GOM OIL Spill headed for the Coast ?

[dkmac]

BP: 'Static kill' might do the trick alone

Quote:msnbc.com news services
updated 1 hour 24 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS — Crews hoped to begin pumping mud and perhaps cement down the throat of the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday in what BP officials said could be the method of attack that finally snuffs the spill.

Engineers planned to probe the busted blowout preventer with an oil-like liquid to determine whether it could handle the process. If the test is successful, they plan to spend Tuesday through Thursday pumping the heavy mud down the well.

The so-called "static kill" is meant as insurance for the crews who have spent months fighting the oil spill.

The company began drilling the primary, 18,000-foot relief well May 2, 12 days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and killed 11 workers, and a second backup well May 16. The first well is now only about 100 feet from the target, and Wells said it could reach it as early as Aug. 11.

Retired Adm. Thad Allen, the U.S. government's point man on the spill response, said Monday that the focus now is on making sure the static kill is successful. But he cautioned that federal officials don't see it as "the end all, be all until we get the relief well done."

Nearly 5 million barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, the New York Times reported, making the incident the world's largest accidental oil spill into marine waters. The new study results eclipse the estimated 3.3 million barrels spilled into the Bay of Campeche by the Mexican rig Ixtoc I in 1979, which was previously believed to be the world's largest.

Researchers had already believed the Gulf of Mexico spill was the largest in U.S. waters, the Times said, but had not yet determined if the spill has surpassed Ixtoc.

Cap not meant to be permanent
The only thing keeping oil from blowing into the Gulf at the moment is the experimental cap that has held for more than two weeks but was never meant to be permanent.

BP officials had insisted for months that a pair of costly relief wells were the only surefire way to kill the oil leak but said Monday that the static kill alone — involving lines running from a ship to the blown-out well a mile below — might do the trick.

BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells has said that if the static kill is successful, the relief wells may not be needed to do the same thing weeks later, but from the bottom. The primary relief well near completion will still be finished and could be used simply to ensure the leak is plugged, he said.

"Even if we were to pump the cement from the top, we will still continue on with the relief well and confirm that the well is dead," he said. Either way, "we want to end up with cement in the bottom of the hole."

Government officials and company executives have long said the wells, which can cost about $100 million each, might be the only way to make certain the oil is contained in its vast undersea reservoir.

Has piping sprung a leak?
One of the biggest variables on the static kill's finality is whether the area called the annulus, which is between the inner piping and the outer casing, has sprung an oil leak. Engineers probably won't be able to answer that question until they drill in from the bottom, Allen said.

"Everyone would like to have this thing over as soon as possible," he said, adding: "We don't know the condition of the well until we start pushing mud into it."

The company's statements Monday might signal that it is more concerned than it has acknowledged about debris found in the relief well after it was briefly capped as Tropical Storm Bonnie passed last week, said Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor.

Plus, trying to seal the well from the top gives BP two shots at ending the disaster, Overton said.

"Frankly, if they can shut it off from the top and it's a good, permanent seal, I'll take it," Overton said. "A bird in the hand at this point is a good thing with this deal."

BP and federal officials have managed to contain large parts of the spill through skimmers, oil-absorbant boom and chemical dispersants meant to break up the oil.

Federal regulators have come under fire from critics who say that BP was allowed to use excessive amounts of the dispersants, but government officials counter that they have helped dramatically cut the use of the chemicals since late May.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38518874/ns/..._the_gulf/

[Joe-Nathan]

Mac, they better do the right thing and kill this SOB from the bottom up...if not I want the REAL REASON for not doing it this way!!!!

[dkmac]

BP: 'Static kill' working, mud holds well shut

Quote:Oil giant cites 'significant milestone' in battle to seal Gulf of Mexico gusher

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 2 hours 46 minutes ago
HOUSTON — In a significant step toward stopping the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, BP said Wednesday mud that was forced down its blown-out well was holding back the flow of crude in the Gulf of Mexico and it was in a "static condition."

Workers stopped pumping mud in after about eight hours of their "static kill" procedure and were monitoring the well to ensure it remained stable, BP said.

Speaking to msnbc.com, BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams called the initial results "a very big deal."

"It's a milestone," Williams added. "It's a step toward the killing of the well."

The next step would be deciding whether to cement the well, she said.

In a statement, BP said further pumping of mud "may or may not be required".

BP won't know for sure whether the static kill has succeeded until engineers can use the soon-to-be-completed relief well to check their work.

The static kill — also known as bullheading — involved slowly pumping the mud from a ship down lines running to the top of the ruptured well a mile below. BP has said that may be enough by itself to seal the well.

But the mud that was forced down the broken wellhead to permanently plug the gusher is only half the story. To call the mission a success, crews working on a flotilla of vessels on a desolate patch of water need to seal off the well from two directions.

An 18,000-foot relief well BP has been drilling for the past three months will be used later this month to execute a "bottom kill," in which mud and cement will be injected into the bedrock 2½ miles below the sea floor to finish the job, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

"There should be no ambiguity about that," Allen said. "I'm the national incident commander, and this is how this will be handled."

A 75-ton cap placed on the well in July has been keeping the oil bottled up inside over the past three weeks, but is considered only a temporary measure. BP and the Coast Guard want to plug up the hole with a column of heavy drilling mud and cement to seal it off more securely.

Before the cap was lowered onto the well, 172 million gallons of crude flowed into the sea, unleashed by the April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 workers. A previous, similar effort failed in May when the mud couldn't overcome the unstemmed flow of oil.

The task is becoming more urgent because peak hurricane season is just around the corner, Allen said. Tropical Storm Colin formed then dissipated far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday, but early forecasts say it will travel toward the East Coast rather than the Gulf.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38551864/ns/..._the_gulf/

[Squirrelmonkey]

Joe-Nathan Wrote:Mac, they better do the right thing and kill this SOB from the bottom up...if not I want the REAL REASON for not doing it this way!!!!

something's fishy if they don't!

[Windwatcher]

News reporting that 75% of the oil spill oil is gone--amazing. "Biggest environmental disaster in history", and it's all gone??
Now THAT'S fishy.

[jess]

I know this spill has been reported as worse than the Exxon Valdez, but it's not the same. The oils are different and the Gulf Coast spill is lighter. Over time, a substantial amount of the oil simply evaporated. What was left is constantly breaking down. Some sinks to the bottom. All is constantly being eaten by bacteria that thrives on hydrocarbons.

[WeatherDiva]

I couldn't resist Thad Allen admitting to the leaks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiDdpR6aE...r_embedded

Quote:Government Claims The BP Gulf Oil Spill Has Been Plugged But The Well Is Still Leaking
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/08...d-leaking/

I watched these live, not that I think you'll believe me, and you don't have to.
5 EXPLOSION in one hour and 20 min. recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JNjrIbi3UI

[dkmac]

BP will resume work on relief wells as soon as cement in Macondo well has cured

Quote:Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 11:17 AM Updated: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 11:25 AM
Kimberly Quillen, The Times-Picayune

BP will begin the process of intercepting its Macondo well with a relief well as soon as the cementing process is complete, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said in a press briefing Thursday morning.

BP is in the process of pumping cement in through the top of its Macondo well. The company will wait for the cement to cure before continuing on with the relief well, which will intersect the bottom of the Macondo well and be used to pump mud and cement in through the bottom.

"When the cementing is done, it could take 5 to 7 days to intercept the annulus (the outer casing of the Macondo well) and make a determination of how much mud and cement is needed," Allen said.

"I will declare this (well) dead once we've intercepted the annulus," Allen said. Still, Allen acknowledged that "we will create a significant milestone and a major step forward probably tomorrow when the cementing is done."

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/...elief.html

[WeatherDiva]

They're late, but at least they started reporting it...

Quote:CNN: Something HAS RUPTURED if ROVs show plumes of mud, oil, or gas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqzsNWgXTVM

Quote:ROV Films Hundreds Of Oil Globs Leaking Directly From Sea Floor After BP Cements Well (UPDATED)

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/08...p-cements/


Project Gulf Impact
http://www.projectgulfimpact.org/showreel/

[WeatherDiva]

Quote:Where’s the oil? It’s oozing out of the Louisiana ground

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/201...ana-ground


Hmmmm, I wonder why?