plan-e-20090738;_ylt=Avj4MwjDY5GETsoVAQvbcLmz174F;_ylu=X3oDMTExMDhkajdtBHBvcwMxNwRzZWMDY2xpcHMEc2xrA2JwdHVybnN0b3BsYQ--

I don't know about this idea.. but it seems more feasible than blowing up the well.