http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

kinda reminds me of the Abyss

anyway they are pumping heavy mud into the well so the plume is now moddy grey rather than black

which i believe is a good sign and they may be able to plug it with concrete soon

I hope so I would not like to say how much this has cost me (1.50 a share x xshares)

if they dont plug it soon the US administration may come down very hard on them, their very poor safety record is winning them no friends over there

as for the well plume is looking darker again which isnt so good

apparently will be 48hrs b4 they know

Yeah they said it could look worse before it gets better, I wonder if this is the reason they originally said they didn't want to film it.

That's brilliant, I'm really chirpy about the whole situation.

Don't think you were ever meant to be chirpy TBH. You're exceeding expectation.

well the cleanup is looking at 1bn at least now for BP

its good that an oil company is being held to account over this, usually when it happens in the 3rd world they just buy off the government and let the locals suffer

What I don't understand is why the pipeline isn't valved at various stages along it's length to prevent a leak like this (a bit like flood doors in a ship)? Is there some reason or just cost saving?

woody, fair point made well….

As far as I'm aware, the leaks are coming from the wellhead riser, which means the loss is coming from the very short length of pipe coming straight out of the ground.

At what interval is it appropriate to place valves? every 50ft? 100ft? 6 inches?

What I don't understand is why the pipeline isn't valved at various stages along it's length

I think it normally is, but as the actual hole in the ground isn't, and the first valve on top of the hole is the one that's failed and the break in the pipe follows on from that.
That's my take anyway.

nice advert to the right for oil field supplies!

Ah, I see.

S_O – would it matter? The fact would remain you could seal the pipe somewhere and stop the leak?

According to the radio last night, the US regulating body did try to introduce a measure that all wells should have a remote shutoff device to allow the wellhead to be killed if something catastrophic went wrong.

The oil industry lobby successfully campaigned against it as it would be too expensive (think the said half-a-million per well).

It also seems that the US regulatory body is completely in the pockets of the oil companies. Licences were (and still are) granted without proper emergency cleanup plans as the chance of a leak is thought to be to small to consider. 🙄

According to the radio last night, the US regulating body did try to introduce a measure that all wells should have a remote shutoff device to allow the well to be killed if something catastrophic went wrong.

great – but the bops failed (why depends on what story you listen too..)

can be remote as you like but if there are no bops your pissing in the wind ….

give it time and the desire for cheap oil will mean they'll relax the rules again.

great – but the bops failed (why depends on what story you listen too..)

can be remote as you like but if there are no bops your pissing in the wind ….

Two things:

The same report also suggested that the BOP failed because the operator decided to replace drilling mud with seawater, based on a second lot of calculations performed after the first lot of calculations said it would be a bad idea and blow the BOP.

Secondly, from the description I think the shut-off device was intended to be an "if all else fails" emergency shutdown thing on the subsea wellhead that would presumably be placed below the BOP.

1) Nice to see the yanks, who produce more pollution generally than pretty much anyone else, shitting themselves for a change.

2) I think I just saw an Eel!

🙂

What a mess. As someone said 'it's like building the fire engine while your house is on fire'

If they plug the leak, does that mean the well is permanently closed? Surely there's a lot of valuable oil in there that could err…pay for the clean up or something.

Nice to see the yanks, who produce more pollution generally than pretty much anyone else, shitting themselves for a change.

The yanks use 25% of the world's total oil production, but only own around 7% themselves. Fact!

This is a pretty good illustration of what is happening …

Probably a better ratio than the UK?!

If they plug the leak, does that mean the well is permanently closed? Surely there's a lot of valuable oil in there that could err…pay for the clean up or something.

They plan to fill it with concrete.

I imagine it would be possible to drill in again in the future, possibly from another angle, but getting a permit might be a bit harder next time!

Actually it looks like they plan to put in "relief wells" to "reduce the pressure" which means they just have to collect all that valuable oil.

Secondly, from the description I think the shut-off device was intended to be an "if all else fails" emergency shutdown thing on the subsea wellhead that would presumably be placed below the BOP.

so what makes you think that if it blew the bops out it wouldnt blow any other kinda valve they stick in there out also ? bops aint exactly light or small … and the shear rams were designed as an all else fails werent they ?

its hard to tell whats going on tbh – ive heard so many storys from within about whats happened/happening/what should have happened through work

Aren't they boring 2 relief wells – in theory to release the pressure from the broken one, but also it'll mean they can still tap the oil…

Aha I had a feeling they'd plan ahead. I wonder if there's enough oil in there to pay the fines?

so what makes you think that if it blew the bops out it wouldnt blow any other kinda valve they stick in there out also ? bops aint exactly light or small … and the shear rams were designed as an all else fails werent they ?

I'm out my depth now, but I thought the shear rams were for cutting away the drillstring in an emergency? They still rely on a functioning BOP, no?

Agreed though, I don't know exactly what form the suggested remote shutoff thing would take. (It was just a comment on a wider Radio 4 article about oil industry influence over the regulatory body).

I also like the way the Americans keep pointedly refering to "British Petroleum", despite bp dropping the acronym years ago. Those damn limeys eh?

I'd imagine a couple of billion in fines/cleanup fees is small beer to BP 🙁

they do still rely on a functioning bop BUT i fail to see what sort of valve they are gonna put in that wont get blown away if a bops just been blown to bits …

depending on the set up of the bop you can get rams to seal round pipe , cut the pipe – shear rams and to seal the wellhead , – blind rams

these can generally be done from on the rig or from the bop by an ROV – depending on state of the bop – obviously its no longer there. these things were designed with this sort of thing in mind but much like chernobal if used wrongly disaster can happen !

I was under the impression that the BOP was there, but it's not working. The failsafe device has failed 😆

for me the point is if this was happening off the coast of africa would bp even be bothering to plug the leak?
it certainly wouldnt be getting the media coverage this one is seeing

im assuming it would be cheaper just to pay off the government while the oil spills out for a few months till a relief well were drilled

I imagine it would be possible to drill in again in the future, possibly from another angle, but getting a permit might be a bit harder next time!

already two two other wells to eventually take pressure off started before ban…

things is the US does not have the deep water experience to sort this out so it is down to BP both in terms of US law and just because of technical skill – it is a long way down!

Trial by ignorance and misinformation…..how refreshing.

for me the point is if this was happening off the coast of africa would bp even be bothering to plug the leak?

The b#ll#cks meter's gone way off the scale on this thread.

As a point of interest Bp own the oil field but the gun hoe yanks own and run the rig nothing to do with Bp but bp have to take ownership for yanky doodle dandys f**kup and ohbannana comes out with some classy statements the first thing i think of when i wake up is this problem and my little girls first words in the morning to me are "have they fixed it yet daddy". problem with the yanks is they never face up to a problem even though they know its there just look at the space shuttle disasters all could have been avioded but the mighty dollar got in the way.

The b#ll#cks meter's gone way off the scale on this thread.

niger delta anyone?

One source calculates that the total amount oil in barrels spilled between 1960 and 1997 is upwards of 100 million barrels (16,000,000 m3) tho shell say only 1 million, thats still 4x the exxon valdeez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Niger_Delta#cite_note-OIR-6

how much exactly have shell payed out for the 1/2 a million barrels from the forcados oil terminal spill? not one penny

or how about the asphalt lake at the cuaraco refinery that shell refuse to clean up containing 800 000 cubic metres of tar

edit
exxon mobil have also declared themselves free of any obligation to clean up oil spills in the niger delta, after one leak is thought to have released 100000 barrels a day for a week

http://www.commodities-now.com/news/power-and-energy/2649-africas-oil-spills-are-far-from-us-media-glare.html