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This really is a sad state we find ourselves in. With all the corruption in the media this administration and the oil industry I cant figure out what the facts truly are. We need oil and we need to strive to be energy independent. This disaster must be used to improve our oil producing capabilities not cripple it. Maybe deep water extraction with our current technology isnt the answer but unfortunatly If the US stops other countries are standing in line to drill and get a ahold of these idled rigs and will procede to produce at these depths.
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Pressure of the well at the time of top kill was around 14k. the two frac boats are capable of 20k and 25k.
there are several reasons the top kill was abruptly stopped. i cannot comment further currently. the casing was not damaged. the reason the cap that is currently on the well head cannot just be shut is because the pressure inside the well could crack the casing, that is why they are closing it slow and using two vessels to contain excess. i'd love to get indepth more but i cannot. |
Originally Posted by sixmassive
(Post 3159099)
Pressure of the well at the time of top kill was around 14k. the two frac boats are capable of 20k and 25k.
there are several reasons the top kill was abruptly stopped. i cannot comment further currently. the casing was not damaged. the reason the cap that is currently on the well head cannot just be shut is because the pressure inside the well could crack the casing, that is why they are closing it slow and using two vessels to contain excess. i'd love to get indepth more but i cannot. Do you mind telling us who you work for? Why all the secrecy? |
I work on the Q4000. any events or details of operation cant be discussed unless it has been released by BP PR. Company policy.
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The reason they have to slowly close the valve on the current cap is due to whats called a Fluid Hammer, or more commonly known in residential plumbing as a water hammer. You get them when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly. Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe. This pressure wave can cause major problems, from noise and vibration to pipe collapse. The resulting pressure spike can be as much as 10x if not more then the orriginal pressure output! So if the well is at 14k psi and they try and force all that top kill to try and stop the flow and create a hammer they could see pressures upwards of 140,000 psi!!!
I dont work in the oil industry or have much knowledge of how things work in that field...but i do work in the pumping field...the pumps we make range from 1gpm up to 200+ gpm and have seen some strange things result from fluid hammers. We make a 316 stainless pump for the military that has the pumps walls 1/4" thick and gets welded shut that we rate for 1000psi.....we have had them return one to us for evaluation and saw the entire rear housing blown out and busted open like a flower!! Now we have equipment to test the burst pressure of our pumps....we can simulte pressures up to 5000psi....that same pump only starts to distort the rear housing!!! so we can only assume they had WAY more then 5k psi in the pump head to cause that kind of damage!!!...and of course they cant tell us what they are doing with it! :D |
Originally Posted by sixmassive
(Post 3159161)
I work on the Q4000. any events or details of operation cant be discussed unless it has been released by BP PR. Company policy.
Good to know we have a member on the scene, and thanks for clarifying my assumptions with the facts. :drink: Are you optimistic at this point? |
Originally Posted by Wally
(Post 3159207)
The reason they have to slowly close the valve on the current cap is due to whats called a Fluid Hammer, or more commonly known in residential plumbing as a water hammer. You get them when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly. Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe. This pressure wave can cause major problems, from noise and vibration to pipe collapse. The resulting pressure spike can be as much as 10x if not more then the orriginal pressure output! So if the well is at 14k psi and they try and force all that top kill to try and stop the flow and create a hammer they could see pressures upwards of 140,000 psi!!!
I dont work in the oil industry or have much knowledge of how things work in that field...but i do work in the pumping field...the pumps we make range from 1gpm up to 200+ gpm and have seen some strange things result from fluid hammers. We make a 316 stainless pump for the military that has the pumps walls 1/4" thick and gets welded shut that we rate for 1000psi.....we have had them return one to us for evaluation and saw the entire rear housing blown out and busted open like a flower!! Now we have equipment to test the burst pressure of our pumps....we can simulte pressures up to 5000psi....that same pump only starts to distort the rear housing!!! so we can only assume they had WAY more then 5k psi in the pump head to cause that kind of damage!!!...and of course they cant tell us what they are doing with it! :D
Originally Posted by jayboat
(Post 3159259)
Wow.
Good to know we have a member on the scene, and thanks for clarifying my assumptions with the facts. :drink: Are you optimistic at this point? if the "experts" on tv are really experts, why are they not out here? |
Originally Posted by sixmassive
(Post 3159274)
Correct, that is one of the many reasons. there hundreds of factors that are being worked out
none of this has been attempted in this depth of water, nor has a well been drilled to this depth. I am hoping for the best along with everyone else. the best and brightest are out here. if the "experts" on tv are really experts, why are they not out here? |
Originally Posted by sixmassive
(Post 3159274)
if the "experts" on tv are really experts, why are they not out here?
Thanks for the info, keep us posted. |
Originally Posted by jayboat
(Post 3159025)
Here's a good article with some links on BP's sh!tty safety record.
Except today's New York Times makes a pretty persuasive case that BP really did stand out in its disregard for safety, and that not all oil companies are equal. First up, Jad Mouwad wrote a profile of ExxonMobil, which revamped its management culture after the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in 1989, and now "stands out among its peers for its obsessive attention to safety." In fact, back in 2006, Exxon ran into problems in a deepwater well similar to what BP faced at Macondo—natural gas kicking up—and the company decided to abandon the well rather than keep drilling. (Exxon was savaged by financial analysts at the time, but the decision looks pretty shrewd in retrospect.) The picture looks very different when you turn to the Times' excellent profile of BP. The company has a long record of safety violations—in 2005, an aging BP plant in Texas exploded, killing 15 people, and an after-action report blamed "organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of BP." Then came a large leak that poured 267,000 gallons of oil into Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 2006, thanks to poorly maintained pipes. And just this year, federal inspectors have found 62 safety violations at BP's Ohio refinery. Yet BP never underwent the same cultural shift that ExxonMobil underwent. And, so, in retrospect, it's no surprise that BP cut so many corners: http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3990/standards.jpg |
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