Just what ARE the Rov's doing ? Anything constructive ?

I'm currently watching the multiple live feeds showing the continuous ROV activity on and around the "top hat" segment of the riser. It then occurred to me that if the "top hat" procedure was the best that BP could achieve by way of leak reduction into the surrounding ocean and were now pinning their last and best hopes on the two relief wells currently in construction, then just EXACTLY what is all the ROV activity that we've been observing for weeks around the riser actually meant to be accomplishing ?.
As far as I can determine, the rate of leakage has NOT diminished or been reduced over the past weeks that the ROV's have been scurrying about ... so what is their REAL purpose besides visual monitoring ?

Any ideas ?

reply to post by tauristercus


Got a link for the live feeds? Damn bored here. Would be cool to check out how exactly BP arnt doing anything.

reply to post by Master Shen long


here is one
thats the one i watch
here is another

Originally posted by Mercenary2007
reply to post by Master Shen long

 

here is one
thats the one i watch
here is another

Thanks.....

Time to get the popcorn out and crack open a cold 1.

reply to post by Mercenary2007


Wow... Cool feeds. Shame i have absolutely no idea what they are doing. This thread needs a damn good bumping!

Originally posted by Master Shen long
reply to post by Mercenary2007

 

Wow... Cool feeds. Shame i have absolutely no idea what they are doing. This thread needs a damn good bumping!

I'm in complete agreement regarding the lack of info about just what it is that the ROV's are up to. Obviously there's a lot of activity and equipment being hauled down thru 1 mile of ocean. But my understanding was that with the attachment of "top hat". that BP had exhausted all it's options and was now relying on the 2 relief wells to extinguish the oil gusher.

If that's a correct interpretation of the current situation, then I'm at a total loss as to what the ROV's have been up to this last month or so. Every time I check the live feeds, I see the ROV's busy with one activity or another and yet the oil continues to spew unabated. Could this ROV activity be nothing more than a publicity operation to give us, the general public, the impression that BP are NOT simply sitting on their collective hands waiting for the relief wells to be completed ?

No this thread needs to be deleted and you need to open your eyes, find the STICKY LIVE FEED DISCUSSION THREAD AND USE IT.

reply to post by trolleleet


oh relax and let the mods do the modding around here

reply to post by tauristercus

BP never says what the lil ROV's are up to.

last i heard (and i could be completely wrong) was they are suppose to setting up a second capture system that will allow them to disconnect and reconnect faster if they have to bugout due to a storm this summer.

a couple of nights last week or the week before they was attaching cables to the BOP to try and stabilize the BOP because it was moving back and forth at a pretty good rate.

and of course 1-2 of the ROV's that stay close to the top of the BOP are spraying disspersant into the plume as it exits the top of the BOP.


reply to post by Master Shen long

your welcome for the links.

They will be busy setting up the new free standing risers and the equipment needed for them. BP have started sucking the oil out of the choke and kill lines (the same ones used during the top kill procedure) to try and capture more oil.

Have a look at BP's website they actually give alot of information on what they are doing, maybe not in the amount of detail you want but enough to give you an idea of whats happening.

As well as the above explanations, would they also be measuring? Perhaps measuring the temperature/flow/composition of the geyser. I admit I haven't had much of a chance to look at the live cams though.

As far as I can determine, the rate of leakage has NOT diminished or been reduced over the past weeks that the ROV's have been scurrying about ... so what is their REAL purpose besides visual monitoring ?

Any ideas ?

I dont think the ROV's are there to diminish the rate of flow. They are the hands on the ground, as it were, there to do 'simple' tests and provide the 'eyes' for those on the surface.

Edited to add: There is an entire thread devoted to watching the ROV feeds. Perhaps you should watch it to see what the ROVs 'do'.

[edit on 6-7-2010 by justadood]

reply to post by tauristercus


I agree with Mercenary's statement about the wobble of the BOP:

a couple of nights last week or the week before they was attaching cables to the BOP to try and stabilize the BOP because it was moving back and forth at a pretty good rate.

I was harping on that a couple of weeks ago. It is still wobbling, and that can't be good. Now I think some of the ROVs are mostly monitoring the sea floor for methane/oil leaks, you can see filaments floating around of what looks like frozen oil, in long streamers. IMO that would give them info about the downhole conditions, how much the casing is allowing oil/gas/sediment to blow up around the outside of the well.

I have a relative who is not a deep sea driller but is in the industry (with deep sea drilling contacts), who agreed with me that the casing is compromised deep below the BOP, and also worried that the relief wells will come in below the casing damage zone (they need to come in below to be able to plug the well). A side note: he thinks everything will be fine, no matter what, because the oil will be absorbed by the ecosystem of the Gulf. I bit my tongue, and decided not to cap one of my sources of information.

The ROVs are probably doing the best they can to stabilize the BOP, and remove buildups of methane hydrate to keep the pressure down, until the relief wells can do their jobs.