Relief well 900 feet away

[StackerKen]

BP said work on the wells has not been impeded by Tropical Storm Alex, now forecast to strike near the Texas-Mexico border as a hurricane late tonight.
BP officials have reported brisk, hitch-free progress drilling the first relief well, which began May 2 and has drilled to a measured depth of 16,770 feet, according to BP's most recent report on Monday.
It is now being drilled vertically about 20 feet from the Macondo, which reaches a total depth of 18,000 feet, including 5,000 feet of Gulf seawater. Measured depth is the total length of the well bore, including horizontal turns, and not its distance from the surface of the water.
The BP media office said Tuesday the company doesn't yet have an exact depth for the planned intersect, but BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said in a technical briefing Monday that drilling was 900 feet away from its intended target.


more here

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/7086967.html


video here

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/reliefwell060210.htm

[TPTB]

Shall we light up a Pelican and break out the champagne, or is it too soon to celebrate? :oo-->

[Horn]

Yes, and when it's breached the great kraken is released, and poops all over us.

http://theperryboys.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/kraken.jpg

[Glass]

Shall we light up a Pelican and break out the champagne, or is it too soon to celebrate? :oo-->


A Pelican is a brand of cigar right? or maybe underpants? Take them off first, ok?

[StackerKen]

Hey you guys this was spose to be a serous thread!!
:oo-->






















LOL ;D

[StackerKen]

If the same oversight goes into the relief well as the original rig construction/maintenance then I have zero faith in this thing being a success. They already knocked the cap off once and failed at every other maneuver.


I think the relief well will work...

BP wants that oil...don't they?

[beefsteak]

This is just brilliant.



Not!!!

[Horn]

If the same oversight goes into the relief well as the original rig construction/maintenance then I have zero faith in this thing being a success. They already knocked the cap off once and failed at every other maneuver.


I think the relief well will work...

BP wants that oil...don't they?


You mean a relief volcano?

[BrewTech]

This is just brilliant.



Not!!!


I'm thinking about using this as my sig line... it says it all.

[Quantum]

Translation: double the flow into the Gulf only 900 feet away.

[k-os]

Translation: double the flow into the Gulf only 900 feet away.


This is what I am thinking.

[the riot act]

From The Oil Drum web site. http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6674#more

Making the Connection

As the well continues to descend there will likely be an increased focus on determining exactly where the two wells lie, one to another. This requires a process that pulls the drill string each time, and so progress is likely to be slow as the relief well (RW) reaches the level at which the entry into the original well will be first tried.

Kent Wells has described the process. But he does not describe how the wells will be connected. And I will make a little more detailed description of a possible way of doing this, that John Wright has used before, at the end of the post.

Note that Kent Wells points out that the ranging runs do not start until the final set of well casing has been set. (And this was completed on June 19th). Once the casing has been set, the procedure calls to drill 275 ft of MD (measured depth), and then pull the drill.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/1%20Step%201%20drill.jpg

The instrument package is then run into the hole with a Vector Magnetometer, which is mounted on a wire to carry it in and out (known as a wireline). The process of drill and test, using the Magnetometer, continued until the steel casing in the original hole had been detected.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/2%20initial%20ranging.jpg

The process is illustrated a little better in the video of the visit to the relief well team:

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/6%20Ranging%20video.jpg

Once the initial well has been found the procedure changes. Now after the well has drilled down an additional interval (a distance decided by those monitoring progress) instead of pulling the string all the way out and running the wireline in open hole to find the casing, the bit is only retracted to the cased section, and the magnetometer package is wirelined down inside the drill string.

At present they have made two ranging runs, and have found the initial casing, so that then know that they were 55 ft from it, and they have 16 degrees to turn the well through yet to get it parallel to the original. They have decided that this “additional interval” will be 125 ft, and then they will make another ranging run.

But the process is now changed so that in the new run this will be where the instrument is run inside the DP (drill pipe) instead of pulling it to the surface. After making a measurement it is pulled back out on the wireline. And then the drill can advance the hole a little, it then is backed off the bottom, and the magnetometer again is lowered and locates the original casing, this is plotted and the process repeated. Only the wireline was pulled to remove the magnetometer from the well during drilling (to allow mud to the bit to cool it and remove drill cuttings).

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/3%20drill%20and%20range.jpg

Once the RW passes the original well it will be turned to drill parallel with it and drill down its own 10 1/8th inch hole until it reaches a point just above where the 9 7/8th inch casing liner ended at the bottom of the original hole.

With the new well 50 ft above this point, and 5 ft from it, the relief well will be reamed at the bottom using a 12 ¼” reaming bit to widen the well at the bottom.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/4%20reaming%20the%20well.jpg

A 9 7/8” steel liner will then be run into the hole and cemented into place in the relief well, running back up to the 11 7/8” casing that was set at the beginning of the process.

The relief well will then end 50 ft above the bottom of the 9 7/8” liner length in the original well and 5 ft from it. (Remember that there are questions as to whether the oil is flowing up around the outside of the steel tube inside this one, or up the middle of it).

Now what is interesting, and missing from the presentation, is how the connection between the two wells is made. There is also a little discrepancy over where the hole will be reamed and the 9 7/8” casing will be run to. In the animation it is shown as 17,050 ft (above) and in the visit to the rig, at 17,758 ft. (I think, based on looking at the log that that number should be 17,158 ft, for the top of the 7” x 9 7/8” casing, which is the problem length.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/5%20Actual%20RW%20progress.jpg

So the BP discussion ends with the RW 50 ft above, and 5 ft over from where the problem might be located (at the bottom of the lined well length) where the oil and gas may be seeping up the outside of the production casing and entering the well.

Let’s remember what the well liner and casing look like, down at the bottom of the hole.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/7%20Deepwater%20well%20casing.jpg

So the question is, once the well is at the bottom of the lined section, are they going to:

a) try and drill down into the leaking zone below the last liner section, intersecting this to use the channels created to carry the mud from the RW into the original well.

b) Mill over to the liner segment of the well and through it into the annulus between the production casing and the liner, and try bottom kill from there.

c) Drill further down and over to mill through and access the production casing, and inject the mud into this to kill the well.

I suppose it depends on what they find at the point where they set the casing at the bottom of the next interval. (I had planned to talk about the bits they planned to use for the milling, but 5 ft is a long way between the two wells to establish a connection, though presumably this was the distance that has been used in the past when wells were killed this way. John Wright has previously done this by attaching a milling bit to a mud motor and drilling over into the casing and down along it. These are illustrations from a brochure of previous jobs:

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/8%20Reaming%20the%20casing.jpg

And the illustration of the milling bit (which can make the cut in only a few seconds).

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/9%20bit%20and%20scar%20in%20pipe.jpg

Incidentally the company is now part of Boots and Coots.

[Book]

http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/b/bu/bubbels/251751_empty_classroom_desk.jpg

Great post The Riot Act. We learn new stuff at GSUS every day. Thanks!

:)

[zap]

Yes Thanks Riot, I need the pictures to understand it. :)

[Heimdhal]

Thanks riot act. I am watching this relief well closley. I still think bad things are in gulfs future, even if it works, but it may buy a little bit of time.

What I REALLY REALLY want to know is this: If the claim of high pressure is true, if this thing is really as high as 70,000 PSI (even if its half that), what makes the relief well any better than the first well bore? What I mean is, what is going to keep this relief well from blowing out and causing another oil-cano?

Do we suddenly have saftey measures in place that didnt exist 2 months ago? If they still arent 100% certain as to what caused the first blow out, what kind of odds are we looking at for the second?

Also, my other concern, which may be completley unfounded, is that the relief well will fail somehow, either theyll miss the original well bore by too far a distance to connect, or etc, and they will the resort to dropping a nuke down the relief well bore, as it will be in a similar position to how that has been done int he past on land wells. If they nuke it at this stage in the game, I am quite worried it could cause some catastrophic results for the severely weakened sea bed.

Just some thoughts, FWIW.

[StackerKen]

yes Thank you riot act.

some of that info was in the video I linked to in the OP.
John Wright seems confident that this will work and claims he has done several successful relief wells in the past.

we shall see.

[Libertytree]

Is there a completion date associated with it?

[The Great Ag]

Hey, Riot Act:
Thanks, I was going to post the same article. What is interesting to note is the last sentence:

Incidentally the company is now part of Boots and Coots.

Boots and Coots was purchased by Haliburton sometime in February or March, about 30 days prior to the accident. I wonder if it is an accident Haliburton purchased this company when they did or if they had prior knowledge? HMMM?

Heimdahl you posted:

What I REALLY REALLY want to know is this: If the claim of high pressure is true, if this thing is really as high as 70,000 PSI (even if its half that),
According to The Oil Drum website theoildrum.com (http://theoildrum.com) oil is spewing at 12,000 psi. Not 70,000 but 12,000 psi is strong enough to cut through most objects. My understanding, and I get this from Theoildrum website, is the relief well will tap into the current well and act as a diverter, much like diverting water from a river to build a dam. It is a high risk operation and the ONLY option left short of a nuke. Everything else has failed.

I read the oil drum for solid info on the Gulf problem. Great site.

The Great Ag

[The Great Ag]

Is there a completion date associated with it?
ASAP but it is a race against time. Literally, anything can happen! From more of what is occurring on the beaches and wetlands to the doom and gloom stuff. Personally, I do NOT want the doom and gloom to happen as most of the Gulf States will be uninhabitable for some years.

The Great Ag

[Heimdhal]

Hey, Riot Act:
Thanks, I was going to post the same article. What is interesting to note is the last sentence:

Incidentally the company is now part of Boots and Coots.

Boots and Coots was purchased by Haliburton sometime in February or March, about 30 days prior to the accident. I wonder if it is an accident Haliburton purchased this company when they did or if they had prior knowledge? HMMM?

Heimdahl you posted:

What I REALLY REALLY want to know is this: If the claim of high pressure is true, if this thing is really as high as 70,000 PSI (even if its half that),
According to The Oil Drum website theoildrum.com (http://theoildrum.com) oil is spewing at 12,000 psi. Not 70,000 but 12,000 psi is strong enough to cut through most objects. My understanding, and I get this from Theoildrum website, is the relief well will tap into the current well and act as a diverter, much like diverting water from a river to build a dam. It is a high risk operation and the ONLY option left short of a nuke. Everything else has failed.

I read the oil drum for solid info on the Gulf problem. Great site.

The Great Ag




Thanks. You're right, even 12,000 psi is crazy high and quite hard to control and perdict. I guess all we can really do is wait and see.......

I have a feeling it may already be too late to save large portions of the gulf. The ecosystem may have been completley obliterated already and its only a matter of time really. We already know fishing and tourism have been effecivley destroyed, fishing for at least a decade, tourism for at least the rest of the year, and realisticaly longer since the economy isnt doing so well either (understatement).

If the reports are true and this is effecting agri-business, thats it, game over for most of our states down here for a long time.

[the riot act]

Hey, Riot Act:
Thanks, I was going to post the same article. What is interesting to note is the last sentence:

Incidentally the company is now part of Boots and Coots.

Boots and Coots was purchased by Haliburton sometime in February or March, about 30 days prior to the accident. I wonder if it is an accident Haliburton purchased this company when they did or if they had prior knowledge? HMMM?

Heimdahl you posted:

What I REALLY REALLY want to know is this: If the claim of high pressure is true, if this thing is really as high as 70,000 PSI (even if its half that),
According to The Oil Drum website theoildrum.com (http://theoildrum.com) oil is spewing at 12,000 psi. Not 70,000 but 12,000 psi is strong enough to cut through most objects. My understanding, and I get this from Theoildrum website, is the relief well will tap into the current well and act as a diverter, much like diverting water from a river to build a dam. It is a high risk operation and the ONLY option left short of a nuke. Everything else has failed.

I read the oil drum for solid info on the Gulf problem. Great site.

The Great Ag


I read earlier at TOD that Haiburton has testified in front of CONgress, that they sternly warned BP that the process they wanted them to do would carry a 80% risk of failure. Now this could just be finger pointing, but these engineers who testified really are professionals, so I'll let everyone make up their own minds on that.

My personal opinion is that there is no conspiracy involved with this except in the aftermath, but the current administration who can not make a decision. Remember they were taught by a bunch of liberals to wait till be told what to do, not respond. Just a bunch of Metrosexal men acting out of emotion rather than logic. (No John Wayne Types in the white house this time)

As from what I have read there absolutely will be no nuking of this well. They eventually may try to use other high explosives that would be much more powerful and less dangerous than a nuke. The nuke question only lives at GLP now.

[k-os]

I am very glad that you guys go over to theoildrum, read and digest information and spit it back out here, in ways that I can understand. Thanks!

[Libertytree]

I still can't find an approx date when this is supposed to be accomplished.

[I am me, I am free]

I still can't find an approx date when this is supposed to be accomplished.


That's because it's accepted that it may take a number of attempts to actually hit the wellbore square on (which is what has to occur, slightly offset won't work from what I gather - Ixtoc took no less than four attempts). "Mid-August" is what has been repeated in the media by Adm. Allen.

[beefsteak]

I am very glad that you guys go over to theoildrum, read and digest information and spit it back out here, in ways that I can understand. Thanks!


+1, k-os!

beef

[the riot act]

From what I understand they have to remove the drill and insert the magnetic ranger. That in of itself takes days/week as they are down what, 4 miles? That's a lot of pipe on the surface to connect and disconnect every time.

They are only drilling a few feet at a time, trying to hit the needle in the haystack.

[The Great Ag]

I have a feeling it may already be too late to save large portions of the gulf. The ecosystem may have been completley obliterated already and its only a matter of time really. We already know fishing and tourism have been effecivley destroyed, fishing for at least a decade, tourism for at least the rest of the year, and realisticaly longer since the economy isnt doing so well either (understatement).

If the reports are true and this is effecting agri-business, thats it, game over for most of our states down here for a long time.

I caught a news show this week and by pure chance (I rarely watch news shows) saw a report regarding a huge oil spil that happened in the Gulf near Mexico spilling 140 MILLION gallons or barrels. 30 years later the oyster/clam population had NOT returned and the locals stated when they do catch them they still have an oily taste. Also, oil can still be found on the beach from time to time. THOSE TWO ITEMS were the ONLY negative aspects mentioned in the article. Otherwise, all was good and the footage shewn was of clean beaches, green trees and smiling faces.

Oh, the joy that awaits. . .

The Great Ag

[Heimdhal]

The Great Ag......




I guess thats kind of good news. I think the spill on that shows was 140 million gallons. The one going on now has to date, using the official BP numbers has spilled 102 million gallons. However, they are using the 16,000 barrels per day number. The realisitc numbers that we are getting from independent studies is suggesting its upwards of 400 to 500 million gallons that have already been pumped out of that well.

That number to me would suggest things wont go back to normal for some time. The exxon valdez was something like 10 million gallons and the waters where it spilled off Alaska have still not even come close to returning to their former bounty.

I guess only time will really tell. :(