BP’s Effort to Plug Oil Leak Suspended a Second Time

[BootinUp]

Source: New York TImes

HOUSTON — BP’s renewed efforts at plugging the flow of oil from its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico stalled again on Friday, as the company suspended pumping operations for the second time in two days, according to a technician involved with the response effort.

In an operation known as a “junk shot,” BP engineers poured pieces of rubber, golf balls and other materials into the crippled blowout preventer, trying to clog the device that sits atop the wellhead. The maneuver was designed to work in conjunction with the continuing “top kill” operation, in which heavy drilling liquids are pumped into the well to counteract the pressure of the gushing oil.

If the efforts succeeded, officials intended to pump cement into the well to seal it. But the company suspended pumping operations at 2:30 a.m. Friday after two “junk shot” attempts, said the technician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the efforts.

The suspension of the effort was not announced, and appeared to again contradict statements by company and government officials that suggested the top kill procedure was progressing Friday.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/us/29spill.html?hp

[harun]

1. So if the Top Kill and Junk Shot failed it means we likely wait until August

for the secondary wells to hit the main?

[BootinUp]

3. It looks to me like the best interim approach

is to collect some of the oil with either the top hat, or at the riser pipe until the relief well is in. If they can't control the well pressure with this top kill/junk shot I don't see what other options there are.

[gateley]

10. I think I heard the top hat is the next step. Suttles mentioned the

additional options they have ready to go (yeah, right) during his press conference yesterday.

[CoffeeCat]

20. The problem is...

...how can we believe anything that BP says?

First off, they're a greedy, selfish company that bribed our
politicians in order to operate in the unsafe manner that caused
this disaster. Then, they lie about how much oil is gushing from
the pipe. After being caught in the lie, they then say that
the amount gushing doesn't matter.

Then, we find out that they're using our Coast Guard to threaten
the media with arrest, if media members took pictures of oil-soaked
beach. Now, we're getting the runaround about the Top Kill procedure.
Rick Sanchez reported today that BP lied to him about Top Kill continuing
and going well--when really, the procedure had been stopped.

I just read a CNN article--apparently, BP is "staging" emergency work
areas along the coach with bussed in BP workers who worked only when
Obama was there, and then left. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/28/gulf.oil.spill.bp/index.html?hpt=T1

These people don't stop lying.

[gateley]

22. I'd like to see us hire an overseer to be right there in the middle of the action

to give us the truth. We need someone who is literally breathing down their necks.

I'm outraged about them hiring the "extras" for Obama's visit - I think that is unbelievably insulting and disrespectful to him.

They'll do what they want to do until they get caught, tap dance, then go right back to doing it.

I DON'T believe anything they say and I think that Obama is wary of them as well. Allen seems to be trusting, but he's probably spent most of his career working with people who have integrity.

[BelgianMadCow]

5. the next thing they speak of is the new top hat, and also attaching another BOP on top of this one

not removing the old one becasue it supposedly restricts the flow to some degree.

A top hat is not a total solution though, more like a partial removal of the stream, and difficult because of the hydate formation (that killed the first such attempt).

On the relief well, not to be a doomsayer, but the august timing has a range to it - the similar Itox (?spelling) event in the seventies, where also top hat and junk shot failed, also had a 9 month wait for the relief well to hit home.

That being said, I read that the first relief well drill is at 9000 feet already - which seems like pretty good progress to me. It's the intersecting with the existing blowout well that is the hardest part though, also the reason why (apparently govt insisted on) a second relief well is being drilled as well.

caveat not an expert!

[Ex Lurker]

7. that's a little misleading. they measure it from the surface of the ocean

so only 4000 feet of actual drilling. and the first thousand feet is just mud. They're not that far along, I'm sorry to say.

[BelgianMadCow]

8. Ah i thought from seafloor indeed - do I have it right the hole below seafloor is 10.000 feet?

not that I know at which point of the hole they want to intersect

[Ex Lurker]

9. I'd have to look it up, but that sounds close. n/t

[gateley]

11. I think I read/heard that Ixtoc needed 4 relief wells to get it done -

the first two didn't work. I agree that Allen was smart in requiring a 2nd relief well.

When I saw the Ixtoc piece, I couldn't believe that that oil was flowing for 9 months! I pray we are able to get this under control with the relief wells as soon as they are ready to go.

Of course, they just may come up with a brainstorm between now and then - they need some thinking outside the box types just floating ideas and see if any have merit.

[BelgianMadCow]

14. Rachel Maddow, making the explicit comparison with Ixtoc (tyvm) put it succinctly:

"since then, they have made a lot of progress in drilling in ever deeper water. But none in dealing with deeper blowouts - we're trying the exact same things as before and they have been failing so far, like before." (paraphrased)

[femrap]

15. Are they drilling

other wells right now??? I would hope at least 2. I haven't heard much about them. And since the media can't fly over or get close to the area, how the hell do we know WTF they're doing?

[ShamelessHussy]

2. we all owe this anonymous source a big thank you

otherwise these PR freaks would have no problem yanking all our chains till doomsday :argh:

[BelgianMadCow]

4. absolutely agree - like Masseyobtaining the feed, crucial to not be totally left in the dark

and it seems it's the same source as before - who knows, maybe the guy BP ordered to instantly twitterstop.

[Ex Lurker]

6. they've ruptured something. the leak is much worse now n/t

[meow mix]

13. yeah it looks like the junk plugged some cracks and something ruptured

guessing..

[jimlup]

12. Same old double talk...

We get "The top kill is proceeding ..." and the "leak is stopped for now" from the official press releases but other sources and live video indicate that the "top kill" has gone wrong.

This is a catastrophe on the order of Chernobyl.

[BelgianMadCow]

17. Watch Suttles lying live at CNN video feed "Oil spill briefing"

:grr:

friday night news dump

[BootinUp]

16. So according to BP - the periods when pumping is suspended

is for monitoring pressure, perhaps the NYT reports are misleading.

[slackmaster]

18. 2:30 AM Friday?

:crazy:

[pipoman]

19. They are going about this all wrong...

they need only install a giant plug..problem solved..

[guitar man]

21. Tampons

Why not shoot a bunch of tampons in it? They get wet and poof up real big . Maybe it would work, no? :shrug: