Hi Guys.
I hope I don't sound like too much of an idiot but would it be impossible for BP to drag a long flexible hose to the damaged pipe and the other end to tankers until they can seal/fix the well?
Long, flexible hoses are subject to ocean currents (even massive hoses).
Coupling a large hose to the leak is a hard task, especially when located subsea, flowing crude at 5000 gallons per day (or more), and perhaps not having a location at the leak to attach the hose to pump the crude.
Pipelines are supposed to have many blowout preventors (usually located at the joints between pipe sections) to act like pressure-reduction/stop valves. From what little I have read those (one or more) blowout preventors failed. Don't trust me on that statement, though.
I haven't read enough about the particular depth and location of the leak, but a hose large and strong enough to handle the flow probably doesn't exist, and would be difficult to fabricate. Things that large tend to break just under their own weight when stressed. 5000 barrels a day is over 3 gallons per second, which is pretty forceful in and of itself.
Hmm yes of course, long hose, ocean currents, see what you mean. Does that mean it is 'difficult' or impossible I wonder?
If it were possible to fix hose to leak area, (what's left of the broken pipe,) would it need blowout preventers, all it would be doing is containing the oil, if the natural pressure was pushing it up the hose and it was spilling out at least it would be spilling into tanks?
Hmm, I guess by the time it was less than halfway up, the oil would be under the pressure of its own weight.
Oh well, just a thought, I guess we will just have to leave it to those experts eh
It's hard to conceive of the depths and pressures under which these wells are operating. This well, as I understand it, was drilled in more than 5000 feet of water. No human diver can withstand that pressure so everything must be done remotely. The well pipe itself is bend and curled back toward the ocean floor. There is no attachment point. The best plan I have heard of, if they can't get the blowout preventer to operate as it should have, is to drop a giant canopy over the well head, once they remove the bend pipe. The canopy would have a pipe attached to it so they could suck the oil into a tanker of some sort. But the equipment to do this is not readily available. It would have to be customized, which takes time. Then dropping this thing directly over the well head is a tricky job. By the time it all gets done, assuming it can be done, the Gulf is going to be a disaster for a long time.
My understanding is that they have been working on just such a dome in Texas. How long to fabricate? I haven't heard. But the plan is to place it over the blowout and as the oil rises to siphon it off at the top. I also heard it's never be done before - at least not at this scale. I do remember reading very early in this event that there was a triple shutoff valve. How everything failed isn't known.
All of this could have be prevented had they installed Y connection with an emergency tap that would change the flow to another line or shut down mechanism in the Y connection.
The dome is being transported to the well head today. May work may not. They managed to shut off one of the 3 leaking well casings but apparently that didn't cut the total flow rate much. Obviously they need to go back to the drawing boards on their "foolproof" design. So much for drill baby drill!
No, the $500 000 figure refers to a safety remote acoustic trigger to shut off the well. It seems absurd that MMS declined to mandate them, saying 'they are too costly', but it's not certain such a trigger would've made any difference anyway, in this particular situation.
Discussion
10 repliesI hope I don't sound like too much of an idiot but would it be impossible for BP to drag a long flexible hose to the damaged pipe and the other end to tankers until they can seal/fix the well?
Coupling a large hose to the leak is a hard task, especially when located subsea, flowing crude at 5000 gallons per day (or more), and perhaps not having a location at the leak to attach the hose to pump the crude.
Pipelines are supposed to have many blowout preventors (usually located at the joints between pipe sections) to act like pressure-reduction/stop valves. From what little I have read those (one or more) blowout preventors failed. Don't trust me on that statement, though.
If it were possible to fix hose to leak area, (what's left of the broken pipe,) would it need blowout preventers, all it would be doing is containing the oil, if the natural pressure was pushing it up the hose and it was spilling out at least it would be spilling into tanks?
Hmm, I guess by the time it was less than halfway up, the oil would be under the pressure of its own weight.
Oh well, just a thought, I guess we will just have to leave it to those experts eh
No, the $500 000 figure refers to a safety remote acoustic trigger to shut off the well. It seems absurd that MMS declined to mandate them, saying 'they are too costly', but it's not certain such a trigger would've made any difference anyway, in this particular situation.
Cheers
Carl