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BP Spill Update: Top Kill Working?

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  May 27th, 2010 at 10:15 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

This is certainly good news.

There are signs that the “top kill” operations may be effective, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told NPR. He is in Houma, Louisiana, meeting with local officials and residents.

“Since yesterday afternoon, British Petroleum and their subcontractors have been pumping a heavy mud down into the well bore below the blowout preventer, and over the course of the last 12 to 18 hours, they’ve been able to force mud down, and not allow any hydrocarbons to come up,” Allen said, in an interview on Morning Edition. He is in charge of clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

They still have a ways to go, but so far, so good.

In other spill-related news:

BP’s rig-site supervisor takes the Fifth Amendment in Coast Guard questioning.
R’uh-r’oh.

Moratorium on deepwater driling to be extended; new industry rules coming
The current moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits has been extended six months. The shallow water industry has been lobbying hard to draw a distinction between shallow and deepwater operations, so apparently their efforts have been successful, for now.

The Offshore Virginia lease sale has been cancelled and the Shell project in the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska’s northwest coast, has been deferred until 2011 at the earliest.

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COMMENTS

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  • SteveLA

    Vlad

    I think that I heard this morning that they stopped pumping for a while because the ship supplying the mud had run out, another one was on the way.

    What’s up with that, why wouldn’t there be more than one ship on station ready to go? Is there some sort of issue like concrete that you have a clock or something on the mud that once mixed it has to be pumped in a certain time limit? BP saving money again?

    • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

      I’m not sure what you heard.

      These boats normally are used to pump clear fluid, not mud, so there is an issue of keeping the mud “pumpable”. The heavier the mud, the more the tendency to plug lines, etc. It doesn’t set up like cement but you have to agitate it to keep it liquid.

      • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

        BP’s video from May 24 does a good job of laying out the logistics of the current operation: http://bit.ly/aTyJxa

      • txgho1911

        A chunk of the pumping capacity they have may be reserved for recirculating the tanks. The weight material is constantly falling out of the solution as this solution contains a max proportion of the weight material. Other components help suspend the weight but will not keep it all in solution forever. They should have jets running in the bottom of the tanks to keep it all moving.
        They could maybe add raw weight material to the solution as it moves to the main pumps to go downhole.

        • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

          … that the kill started with 14.2-14.5 ppg mud, and they had 16.5 available.

          Just guessing that they did not want to take the risk of plugging lines with the heavier stuff right away.

          • dave2131

            That they had to be careful when pumping the mud in because of pressures – They had to be careful because it could rupture the well line creating an even bigger leak.

            Maybe that played into it??

      • SteveLA

        As of early Thursday morning, neither government nor BP officials had declared the effort a success yet, pending the completion of the cementing and sealing of the well.

        Allen said one ship that was pumping fluid into the well had run out of the fluid, or “mud,” and that a second ship was on the way. He said he was encouraged by the progress.

        Not a big thing, but if true, something strange there, or maybe cheap.

        • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

          They have three boats: the HOS Centerline, which is a converted containerized cargo vessel with Halliburton pumps & storage for 37,000 bbls of liquid mud. BJ Services has a pump boat with ~10,000 bbls capacity. Then there’s a third boat in standby (Halliburton also, I believe).

          Presently the boats are waiting on more mud. They pump to the Q4000, which is the well intervention vessel which is connected to the well. It also has mud pumps & mud storage. It is the vessel presently pumping.

          Trust me, they have a ton of the best people in the business (BP, their service companies and competitors) all doing their damnedest to get this thing killed. Nobody is going to get a medal for saving $10,000 on an operation like this.

          • SteveLA

            Never know about bean counters, I have seen more stupid stuff from some pencil pushing green eye shade wearing accountant than you can imagine.

            I get in professional arguments at work about going on a job loaded for bear, ready for anything…always….ain’t my money and it cost much more if the marching army has to stop for a 50 cent part that’s back at home base. Yea I know that’s old school, but that’s what us old guys learned from Mr. Murphy who taught the lesson of it can go wrong, it just might… years ago.

      • MrAleGuy

        It’s my understanding, one of the boats had a capacity for 50,000 bbls. BARRELS.

        Amazing.

    • Achance

      Money was NOT an object. If anything, too much money got thrown around. Yes, Exxon fought the punitive damages judgement against them tooth and nail, but the actual cleanup, they just threw money at. These big companies are a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them; they know they HAVE to look like they’re doing everything possible. And in this one the political/PR environment is far worse for BP than it was for Exxon because, BP has the WH jamming them. There was relatively little federal presence or pressure during the Exxon Valdez cleanup.

  • txgho1911

    The BOPdome hung from a LMRP (lower marine riser package) is ready to go. Contingency for a failed topkill. My prediction is fail if the point of leak is in the hanger seal assembly at the top of the final casing string. I could be very wrong as BP has not released all info.
    In lieu of the BOPhat/dome I would recommend if they are considering knocking off the bent riser and covering the top of BOP then they should do it with a second BOP.
    Provides an avenue to fish the drill pipe out. Enter and cement the well properly in and outside the casing strings after perforating.
    They have the resources present to process all well production there.
    Seems a wast of time they have spent getting a chief to sort the Indians or was an Indian sorting out some chiefs?

    • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

      Don’t know about their chances of a kill if flow is up the backside, which is the most likely case.

      Given any kind of kill, I’d expect them to pump as much cement as they can, as fast as they can. I’ve heard that they have some kind of flash-set system.

      It would surprise me if they made any attempt to salvage the well for production, if for no other reason than bad karma.

      And I imagine that the relief well operations will continue no matter what.

  • bk

    This is when there were first reports that ‘top kill’ was working. She said that if the reports are true. she hopes all the Obama haters will give him the credit for it working since it would be due to all the experts he sent to help BP.

    • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

      “We couldn’t have done it without the help and assistance of ACORN, the SEIU, the Dept of Health & Human Services, the Teamsters, the Chicago Board of Aldermen, the DC City Council…”

      • bk

        As usual, she’s fully aboard the “Obama gets all the credit but none of the blame” bandwagon.

        • dennism

          out there in the Gulf needs some organizing.

  • wolfster38

    Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum hows the view under the bus?

    • bk

      and then within about 30 seconds of that says Republicans are to blame for the problems since they are blocking his nominee for this key position.

      • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir
        • Scope

          will take the credit for getting the O to finally plug the hole.

          • SteveLA

            Scope

            The really important thing that needs to get done is to contain the damage done by the oil spill, nothing more nothing less. Jimbo Carville has many many faults, but if his honking at his Obamaness lights a fire under his can, who really cares?

            Caught Jimbo on CNN last night, I think he is reflecting some real anguish from people in South Louisiana. He is quite correct, the damage to Louisiana wetlands is huge deal, shaming Obama into paying more attention and lighting a fire under the Feds is not a bad thing.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

            immediately after the spill began. It took weeks for the oil to arrive on shore. There was plenty of time to put equipment in place to prevent much of the oil from reaching the shore.

            This spill is somewhat similar to a hurricane, where you have a long time to prepare.

            In Katrina Bush urged evacuation and got equipment in place for rescues that took place w/i 36 hours of the levee break.

            Too bad Obama isn’t as competent as Bush.

          • SteveLA

            President Bush during Katrina refused to push aside an incompetent local authority and state Governor who were clearly over their heads. For that I fault him in Katrina.

            King Obama stood by and did not put the Coast Guard or someone in command of dealing with the effects of the oil spill with a direct line to his office, or his Crackberry with the authority to kick anyone in the Federal government in the ass who was not getting the job done. For this I fault him.

            About the only bright light in this mess is Governor Bobby Jindal, that’s one heck of a great Governor who is doing the best and is on the front lines of the battle. The MSM is not going to give him a lot of credit, but people are paying attention.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

            I doubt it would have made much difference as I don’t think very many more people would have evacuated no matter the school buses. Most did evacuate and the “suffering” that followed, save for the deaths due mainly to a levee break, was not that great given the scope of the calamity.

            You should read the Popular Mechanics seminal analysis debunking the myths

            http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/2315076

            and once the myths of how terrible the levee breach was and the argument of the first few hours is understood, then the sins even of blanco and esp nagin, seem puny

            Actually Brownie did do a good job

          • SteveLA

            Game

            I know the usual same old same old here on RS is to defend Bush over Katrina, but read a bit and then get back to me. One of the best books, “The Great Deluge” which documents who were the true hero’s and villains during Katrina. The hero’s were the Cajun Navy, the Coast Guard and ordinary people who pitched in, the villains are much harder to identify.

            Bush was not the leader I expected during the disaster that was Katrina. Maybe he was poorly informed, maybe he was afraid of playing politics, maybe the scale of the disaster was too big, maybe it’s the incompetence of past NO and LA politicians, but the fact is that the Federal response in Katrina in Louisiana was less than it should have been. Bush is from that part of the country and knew the stupidity that characterizes NO, he should have done more and sooner.

            I’m actually waiting to see how Bush himself talks about Katrina in his book which is coming out soon. If he’s honest there will be some self criticism of the actions of the government he was in charge of during Katrina, and I expect some of that criticism because Bush is an honest man.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
          • conservativecrusade

            what I am about to do as anything that can be blamed on Obama is a good thing. But on this issue I disagree with the blame being put on Obama just as much as I hated the Katrina mess being blamed on Bush.

            As much as nature was to blame for Katrina, the LA gov to blame for the mess after the storm, FEMA for their idiotic response, BP is too blame for this mess.

            They are the ones who chose to use outdated material and failed to ensure proper safety equipment was in use and in working condition. They are the ones who failed to get the leak sealed quickly and failed to get into gear in a fast manner. Obama had little to do with it. Our government is not equipped with the tools to take care of oil spills and while they can put pressure on the company, that is about all they can do to start with. Really all they can do is investigate and fine, all the rest is up to the company.

            Now what we can nail Obama for is using this mess to further his and his parties agenda to remain dependent on foreign oil and to further their environmentalist agenda. But the spill, the failure to prevent the spill, and the failure to get it stopped and cleaned up rest squarely on the shoulders of BP.

            Cant blame Obama for this mess anymore than we can blame the 89 Valdez spill on Bush number one.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

            restricting expansion of on land and near shore oil drilling since 1978.

            Eve, given flawed man, we can NEVER assure no accidents, NO MATTER WHAT, and given that there have been but 3 newsworthy spills in 40+ years, I am certain MORE govt regulation could not improve on that record.

          • Achance

            and the black guy by essentially saying there is an insurrection about to occur in their state and city that local authoriity isn’t capable of dealing with; that’s what posse comitatus requires. Can you just hear the howls of outrage? Jesse Jackson et al. would have been just praying for some federalized white National Guardsman or RA infantryman to shoot some poor black guy stealing a plasma TV because his family was drowning.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
          • Scope

            on the prevention part. It is now something like 38 days since the accident. Sure, it could not be determined which way the wind would blow the leaked oil. If the so-called environmentalists were really concerned about the environment and wildlife they so desperately scream about protecting, there would have been a heck alot more efforts made, early on, to protect the shores, habitats etc long before the oil decided which way it was going to go. I’ve been hearing about Fla. and Louis. being threatened since the beginning. Jindal has been on top of the situation, but, has been largely ignored by the O admin. Why do we have an EPA if they get stuck on stupid, and can’t mobilize against protecting the shore lines, and all the business generated from them. Hey, it increases the unemployment roles, which equals more government dependency.

            I agree that the O and his goons couldn’t handle this crisis, they don’t have the technology, infrastructure or equipment to handle such a disaster. But, rather than work with BP, the Coast Guard, and everyone else involved to meet a goal, THEY choose to politicize it all. Never let a crisis, or company escape their FIXING, including trying to pass legislation to up the liability for BP, after the fact. BP has been loudly taking responsibility for the accident.

            When all is done and told, yes BP is truly responsible, they are not denying that. But, the O and his admin. will be found severly lacking in the help co-operation and coordination department. Vladimir talked about the “top kill” method weeks ago. BP had to get permission from the Coast Guard to even try the method. Is the Coast Guard not the Federal Government? While the O has been shouting “plug the hole”, he and his incompetents have been holding up any methods to “plug the hole.” And again, he has put Jindal on hold as well, probably to make a Republican Governor look incompetent.

            We know there is a very good argument that when the federal government gets involved, everything goes to hell. This is a prime example. And that is giving them the benefit of the doubt.

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
  • chriser

    “The current moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits has been extended six months. The shallow water industry has been lobbying hard to draw a distinction between shallow and deepwater operations, so apparently their efforts have been successful, for now.

    The Offshore Virginia lease sale has been cancelled and the Shell project in the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska?s northwest coast, has been deferred until 2011 at the earliest.”

    Looks like they’re getting what they really want out of this. Are you ready for $5/gallon gas sometime down the road?

    • txgho1911

      When the gas price shoots up the used MC stock will disappear again like Sum 08. Nothing less than 1000 cc that has good mileage will be found.

      I have an 05 klr650 for sale.

      • acat

        Yeah, it’s a thread-jack. Yeah, I’m serious.

        • txgho1911

          And it’s not in TX until Aug. Job is over in July. Moving back after a decade cooling off on the permafrost central Indiana.
          I won’t get what I want until the gas goes north of $4. NBTYRST

          • acat

            This cat is in Illinois.

            Still curious about your ideal price..

            Mew

          • txgho1911

            I will just turn around and buy a Vstrom.
            $3500 and right now has good rubber and new chain and front sprocket. Commuter with 13k miles. Lowered about an inch and adjusted valves about 11k. Balancer chain tension adjuster has been replaced.

  • penguin2

    I would have turned it off, except that Rush helps me recover from the gag reflex, if I listen to OB1. Of course, I think Rush was having a hard time not gagging.

    Nothing good will come out of this for our side, Obama just said continue the ban on all the offshore drilling.

    • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

      Obama to continue offshore drilling ban

      “A temporary moratorium on new permits to drill in deep waters, where more than 1,000 feet separate the seabed from the surface, will continue for at least six months. However, the White House left open the possibility that Salazar?s safety report could prompt the administration to begin easing its temporary ban on approving new applications to drill for oil and gas in shallow waters.“

      • penguin2

        but the new exploration permits are on hold. I had read the same article, and wasn’t quite sure about the current active wells. Hopefully, he will allow the easing of the permits for the new ones.

        • Scope

          the lease sale for VA has been cancelled. I read that in a few places. It always was going to be a fight between McDonnell and Kaine. Kaine asked Salazar to delay the sale before McDonnell was elected. Who do you think Salazar will favor? I’d say the head of the DNC. I pray that Cuccinelli finds some success with his EPA lawsuit, and that sets a precedent for the other states who have filed similar suits. UVA will never co-operate with him, they are Tom Perriello’s biggest local donor base. In return he has earmarked billions for them, including a large amount to research why African American’s don’t get knee replacement surgery as often as whites. How do you like those bananas?

          • penguin2

            I believe that I heard the same thing. Ugly game, politics, when it affects the well-being of all the people. Trying to survive Leftist administrations, especially this one, is like plugging holes in a dike. Just when you close off one, another springs up.

  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    I’m sure you’ll have comments later, after full review, but it seems as if the only way Obama can get this “I was in charge from the beginning” crap to fly is to have a gun at the head of BP. Being a foreign corp, can’t they call OB-1 out? He’s no friend of the British government.

    • acat

      used to be Amoco, formerly Standard Oil.

      Not a Brit company.

      I wonder just how much of their global take BP gets from U.S. drivers and U.S.-based wells and refineries. At some point, the risk/reward ratio will go upside-down and they’ll put the U.S. operations back on the block, eh?

      Mew

      • Achance

        and while they have an Alaska head, the final say is in London. So, while they have a lot of assets in the US, they are still the same old British Petroleum that Thatcher (IIRC) privatized.

    • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

      And is made up largely of what used to be Amoco (Standard of Indiana) and ARCO.

      Immediately on the instance of a report of any oil spill of significance, there is launched a military-style Incident Command Structure, in this case functioning as the Unified Command.

      At the top of the command structure, BP and the Coast Guard have been working side by side. The Coast Guard is in charge of protecting the environment. BP (in this case) understand the asset in terms of operations, controlling the source and paying for it. They both have legitimate jobs to do.

      Ultimately, the USCG has guns, and BP doesn’t.

      • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

        So it will fly in the most technical sense. I assumed the CG-BP connection from the beginning.

        • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir

          Shell is Anglo-Dutch.

          BHP-Billiton is Australian.

          Petrobras is Brazilian. Statoil, Repsol, etc.

          It is a big palyers game, the deepwater, and it helps to have a rich uncle (or government, as the case may be) backing you up.

  • txgho1911

    Tied behind his back. This removed his ability to connect his gag and other reflexes to the sickened and revulsion of elected reps and officials lying and fantasizing instead of working or even acting in the realworld.

  • Scope

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/05/waiting_and_studying_while_the.html

    More federal government regulations getting in the way of work needed to be done NOW. What else is new?

    • Achance

      without a Transportation Worker Identity Credential (TWIC), which requires both a background check and a drug test. I suspect that every licensed professional mariner, the people who would already have a TWIC got hired up to the spill work in the first couple of days, so anybody they’re hiring now doesn’t have a merchant mariner credential or a TWIC. ‘Course, they could suspend the rule for oil cleanup work but that would be too sensible.

      Maybe I should get down there; sure ain’t making any money sitting at this computer.

  • Whitesands

    in the gulf are ideal conditions for controlled burns. I have been on the phone this morning and nobody has any idea if burns are being conducted. I just hope a bureaucratic nightmare is not taking place. There was an obscure report that they had suspended the burns.