Will BP's Top Kill Procedure Stop the Gulf Oil Spill?

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BP is currently evaluating a "top kill" procedure to contain the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with CEO Tony Hayward indicating a 60-70% chance of success. This method, previously successful in above-ground wells, has never been attempted at such depths. Concerns have been raised about the delays in implementing this solution, with suggestions that alternative methods could have been more effective. The discussion highlights the complexity of the situation, including the formation of methane hydrates in containment attempts and the economic and environmental ramifications of the spill. The potential long-term impact on local industries, particularly fishing and tourism, is significant, with estimates suggesting that the leak could continue for decades if not contained. The conversation reflects a mix of skepticism about BP's strategies and a desire for immediate action to mitigate the disaster's effects.
  • #61
magpies said:
Ya sorry about that realized it wasn't your idea too late. Well honestly I don't think the kill well idea is going to work however I don't fully understand what they are doing or how. I mean if it's the last option and it doesn't work then we just wait 2 months for the relief well? How does the relief well even stop this? I just figured with that effort the goal was to get all the oil out is that correct

Oil isn't sitting in a big liquid pool, it's a colliod with the porus rock. Much in the same way water is with grit in quicksand. What a kill well does is pump mud **** and concrete down the well. This gets into the prous rock, sets and stops oil from 'seeping' from the rock.

The reason it's called a kill well, is that once you do it. It's highly likely that the well will never flow oil again. It's sometimes possible, to get a killed well reflowing you have to pump some faily nasty chemicals and explosives down into the reservoir.

What a relief well would do is divert the oil flow away from the broken pipe to be collected elsewehre.
 
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  • #62
Hurm I just read a wiki article about the oil spill that happened in the 60s that was similar to this one. They finally fixed it after 10 months with a relief well so...
 
  • #63
xxChrisxx said:
Oil isn't sitting in a big liquid pool, it's a colliod with the porus rock. Much in the same way water is with grit in quicksand. What a kill well does is pump mud **** and concrete down the well. This gets into the prous rock, sets and stops oil from 'seeping' from the rock.

The reason it's called a kill well, is that once you do it. It's highly likely that the well will never flow oil again. It's sometimes possible, to get a killed well reflowing you have to pump some faily nasty chemicals and explosives down into the reservoir.

What a relief well would do is divert the oil flow away from the broken pipe to be collected elsewehre.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, thy can always drill another well, right? We're killing the well, not the reservoir.

Doesn't mean it won't be expensive, having to start again from scratch.
 
  • #64
DaveC426913 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but, thy can always drill another well, right? We're killing the well, not the reservoir.

Doesn't mean it won't be expensive, having to start again from scratch.

It really depends, it's a bit of an unknown how much will be lost(hence high risk). You will certainly lose yield around the site. Depending on the nature of the reservoir conditions.

I suppose saying the entire thing will be unsuable is a bit of an overstatement. I misspoke, I didn't mean the entire field, as they can be huge. But that small section will probably be unsable. I'm still fairly new to the oil and gas industry, I should have taken a greater interest in this but I didn't.
 
  • #65
I don't really see why it's a part of the equation? What does it matter if the well is closed or not?
 
  • #66
magpies said:
I don't really see why it's a part of the equation? What does it matter if the well is closed or not?

By killing the well, you are effectively concreting part of the reserviour. Meaning that of the 50million barrels left in there. A certain percentage of that will become competely unrecoverable, a ceritan percentage recoverable be reviving the well and some will be untouched. I can't give you figures, as I simply don't know. It also means a new well system needs to be put in place, which is massively expensive.

So depending on the estimates of how much of the oil becomes unrecoverable, it can potenitally make it uneconomical to recover it.

Environmentally I suppose that there is a slight change that this kill attempt could make things worse, but I'm sure sure how as BP are pretty deep in the doodoo with this already.
 
  • #67
Ok so how does that have more value then 1 fish's life in the sea?
 
  • #68
magpies said:
Ok so how does that have more value then 1 fish's life in the sea?

I couldn't possibly comment on that. I'm just telling you the some of the facts they would have considered and what will happen if a well is killed.
 
  • #69
:( you nobody cares about the fish's :(
 
  • #70
magpies said:
Ok so how does that have more value then 1 fish's life in the sea?

Would you sacrifice your job for that one fish?

It may sound mercenary but a lot of innocent citizens depend on oil (including you) who will fall on hard times if the closure drives up the cost of oil.
 
  • #71
Would you sacrifice that one fish for your job?

Believe me when I say hard times happen the best you can do is prepair for that day.
 
  • #72
BREAKING NEWS:

Just seen a new's flash on Sky News & BBC - BP have said it's all gone to plan, the Oil has stopped, and it's just mud flowing out of it now...

This is great news (if it holds) - Now for the clean up :(


As I type this I have just read conflicting reports... The reports might not be true, or at least premature... May be a false alarm, hoping it's not.

UPDATE: BP Denies Significant Improvement In Oil Leak...

UPDATE: A tweet from BP denied improvement in the leak:"Top kill" operations continued over the night & are ongoing. There are no significant events to report at this time.
The tweet was sent at 8:43 a.m., precisely when the LA Times published its article.

Damn... Someone getting peoples hopes up!
 
  • #74
lol, so did this thing succeed or fail? Or just not succeed yet? I can't get the live feed to load on my laptop so I have no idea what it looks like at this moment in time.
 
  • #75
Looks like it's worked, something could still potentially go wrong, but I think the most risky part is over.
 
  • #76
xxChrisxx said:
Looks like it's worked, something could still potentially go wrong, but I think the most risky part is over.

Im not buying that - not until I see nothing coming out - then it worked. Check this screenshot.

http://www.digitaloutpost.net/oil/compare.jpg"

Also...

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab322/dorothytoto22/comparecopy.jpg"
 
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  • #77
Drilling mud looks very much the same as oil when it's bein gforced through by pressure. It will look like that until they start sealing by pumping down cement. So it's liekly to be a cuple of days or so.

Pressure readings in the wellhead will tell if the oil has stopped flowing. The problem is that the BOP can still rupture.
 
  • #78
The images posted by Glennage from today look exactly the same as the leak did last night when I went to check if it had stopped yet :-p.

I'm slightly skeptical of BPs announcements considering it appears to me they don't exactly place 'honesty first'...
 
  • #79
With crude oil being rather viscous stuff, wouldn't the pressure right at the wellhead be significantly lower then at the reservoir several miles below as long as it is uncapped? Once it's capped, what kind of time period will it take for the backpressure to maximize at the wellhead? Even if the mud has formed a seal at the moment, is there a significant chance that later on it will not be able to hold back the higher pressure?
 
  • #80
DnD Addict said:
... is there a significant chance that later on it will not be able to hold back the higher pressure?

That might explain the intended followup up with cement.
 
  • #81
From what I have heard, it will take ~100 hours to fully pump the mud. The theory seems sound, but we'll see. What else is to be done, nuke it like the Russians?!
 
  • #82
Glennage said:
Im not buying that - not until I see nothing coming out - then it worked. Check this screenshot.

http://www.digitaloutpost.net/oil/compare.jpg"
The pressure has clearly dropped in the 'after' picture in comparison with the 'before'. Then there's the dramatic color changes, whatever they mean.
 
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  • #83
They actually quit pumping mud last night around midnight [EDT, I think]. Pumping only resumed about an hour ago. They lied about it. Now they say it will be another 24-48 hours before we know.

BP just made a suspicious indirect allusion to a junk shot [literally, "bridging material"] - the next logical course of action if the top kill fails.

Late Edit: Now the story is that pumping was stoppped twice.
 
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  • #84
Why should they care they as a company can just claim some type of immunity after it's over and get off without paying much more then an actual dime. As I left in the morning there was a feed running from the well does anyone know if it's still up or replaced?
 
  • #85
magpies said:
Why should they care they as a company can just claim some type of immunity after it's over and get off without paying much more then an actual dime. As I left in the morning there was a feed running from the well does anyone know if it's still up or replaced?

Because they didn't want that to be the morning's headline. They were just dodging the bullet as long as they could to avoid the hassles. They released the news late today, and went home. If there is really bad news, I would bet, they will "put it out with the trash", as they say, and release it no sooner than late tomorrow. Friday night news tends to get buried.
 
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  • #86
Memorial day weekend in the USA, this is like releasing bad news on a friday and letting it simmer down over a weekend. Classic PR tactic.
 
  • #87
Geigerclick said:
Memorial day weekend in the USA, this is like releasing bad news on a friday and letting it simmer down over a weekend. Classic PR tactic.

Exactly right. This is starting to look horrific.
 
  • #88
T. Boone Pickens was on Larry King, tonight. Pickens claims that at 5000 feet, the top kill was a "long shot" all along.
 
  • #89
Ivan Seeking said:
T. Boone Pickens was on Larry King, tonight. Pickens claims that at 5000 feet, the top kill was a "long shot" all along.

I think it's fair to say, this isn't going to work, or it's failed already. BP are dragging things out - this is a very sad, sad situation. If it failed, we still have a ton of oil spilling out, combined with tons of toxic mud. Nice.

Also, check this out I found.. Actually quite moving.

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/Louisiana_congressman_cries_discussing_oil_spill"
 
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  • #90
Glennage said:
I think it's fair to say, this isn't going to work, or it's failed already. BP are dragging things out - this is a very sad, sad situation. If it failed, we still have a ton of oil spilling out, combined with tons of toxic mud. Nice.

Also, check this out I found.. Actually quite moving.

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/Louisiana_congressman_cries_discussing_oil_spill"

I don't know, I find his crying cheap and sleezy to get voters to side with him. Crying is not the appropriate reaction for someone in his position . Can you imagine if all the politicians started crying and leaving the room every time something happens? :rolleyes:
 
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