how do you close the oil well?

[Large Sarge]

lets just have some free thoughts ideas.

repeat any and all you have heard.

lets see if we can brainstorm something to solve it......

try and visualize likely 200,000 barrels per day gushing out, at tremendous pressure, a mile below the surface of the ocean.

now how do you cap it? or stop it.

[kregener]

Below is the conclusion of a VERY long post by a Florida petroleum engineer.

So this is the "Plan"

Ongoing: drill relief wells the whole time.

1. Suck away what they can, if they can. This does NOTHING but remove "some" oil from entering the sea.

2. Top kill clog shot. If it works, they will pump in heavy "mud" and then cement immediately and the well will stop gushing, it will be effectively "Killed" sealed off, leak over. <<<PRAY THIS WORKS!

3. New bop install. Saw the top off. If they get to this point the well is blowing out far more than it is now. They will have to put the new unit in place through that raging stream.....via remote subs...a very very difficult task to be sure. This is desperation time....

4. Relief wells connect and pump in fluid and cement and kill the well from 18,000 feet down...if they can, still a challenge....90 days out minimum from may 3rd when the first well began. They should be able to slow down the flow even if they cannot kill it with one well...the second well is 90 days away from...Sunday May 16th..

That's it guys...it's all we got and the situation is dire....aside from the extreme possibles like exploding a massive charge to crush the thing closed...and THAT IS being discussed...if it takes an atomic bomb to do it?...we may very well face a situation THAT desperate....this thing is an almost unimaginably powerful monster that we have just stabbed with a knife and spit in the face of.... and it's in a very weak cage, it doesn't sleep, it doesn't need to eat and it only gets stronger and more fierce as time goes by...it's going berserk and it's wrecking it's cage, tearing at it, screaming, bolts starting to pop loose and it's not going stop smashing and bashing anytime soon...oh and btw someone just handcuffed you to the bars and you cannot get away now.

I say this because the amount, the insane volumes, of gas and oil that could be released if this thing blows apart are truly of nightmare proportions...this one isn't in the south western gulf like the IXTOC blowout was...the GOM is sort of separated into two portions and the western side is sort of trapped...the Eastern side is not and the "Loop current" which connects to the "Gulf Stream" flows right through this side...it will carry the oil spillage out into the Gulf stream and all the way up the eastern seaboard all the way to the UK and Europe where it ends. There will be who knows how many cubic feet of gas released into the atmosphere and the surrounding area with an untold amount of toxins...the economic implications are dire...the fishing industry annihilated, beaches and tourism to them destroyed...and who knows what other effects there will be..it's a very very bad disaster to say the least...it's bad enough NOW...and THIS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT MAY HAPPEN...and WILL HAPPEN if they cannot stop this thing...you must get your head around that, nothing will stop this from blowing apart and going wide open if the rush of fluids cannot be halted, it is a CERTAINTY.

It's beyond our control as regular citizens really...we ALL should be screaming at our leaders that we do realize the consequences and to take this seriously...and I mean like War footing seriously, because it could get that bad....we can and should be aware of the historic nature of this thing because it IS being downplayed in the media...it could create mass panic if people really knew..and it still might if it does blow apart because there won't be any booms, any sucker hats or tubes or anything else that is going to do jack sh*t to stop it...it'll be like trying to blow a tidal wave away with a soda straw and everyone will become even more aware of just how weak and puny Man is compared to the forces of nature. If the well does cut loose? we are talking thousands and thousands of square miles of toxic crud....I'm not even sure the well drilling rigs would even be able to operate in the area...a massive rush of gas can sink ships...the gas is not breathable and it's Explosive too...One thunder storm comes by and a lightning strike?....BOOM...I'm sure the men working there realize they are probably in one the most hazardous work zones they have ever been in...I don't think it's an ELE or something of that order, but we don't need to be wiped out to be stuck enjoying a giant bowl of SUCK...for a very long time...

And all the while?...the wear out, blow apart countdown timer is ticking away on a huge time bomb that WILL go off, but no one knows when...and they are racing against it and it never stops ticking away....I truly hope we win that race...

I am telling you all this so that you will understand what we face..and also so that if you live near the Gulf you can make preparations for the possibilities...which could be incredibly bad...panic evacs or just plain mass panic, badass noxious fumes or worse...I guarantee that NO ONE knows for sure.

They really only have one shot here...and that is the top kill, Watch for it and pay attention, be aware what this all means to ALL OF US and I hope I explained things well enough to be understood by anyone. The top kill shot should be coming soon...I hope...as soon as possible....if you hear it failed...or if the well blew itself apart before they can do it...get the f*ck ready, because Pandora's box is about to open wide and the closest thing to the SHTF for real that we will likely see in our lifetimes is about come charging out at full rampant force...and it's a very large and deep box....

[Ponce]

I know how but..........what do I know.......is so simply that you have to be a street bum to understand it, no one with a PhD or a Dr..would.

Same for the "fence" that would scoop the oil into barges while stopping the oil from moving forward.........only thing is that in this case is to late to use it.

No help no hope.........we now have to learn to live with it........it will take a while to recognise as to how bad this really is.

We (or they) will be fighting this oil well but also other other oil "holding caves" that are connected to this well..........like the veins in a body that ends up in the heart.

[Large Sarge]

HAARP to generate a local quake, shift the sea floor and close it up

[Large Sarge]

my other thought is a massive piece of reinforced concrete (rebar, etc)

HUGE PIECE OF CONCRETE
dropped onto the pipe.

the concrete would have 4 or more holes on the outside of the thing

once it was in place, it would be screwed down into place on the seafloor

[FunnyMoney]

The post by Kregener is pretty much in line with my thoughts as well.

Fixing the pipe or dropping extensions onto it are unlikely to work under the extreme conditions and pressure of the flow.

Containment domes are difficult to make work at this depth unless you could build one with 1000 foot high sides which is impossible unless you plan on building one of the world's tallest buildings on top of the leaks.

Explosives are unlikely to work and could create a worse outcome.

Trying to plug the leaks by pouring cement or trying to pack huge amounts of material onto or into the openings has very little chance of working at 5000 feet under the sea and the logistics of such a strategy is nearly impossible to even get started. The top clog shot everyone is hoping to succeed has a very low probability of success, but I'm not an expert on the matter and am hoping like everyone else.

This is JMHO, but I believe that relief wells are the only way this disaster will ever be brought under control. It is very likely that 2 or more of them will be required. They will be extremely difficult to build. It will be a very long time (many months) before they are ready. Hurricane season won't be waiting for their completion.

[Horn]

I would place an aluminum/alloy plug on the inside of the pipe w/ high pressure, much the same as in an angioplasty procedure.

[kregener]

Just call in Obama...

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s167/Kregener/Government/Obamanation/obama-shark-oops-too-cool.jpg

[Ponce]

Lol Sarge, you are close to my way of thinking........but......at the top it would have an open pipe with a off-on valve that would be open while placing the concrete block over the broken pipe..........the concrete block would have another open large pipe at one side also with the on off valve, this one would also be in the open position while placing the concrete box in place...........you would then shut the valve at the top so that the oil would contined to scape side ways, attach then the pipes going to the surface at the top......open the top shut off valve and shut off the sideways pipe and in this manner the oil would go to the surface.

I would then use all the profit from this well to clean up the waste that they have created and also to pay those who were hurt by all this.

[Spectrism]

It really depends on what is at the end of the pipe.... in the reservoir. I read one report that said they drilled all the way across the reservoir and into dirt/rock.

They need to decrease the effective pressure so this means place a flow restrictor near the reservoir. To do this, they will need to cut the riser and this could open pandora's box of increased disasters.... time would be crucial and they would have to act fast. Inserting the restrictor down that 18,000 feet would help alot. Then they could get control topside.... possibly even keep the well alive and producing.

[Quantum]

Low-yield nuclear explosive, collapsing the sea floor onto the venting pipe.

The only drawback is the tidal effects, but it's a matter of how much oil you want on the coast.

Capping won't work, drilling new holes ("relief") won't work, and would take too long to even try.

[old steel]

I wanna know, how much is some?


Tube diverts some leaking oil
Last Updated: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | 4:30 PM ET Comments21Recommend16
CBC News

Engineers began to siphon oil leaking from a damaged well deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico to a vessel on the surface Sunday, but the company in charge of the operation said it's too early to know how much of the fuel is being recovered.

Oil leaking from a collapsed rig could be seen blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday.Oil leaking from a collapsed rig could be seen blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday. (Dave Martin/Associated Press)BP said its Riser Insertion Tube Tool, or RITT, remained attached for about four hours after it was installed Saturday before it became dislodged. Workers then secured it in place again Sunday morning.

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice-president for exploration and production, told reporters the amount of fuel being drawn was gradually increasing, but it would take several days to measure.

He said the nitrogen, oil and gas being collected cannot be accurately measured until it is separated.

The tube was threaded inside a riser pipe where oil has been gushing for the past 24 days. Massive amounts began leaking two days after the rig Deepwater Horizon sank following an explosion and fire that killed 11 on April 20.

BP said engineers will spend the next seven to 10 days preparing to plug the leak. They want to pump in debris, or "junk shot," to clog the well's blowout preventer, before adding mud and cement.

Previous attempts to stop the leak by using a 90-tonne steel and concrete container failed after an ice-like slushy mixture clogged the opening in its roof.

However, BP said its smaller version of the box, dubbed the "top hat," is "ready to go if needed on the sea floor" to stop the leak, which has spilled millions of litres of oil into the Gulf, threatening sea life, commercial fishing and the coastal tourist industry from Louisiana to Florida.

The permanent solution of completing a relief well is still months away.
With files from The Associated Press

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/16/bp-gulf-oil-leak-tube.html#ixzz0o7yeILJV

[Spectrism]

I wanna know, how much is some?


Tube diverts some leaking oil
Last Updated: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | 4:30 PM ET Comments21Recommend16
CBC News

Engineers began to siphon oil leaking from a damaged well deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico to a vessel on the surface Sunday, but the company in charge of the operation said it's too early to know how much of the fuel is being recovered.

Oil leaking from a collapsed rig could be seen blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday.Oil leaking from a collapsed rig could be seen blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday. (Dave Martin/Associated Press)BP said its Riser Insertion Tube Tool, or RITT, remained attached for about four hours after it was installed Saturday before it became dislodged. Workers then secured it in place again Sunday morning.

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice-president for exploration and production, told reporters the amount of fuel being drawn was gradually increasing, but it would take several days to measure.

He said the nitrogen, oil and gas being collected cannot be accurately measured until it is separated.

The tube was threaded inside a riser pipe where oil has been gushing for the past 24 days. Massive amounts began leaking two days after the rig Deepwater Horizon sank following an explosion and fire that killed 11 on April 20.

BP said engineers will spend the next seven to 10 days preparing to plug the leak. They want to pump in debris, or "junk shot," to clog the well's blowout preventer, before adding mud and cement.

Previous attempts to stop the leak by using a 90-tonne steel and concrete container failed after an ice-like slushy mixture clogged the opening in its roof.

However, BP said its smaller version of the box, dubbed the "top hat," is "ready to go if needed on the sea floor" to stop the leak, which has spilled millions of litres of oil into the Gulf, threatening sea life, commercial fishing and the coastal tourist industry from Louisiana to Florida.

The permanent solution of completing a relief well is still months away.
With files from The Associated Press

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/16/bp-gulf-oil-leak-tube.html#ixzz0o7yeILJV



I already worked it out. Less than 3%.

Don't believe these lying bastards.

The dome would have been a success if they captured 85% at best. That meant a daily leak of 441,000 gallons was "success".

I KNOW they did not stop that leak as an inserted tube that caught ALL the oil would have to withstand a back-pressure of 12,000 psi. In a 21" pipe, that is 872,000 pounds of force. That is a force of 4360 tons!!

If they slipped a 4-inch pipe in there, they are collecting this percentage of the flow:

4 inch pipe = 12 sq in
21 inch pipe = 415 sq in

Area ratio: 12/415 = .03 or 3%

Hmmmm... great success at 3%!! Bloody blowhards are morons. This would be like driving your brand new GM car off a 300 foot cliff and claiming it is in great shape because a rear view mirror did not break.




Ohhh.... one more thing.... if oil washes up on shore, it is quantifiable. Joe Shmo can say that it takes $30,000 to clean his beach or wash the oil spray off his house.

If it stays down in the layers of water and washes into the Atlantic, who can say the dollar value on the damage?

[Neuro]

Why don't they just impact the seabed close to the well head with torpedoes, the explosion will cause the seabed to crush the pipe... I think a nuke is probably a bit excessive, like shooting mosquitoes with a cannon...

[Spectrism]

Why don't they just impact the seabed close to the well head with torpedoes, the explosion will cause the seabed to crush the pipe... I think a nuke is probably a bit excessive, like shooting mosquitoes with a cannon...


No, it won't. If the well is delivering a ready pressure of 10,000 + psi at the head, we can figure how much dirt would have to cover the well to stop the flow.

There are 27.76" of water to each psi. Let's call it 28. Dirt is about 2.5 times the density of water.

28/2.5 = 11.2" of dirt for every psi.

Let's check my previous numbers: the well is 18,000 feet deep. If the pressure put on that reservoir from the dirt above it plus the ovean water, then we have- 18,000 * 12/11.2 + 2300 = 21,585 psi in the reservoir.

Let's even assume that the full weight of oil column exists in the well. That provides a back pressure against the reservoir. And let's assume the oil density is 0.87.
18000 * 0.87(28/12) = 6711 psi

Our effective pressure at the well head is 21,585 - 6,711 = 14,874 psi

How many feet of dirt would it take to stop the flow? Since the dirt/mud is not as fluid as water, it is not as easily displaced. I am sure there are formulas to calculate that. Solids like this in a slurrie will be thixotropic- setting up and resisting flow unless violently pulsed. The trick is in getting enough volume to allow the dirt to set up while the oil is trying to gush through. While the dirt/mud is disturbed, its viscosity will be much like oil... but then it rapidly settles into locked sediment. My first inclination to just calculate pressures would not be valid.

The 6" line is flowing at about 28-30 feet per second. (my rough guess)

You would need to have at least 5 seconds for the ground to set up after the blast. That means a minimal of 150 feet BELOW the pressure plug. The plug would need to support nearly 14,000 psi. This blast could not be on the surface unless it was enormous enough to collapse several hundred feet of earth. I wouldn't want to even try that. Then if the well is not too badly damaged, the earth can eventually fall into the oil as the oil wears away at the plug. If they come in from the side and fail, they open up multiple channels for leaks.


Another thing to consider- the well head is made with thick layers of concrete casements. You don't even want to destroy those.

[Quantum]

Why don't they just impact the seabed close to the well head with torpedoes, the explosion will cause the seabed to crush the pipe... I think a nuke is probably a bit excessive, like shooting mosquitoes with a cannon...


The seafloor pressure is thousands of PSI, due to the depth. No conventional weapon has the oomph to do the job, since it would have to be heavily reinforced to even make it to the bottom without crushing.

[vacuum]

Ring it with 6 or more high-yield nukes and detonate them simultaneously.

[Large Sarge]

on the nuke idea, drill down say a 1000 feet a new well, adjacent to the existing well

insert nuke, and detonate

the explosion will shift everything, for a thousand feet, and close the pipe for good.

let the engineers figure out how many megaton, and how close the new well must be to the flowing well.

[Spectrism]

on the nuke idea, drill down say a 1000 feet a new well, adjacent to the existing well

insert nuke, and detonate

the explosion will shift everything, for a thousand feet, and close the pipe for good.

let the engineers figure out how many megaton, and how close the new well must be to the flowing well.




The risk is that the sealed oil & gas reservoir is ruptured releasing billions of gallons to flow up to the surface at once. I would not want to be anywhere near that zone.