Mother Of All Gushers Could Kill Earth's Oceans

Originally posted by Thermo Klein
This is a horrible catastrophy and I wish the mechanics, engineers, clean-up crews the best of luck!

On the other hand portraying this as the worst spill ever, end of the oceans, etc is just not realistic.

The worst oil spill ever, in the Persian Gulf in 1991, spilled about 430,000,000 gallons of oil.

At the rate of 100,000 barrels a day (100,000 according to CNN and BP an hour ago) this spill needs to stay full force like this for 11 years to equal the spill in the Persian Gulf.

Horrible? of course - worst ever? Not even close.

What you're not taking into account is that this thing at present stage is a small hole compared to what it can become with the sand and grit spewing up and disintigrating the piping and the rock surrounding becoming loose. It could blow a huge hole. There's a lot of pressure down there and not much to contain it.

Originally posted by Udo Hohnekamp Lux.
I think the above writer is correct.

No way will this hole have a diameter of 5 feet. Somebody must
have misread feet for inch.

That would reduce the surface of the pipe´s circle to 1/144.

With 70,000 psi (pressure from core minus ocean head ?)
and only 800 to of oil spill now, it can certainly not be 5 feet wide.

I don´t think we have the technology to drill 1,5 km deep with
a 5 feet wide drill.

You dont drill a hole 1.5 km deep with equilateral width running its entire length. The width is staggered. Wide at the opening narrowing down in stages to the reservoir. 5 feet is not unrealistic.

Is it an exploration or production well that has blown out?

reply to post by Qwenn


"Perhaps we have just witnessed the beginning of the end !"

Sounds eerily familiar. At least we'll have high-energy plankton cakes. MMM Soylent Green anyone

reply to post by sterlingda

I agree rock and sand under those kinds of pressures is highly abrasive. Water and rock under the force of gravity alone can carve huge arroyos in short order here in CO.

What about the Gulf Stream. Could contamination in the Gulf flow to Europe? While most of the oil might stay on the surface I believe waves can drive it to the bottom. I've seen footage of oysters with oil inside.

Talking of a 5,000 feet long chain would not imply submarines
but rather surface ships.

Originally posted by believer81
Some of you hippies need to grow up and educate yourselves. If it wasn't for petroleum products you'd all still be living in caves. Maybe wood huts if you're lucky.

Society needs oil and oil producers so get over it.

[edit on 3/5/2010 by believer81]

Society also can't eat Money or Drink Oil. Our life on this Earth is a gift and we exploit it for corruptive means. One day the Natural Resources WILL deplete and "us Hippies" will be the ones having to pick up the pieces from this mess.

Originally posted by ickylevel

Originally posted by kingofmd
Does anyone else wonder how the oil has been able to maintain such a high pressure for "millions and millions" of years, beings that rock is porous?

No. Rock is not as "porous" as you may think . There is air in it but no "holes" that would let something pass trough.

[edit on 3-5-2010 by ickylevel]

you mean a tunnel

so yea it does have holes

XD

Originally posted by believer81

Originally posted by Udo Hohnekamp Lux.
I think the above writer is correct.

No way will this hole have a diameter of 5 feet. Somebody must
have misread feet for inch.

That would reduce the surface of the pipe´s circle to 1/144.

With 70,000 psi (pressure from core minus ocean head ?)
and only 800 to of oil spill now, it can certainly not be 5 feet wide.

I don´t think we have the technology to drill 1,5 km deep with
a 5 feet wide drill.

You dont drill a hole 1.5 km deep with equilateral width running its entire length. The width is staggered. Wide at the opening narrowing down in stages to the reservoir. 5 feet is not unrealistic.

Is it an exploration or production well that has blown out?

It's an exploration well that was being brought into completion.

Yes, modern oil wells do use a series of larger to smaller drill pipe. However, five feet is well outside the realm of any drill pipe that I've brought to any rig in the Gulf. Casing, drive pipe, or caisson, yes. Drill pipe, no. Further, if a portion of the borehole were to remain at that size without anything supporting the new pipe in the drill string, such as the cement that's pumped downhole, then the torque from drilling would shear the unsupported pipe.

I did not read all 14 pages of this thread so if this has been said already delete.
All this will take is to maneuver a deep well exploratory ship to the site and side hole the well. A new well head is established and the old is pumped full of concrete. At least that is how nearly all well head failures are handled. I guess the main thing is to put down equipment that will handle the pressures involved.
A BOV that will handle 70000psi may require some new tech. But capping a sidehole with an unbroken well head is much more possible than closing a broken pipe.
N.

Originally posted by Udo Hohnekamp Lux.
Talking of a 5,000 feet long chain would not imply submarines
but rather surface ships.

I believe they meant ROVs to connect chain to the rig.

Originally posted by N.of norml
I did not read all 14 pages of this thread so if this has been said already delete.
All this will take is to maneuver a deep well exploratory ship to the site and side hole the well. A new well head is established and the old is pumped full of concrete. At least that is how nearly all well head failures are handled. I guess the main thing is to put down equipment that will handle the pressures involved.
A BOV that will handle 70000psi may require some new tech. But capping a sidehole with an unbroken well head is much more possible than closing a broken pipe.
N.

The Developmental Driller III is on location now, I believe. What you stated is pretty much the plan that I've heard.

Rev 8:8 - The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood.


Hmmm... on oil platform on fire, falling into the sea.

This could what destroys a 3rd of the sea.

The key here is really is the BOP and casing still intact . If the casing and bop are still intact then it is a issue with getting the BOP to close .

Here is a good view of a cross section of a drilling platform on shore though but the it is essentially the same .

science.howstuffworks.com...

Explosives for a blow out are mainly used for snuffing out a fire till they can manually close the BOP . ( Blow off Preventer ) .

I have never done off shore but on shore yes 12" pipe is the largest I have seen put down hole . the casing and concert may be that is 5 '. not the the pipe .

If the leak is below the BOP or the BOP is broken beyond repair then the only choice is angle drill the well to close one and open another . Or other technology that has been developed in the last 25y since the last time I stepped on a rig .

Originally posted by believer81
Some of you hippies need to grow up and educate yourselves. If it wasn't for petroleum products you'd all still be living in caves. Maybe wood huts if you're lucky.

Society needs oil and oil producers so get over it.

[edit on 3/5/2010 by believer81]

Well I am no hippie but you are dead wrong. Society does not need oil! Society has become dependant on oil yes, and I do not advocate quitting oil cold turkey but their is alternative technology and fuels that have been around as long or longer then oil that are sustainable and much more cleaner the oil that could be transitioned to in two to five years easily.

Ethanol is probably the quickest and easiest as no new technology is needed and would create jobs etc. Now I am sure someone will come on here and start regurgitating the big oil propaganda myths about ethanol, please spare us and do your research first. You can start here:

Busting The Ethanol Myths

As for growing up people need to grow up and realize big oil companies have monopolized the energy markets and held back progress for over a century and caused all kinds of wars over oil etc. and are still manipulating us with gas prices and wars etc.. Also that government is not going to ever do anything significant to decrease our dependence on oil they are lap dogs to oil companies. We the people will have to do it and we can if people would get off thier arses and get educated and take action.

[edit on 3-5-2010 by hawkiye]

ok I have done some math on this.
feel free to check please
and first let me say, I work with pressures just short of 100,000 psi (100k psi) on a daily basis. the force is unbelievable

first area of the hole (I have done both 5 feet and 5 inches)

pipe size > in > r > r2 > pi > sq in
5 feet >60 > 30 >900 >3.14 > 2826
5 inches > 5 > 2.5 >6.25 >3.14 > 19.625

so if we take our area, and multiply by the pressure (30 K as the low side)

psi force(lbs) > force (tons) > cu ft of concrete for same force
30,000 (5') = 84780000 = 42390 = 1630384.
30,000 (5")= 588750 = 294.375 = 11322.

(1 cu ft of concrete = 52 lbs)

50 m X 50 m 10 ft thick concrete slab is only

50 x 50 = 2500 sq m =26909.78 sq ft X 10 ft=269097.8 cu ft x 52 (13993085.6 lbs) enough for the 5 inch hole, but not the 5 ft hole

If the pressure is only 30K, but some "estimates" have gone up to 120k psi
so just multiply the above numbers by 2-4 if so

flow rates reports/estimates are all over the place 200k-500k per day, and as stated, if the hole keeps hydraulicing its self larger it gets much worse
This is not a good situation, and it is NOT getting better with time

good times ahead for all
and by the way

Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on Pestilence.

pestilence - a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of;

not going all religious, but it does sum it pretty well

dr

copied to other thread (hope thats OK)

dr

[edit on 3-5-2010 by dr dodge]

Bill Gates is right, we have to go nuclear.

Seriously.

pesn.com...

Imagine a pipe 5 feet wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the planets' largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn't contained, it could poison all the oceans of the world.

okay since everyone has questions and all all guess work isnt helping I went and started a thread with the reports from NOAA what their doing where they are and how much longer this is going to go on
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by dr dodge

(13993085.6 lbs) enough for the 5 inch hole, but not the 5 ft hole

Thanks for the math. That is good work.

Don't forget we are at 5000 feet here, so 30 psi of "positive pressure" is actually about 2400 psi of total pressure! (5000 feet of seawater at 14.4 psi per 30 feet.)

So we only need 14 million pounds of concrete over a 5 " area 1 mile below the surface of the sea, and we will be fine? Except the surface isn't smooth, so we have to combat that issue. There are reportedly 3 leaks, so that is 42 million pounds of concrete, prefabbed, barged in, and dropped precisely in the middle of hole with 30 psi of pressure and aggravating currents and surface fluctuations.

Then again, if the hole is larger than 5 inches, sits on a slope, is hydraulically enlarging itself, and has more than 30 psi, then we are looking at something really difficult! (As if the conservative scenario was at all doable in the first place.) We are thoroughly screwed!

Also, the "relief hole" will not work, because there would have to be tranport and hardware available to take all of that oil out of the reservoir so fast as to relieve the pressure on the leak. If that was possible, the leak would have already stopped, due to the relief of pressure. Also, even if we relieve the internal pressure, we have the sea water pressure in the hole that will displace the lighter crude.

The only hope here is to tap into the existing drill holes/leaks and somehow corral the crude and harvest it as planned. Or, collapse the 10's of thousands of feet of drilling tubing that was originally sealing the reservoir in. Collapsing a significant amount of that tube with an explosive to create more positive pressure, drive back the crude and seawater and then create a vacuum space where the tube can collapse, seems like the best possible solution, but there is always the fear of creating a larger leak, or an underground fire!

reply to post by believer81
thanks for that mate i`ll just get my jacket and order my taxi...how about for lubrication of the plates though ? i know earthquakes have been around for ever but i can`t stop thinking that it`s down there for a reason...take it easy.... back on topic,,,,side drilling doh ! why didn`t i think of that..
still a heavy price for the sea to pay for profits....the sea has shown it`s strength in repairing itself over time so here`s hoping...