Regular WUWT commenter Jimmy Haigh, a geologist by trade, sends along a PDF that is a compilation of on the scene photos taken right after the explosion and in the following two days. I’ve converted it to web format. These were taken by people on the scene during the rescue and firefighting operation. There’s also a narrative, done by a person “in the know”. You won’t find this at AP or Reuters.
You may have heard the news in the last week about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which caught fire, burned for two days, then sank in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found.
The rig belongs to Transocean, the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP’s Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract. The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.
The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning.
The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the work necessary to bring the well into production.
It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or ‘BOP’s” as they’re called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig. In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even fail-safe Deadman systems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface. The flames were visible up to about 35 miles away. Not the glow – the flames. They were 200 – 300 ft high.
All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.
The well still is apparently flowing oil, which is appearing at the surface as a slick. They have been working with remotely operated vehicles, or ROV’s which are essentially tethered miniature submarines with manipulator arms and other equipment that can perform work underwater while the operator sits on a vessel. These are what were used to explore the Titanic, among other things. Every floating rig has one on board and they are in constant use. In this case, they are deploying ROV’s from dedicated service vessels. They have been trying to close the well in using a specialized port on the BOP’s and a pumping arrangement on their ROV’s. They have been unsuccessful so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up.
In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – with a target radius of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation’s pressure, thus causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last. It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole.
It’s a sad day when something like this happens to any rig, but even more so when it happens to something on the cutting edge of our capabilities.
The photos that follow show the progression of events over the 36 hours from catching fire to sinking.
First, what the rig looked like.
The drilling mast has toppled over here – they usually melt pretty fast when fire breaks out.
Support vessels using their fire fighting gear to cool the rig.
From about 10 miles away – dawn of Day 1
Support vessels using their fire fighting gear to cool the rig – note the list developing
About noon Day 1 – List is pronounced now
Early morning Day 2 – Note the hole burned through the aluminum helideck
Day 2, morning – settling quite low in the water now – fuel and oil slick forming
See also satellite images of the oil slick here
Sponsored IT training links:
The 642-982 online path is the best way to pass high tech HP0-J34 and HP0-S20 exam.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I’m a geologist, too; I currently work in other fields, but I’ve some friends working in the oil industry, aboard drilling rigs.
My deepest solidarity to the families and to the collegues and friends of the 11 men missing.
Firstly, the apt airbag analogy would be: How would a second automatic deployment signal help to deploy a broken airbag? The system is designed so that in the event of the BOP being disconnected from the manual control system, it closes. The problem was not in getting a signal to the BOP. The BOP either failed or it was damaged or it was simply not capable of handling the flow of gas and/or oil.
Secondly, the acoustic trigger device is not like a garage door opener (all of the encoding in the world doesn’t prevent my garage door from periodically opening for no apparent reason). The system is designed to be operated from a lifeboat. The system is dependent upon the transducer being able to send a line-of-sight series of acoustic pulses to a pair of receivers on the BOP. The system is highly dependent on signal to noise ratio and it will not work if there are significant mud and/or gas plumes.
Here is a discussion on the problems with using acoustic backup systems in the Gulf of Mexico from a report prepared for the MMS…
Despite the questions about reliability and the fact that an acoustic backup system would have made no difference in this particular blowout, the odds are that they will become a requirement in the US OCS.
In all likelihood, the bureaucrats will assert that the new requirement solved the problem.
Malcolm Kirkpatrick says:
May 2, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I understand. Sorry for misunderstanding you.
I was in Hiroshima 20 years after WWII. You’d never know it had been nuked, except for the monument. This gulf spill will be cleaned up and forgotten about in 2 or 3 years. It’s not the end of the world or even the end of the gulf coast. Folks need to take a longer view of things like this.
Agreed. I’m tired of hearing how this is an environmental disaster. If a large asteroid strikes and blots out the sky for a year, THAT’S an environmental disaster. If Yellowstone blows with such force that American loses millions of lives and its ability to grow and export food, THAT’S an environmental disaster. THIS is not an “disaster” no matter how much it is played up. The tragic part of this is the loss of human life. The oil slick is ugly and nasty and will be completely forgotten in a couple years.
Never the less, the powers that be must play this up as a DISASTER in order to change opinions politically and further choke global energy use “for the Earth.” Pay no attention to the fact that Earth seeps more oil naturally than we spill by accident. Or to the fact that environmental opposition to domestic energy development (shale oil; coal gasification) is why we have to turn increasingly to both transporting foreign oil and drilling for oil in ocean water, which is inherently more risky from the standpoint of accidents and spills.
Never let an accident go to waste. It’s an opportunity to accomplish your political goals.
A map of all the active oil leases in the Gulf.
“The oil spill that is crushing the Gulf, and BP shares, is a massive disaster, but considering just how many wells there are in the Gulf of Mexico may put it in perspective.
All of the companies that own rights to oil areas in the gulf, and those which already have platforms established, may have their insurance premiums repriced very soon.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-the-day-oil-wells-2010-5
This gives me pause>
According to Reuters, the Gulf Oil spill the largest of all time (520 million gallons) covered 4,000 sq. miles.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2997501.htm
According to SpaceWeather.com this spill covers 4,000 square miles.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
Does anyone know the trade-offs /benefits of adding a dispersant at the well head which they are doing now?
$35,000,000 plus expenses i stop the leak in 12 days!
Pat Moffitt says:
May 1, 2010 at 6:44 pm
To rbateman
I’m sure they deployed SWOT teams not SWAT (although I have seen many media centers call it SWAT). The agencies deploying make SWOT more likely-Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats. Its what one would expect after a such an accident.
———–
REPLY: Pat, thanks for this, I am absolutely sure they meant SWOT teams, and not SWAT teams!! I’ve written to the Public Information Office staff at the Deepwater Horizon Incident Command center to alert them of this mistake.
The following comes directly from the White House:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/30/response-oil-spill-so-far
“DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance, the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs and the EPA is conducting air monitoring activities to gather information on the impact of the controlled burn on air quality.”
———
I mean, the old Soviet Interior Department had their own SWAT troops, but I kinda doubt that the US DOI has them! They surely mean Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats process assessment teams!!
Sheesh! Just Google “Gulf oil SWAT” for some really goofy stuff stirred up by this mistake!!
My job in the military for 26 years was looking at aerial imagery, so I know a little about that. So far, I see a convoluted oil slick that’s been bent back upon itself, being pushed back and forth by wind and tide, and so far hasn’t made it ashore anywhere. I grew up in Louisiana (not near the coast), so I know a little bit about that, too. This is the runoff season – rivers all over the central US are dumping water into the Mississippi and other rivers that dump into the Gulf. This is going to be a positive flow that will keep most of the oil offshore. It’s also going to act as a flushing agent for the marshes that make up 90% of the Louisiana Gulf coast. The coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida aren’t quite as marshy.
I saw several photos on “news outlets” that showed what appeared to be oil in the Mississippi River, and alluded to oil in New Orleans. NONE of this came from the Deepwater Horizon accident, unless it was deliberately brought there for a photo op. The current rate of flow of the Mississippi River is near its maximum, and oil does not have the property of moving upstream against that kind of a flow. New Orleans is on the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain, 40 miles or more from the Gulf at its closest.
A large number of people are trying to make political points from what is obviously a major industrial accident, and deliberately and significantly warping the truth in the process. Those of us who have any idea of what the truth is need to keep pounding it home at every opportunity, or we will certainly feel the pinch in our pocketbooks in the future.
David Middleton said (in conclusion after posting excerpts from the West, P.E. “Evaluation of Secondary Intervention Methods in Well Control, pages 59-64”):
“Despite the questions about reliability and the fact that an acoustic backup system would have made no difference in this particular blowout, the odds are that they will become a requirement in the US OCS. ”
This is probably correct, although there are some potential problems with “acoustic backup” that probably should studied further and then corrected. For example, there are many techniques that can be employed to improve S/N ratios. (But I wonder if a system utilizing low-frequency underwater electromagnetic radiation over short distances could be even more reliable?)
However all safety backup systems for such a critical function as activating a blowout prevention command can have their failure modes. Even the presumably dependable “Deadman” system has its problems, as I found while reading the very interesting West document kindly identified with a useful link in David Middleton’s post.
Apparently the “Deadman” system will not function unless it is “armed”, and some operators may be reluctant to do so, or may fail to do so through human error. I extracted three paragraphs from that report and have pasted them below:
6. The system may be disarmed. If disarmed the system is totally disabled and cannot
be re-armed once communication with the BOP stack has been lost.
7. ROV capability as an emergency measure should include the ability to utilize
subsea accumulators as a supply source.
8. System diagnostics are essentially nonexistent. Deadman systems operate openloop.
There are no means to verify functionality of the deadman system. If the
sensors, batteries, or electronics fail, the only (and first) indication of unavailability
is failure to operate when needed.
The same heavy lift ship carried the USS Cole…
http://www.transport-central.info/show_image.php?name=MV%20Blue%20Marlin%20carrying%20the%20USS%20Cole
The same Ship transported the rig from S. Korea, to the Gulf…
http://futurepredictions.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/nautilus-dry-tow.jpg
Wow So large, Find any people in these photos?
Well it is odd the contrast between the Government “response” to this tragedy; and the recent Coal mine explosion and loss of life.
In both cases; lives and family loved ones were lost, while working on very dangerous jobs to bring energy to a thirsty public.
Somehow Obama has not exactly made much mention of the 11 workers lost on this rig. Well as Rahm Emanuel says; we can’t let any catastrophe go to waste.
I actually heard an interview of one of the workers who was on this platform when it blew; and he survived. The Eleven men lost were his friends. He described in some technical detail, exactly what happened; and comparing that with what the “news media” present to the public as to BP’s preparedness, and attention to safety; was like being on two different planets. The worker was unidentified but the interviewer was able to check out that he was in fact on the rig, and survived.
If you think a wind turbine over-revving, and tearing itself to pieces is hazardous; how does dealing with gases and fluids at pressures of 40,000 PSI grab you; and with explosive materials at that.
Well it is very nice for you greenies to think of golden cornfields; with Bambi nibbling on the energy crop in the sunshine; But energy is a very dangerous business, however you want to cut it.
The only safe energy plants are those that are currently shut down for maintenance. The operating ones; have all of the what if safeguards that their designers can envisage; and if they knew of better safety measures; they would employ them.
Well for sheer dangerous energy aquisition; absolutely nothing beats the hazards of clambering around in fig trees to harvest the free clean green abundant renewable energy; that our ancesters tried to grow their societies and economies with; to no avail; I might add.
Regarding E-M communication, this has been tried in the opposite direction as a means of transmitting real time measurement and formation evaluation while drilling data to surface from tools mounted in the bottom hole assembly of a drill string. The system worked fine onshore, but was unable to communicate across the water gap – although boffins familiar with this technology assure me this obstacle was overcome late in the experiment.
There appears now to be a plan to install a second BOP on top of the malfunctioning one – this would presumably require cutting and dressing the damaged riser and drill string at the top of the exisiting BOP. If the crimped riser is restricting the flow, then this sounds like a gutsy move unless BP, TO and Cameron are confident of their collective ability to stab the 2nd BOP into the original BOP on the first try. Upside might be that what ever is obstructing the rams may be blown clear by the flow(?).
At work today we contemplated what sort of shear ram function test might be called for in revised GoM drilling requirements – given BOP rams are currently function and pressure tested, and the actual cutting function of the rams has to be taken on the word of the manufacturer at the time of purchase – actually cutting a sacrificial test single once per fortnight would be fraught with imponderables – not least the wear caused to the shear ram by the cutting test itself.
I know NOTHING about this stuff,
But it would seem that a small “Nuclear” detonation placed at the right depth/area over the well might shut er down???!!! Don’t seem it could hurt to try!
Just a thought!
P.S. – or pressure from small conventional warhead to activate BOP’s?!
……if anyone really wants to look at something ominous….were all the “fail safe” systems run by computers and were these computers on an “open System” that was available to internet activity….not saying that someone came in and subverted the system a la “24”….but possibly a virus that infected the systems and prevented fail safes from doing their job…just a thought
To Old PI :
There was a 420,000 gal spill in the river just below New Orleans about a year and half ago. It impacted almost 60 river miles. I’m sure there is still some sheen associated with oil oozing out of the mud flats along the river.. (oil doesn’t degrade as fast in these low O2 environs) Remember this spill (tug and barge) was “in river” not in the open ocean– meaning far more impact. But it got far less attention. Spill was fuel oil- much more problematic than crude. I agree doubtful this spill reached the river when they said it did given current flow and wind conditions.
@Bob paglee says:
May 3, 2010 at 2:09 pm
The controls for the BOP are not dependent on electric power or batteries. The system is controlled both electronically and hydraulically. The shear rams should have hydraulically activated when the manual controls were used. Damage to the manual controls should have led to the shear rams closing via the deadman switch. The ROV’s were able to access the hydraulic actuators on the BOP; but it would not close.
The only reasonable explanation seems to be that something was blown back out of the hole and blocked the BOP. Maybe the work string? Or a liner hanger?
The push is already on in Congress to require acoustic backup systems. I just hope that the bureaucrats don’t issue the new requirement and then declare the problem solved. There had to have been something wrong a series of procedures that led to the blowout and BOP failure. The critical thing to do after the well is controlled is a very serious post mortem on the procedures, methods and materials used by BP and the various contractors involved.
Not that I am much of a conspiracy theory fan, but it is interesting that there are now several theories that this may not have been just an accident. I guess time will tell (maybe).
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/05/was-the-gulf-oil-rig-explosion-a-deliberate-attack-on-america/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randall-amster/was-the-gulf-oil-spill-an_b_560014.html
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1367.htm
Just days after huer Obama says we will drill for off shore oil, this happens! I do believe in some conspiracy theories and I wouldn’t put it past this regime to sabotage a rig so they could come back a say, “Oh look how dangerous it is, we must look else where.” It is to big of a coincidence too me!
I’m not sure how this excitement for using a warhead full of instant-sunshine to cauterise the flowing well started, but if anyone can demonstrate how this fantasy should actually do anything useful, I’d be interested to hear it (and promise to be patient before laughing out loud).
Witness the nature of nuclear testing – the deep craters, heavily fractured rock below, massive exclusion zones for decades subsequently. All one could achieve by such a folly is to maybe slow the flow of formation fluid, before communication with the seabed is established via a nuclear blast induced fracture network.
You could then add contamination by radioactive isotopes to the list of reasons to avoid Louisiana prawns this Christmas, never mind adding the scores of felled fished and marine birds to the butcher’s bill and add the damage to surrounding subsea petroleum infrastructure to the final financial cost.
The best solution is mitigation using the coffer dams and continued dispersant application (I wonder about using coagulant to limit the spread of fluid once out of the riser) while successfully completing either or both relief wells – relief wells are tried and tested even if far less sexy than nuclear explosions, this is what resolved the recent Montara/West Atlas blowout in Australia; luckily for PTTEP, Montara field is some considerable distance from ill-informed media and legal vultures.
And as for this gathering conspiracy theory? One wonders what colour the sky is on some people’s home planets… This will turn out to be a rapid sequence of simple errors or unfortunate unplanned events, each barely noteworthy in isolation but in imponderable, freakish combination resulting in eleven chaps being lost at sea along with a modern semi and a rather large volume of anaerobically decomposed critters.
Visit this site for sensible coverage of the blowout and response:
http://budsoffshoreenergy.wordpress.com/
I read today that the BOP rams have all now been activated but with no discernible impact on the flow and without the shear rams managing to sever the drill-string (below the picture of TO Discoverer Enterprise), so one would conclude that they’ve either been given a proper hiding during the blowout, or the rubber sealing elements have been strongly eroded by the entrained sand.
I have not seen any discussion regarding the potential likelihood of erosion of the wellhead seal assembly or the kinked LMRP.
No doubt the boffins at Sunbury have already considered it though.
This is interesting. Once again I suspect more than appears at the surface of this incident.
While Obama is vulnerable to being accused of not acting quickly it generally benefits him politically.
No more drilling. His fake attempt at opening up offshore drilling will be reversed.
The big oil companies will benefit because this will drive up the price of crude.
Exxon was posting record profits just before the last crash.
The economy will be stressed even more allowing Obama to implement his socialist takeover of the economy.
Is Obama and big oil behind this or is it the North Koreans or the Iranians or internal sabotage?
I don’t know but I suspect there is more to this than first appears. Any evidence is now resting at 18,000 feet below the surface.
something to consider in the evaluation… from an astrology webpage (oh yes.)
http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2010/05/04/explosives-dumps-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spilll/
so, was the oil rig doing anything at the time of the explosion that might have come in contact with an unexploded ordinance? I have no idea. But, as your website and his website seem to be onto something worth investigating… have at it.
More people means more pollution, more oil rigs. I don’t blame BP. The Democrat welfare state is paying people to breed. Democrats are not environmentalists. We all need gasoline, but why are people still having 6 or more babies? We’re killing the planet. All the big animals are down to a handfull and the oceans are being polluted to death by fertilizer runoff. Obama can stop us from drilling offshore, but he can’t stop China, they are drilling in the Gulf and Pacific, along with alot of other countries. Humans are insane. A massive die-off is coming in fifty years. Live it up while you can.