North Sea Oil Rig Evacuated Due To Unstable Well: Risk of Blowout.

[Better Believe It]

North Sea Oil Rig Evacuated Due To Unstable Well
Spokesman Says Situation Stable
Updated: 4:37 pm EDT May 23, 2010


OSLO, Norway -- Norway's Statoil says it has partly evacuated an oil rig in the North Sea after encountering an unexpected change in pressure while drilling a well.

Statoil spokesman Gisle Johanson says the situation is "stable" and that all safety systems are working properly and there is nothing to indicate a spill will take place. He says 89 of the 229 workers on the Gullfaks C platform were taken off the rig as a precaution while the remainder worked to normalize well pressure.

Johanson said Friday said that highly variable pressure levels in the rock formation being drilled likely caused the unforeseen pressure change. He said Statoil was prepared to handle such incidents, which "happen from time to time."

He said it's not clear when the rig will be running again.

http://www.wfmz.com/money/23650027/detail.html


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Averting a North Sea Blowout
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
May 21, 2010

As BP struggles to control oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig a month ago, another company is working to prevent a blowout in Europe.

Statoil, the Norwegian oil giant, is battling recurrent pressure problems this month at its Gullfaks C oil well in the North Sea. The problems forced a partial evacuation of the drilling platform this week.

In deep-sea wells, gas from under the sea bed that wells up with oil can help create high pressure leading to a blowout. Oil and gas shoot up the well, causing an explosion.

To prevent that, Statoil is pumping a heavy substance called drilling mud into the well to counteract the upward pressure of the gas/oil mix. The company has called the chance of a blowout like the one that caused the leak at the Deepwater Horizon rig “very small.” The Norwegian rig has a blowout protector in place, the company said.


GULLFAKS C OIL WELL PLATFORM

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/averting-a-north-sea-blowout/


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Risk of blowout on Norway’s Gullfaks C: Statoil has no control over the situation, says Bellona President Hauge
By Ruth Astrid Saeter
21/05-2010

Two gas leaks were detected at Norway’s the Gullfaks C oil platform Wednesday afternoon, and the situation worsened Thursday when the well was destabilized due to a loss of formation pressure. Eighty nine people were evacuated from the platform.

The well has suffered similar incidents, one as recenty as April 30th this year and again in December 23rd 2009.

“Three major events of this kind in less than five months proves that Statoil is not able to control this situation,” says President of the Bellona Foundation, Frederic Hauge.

Bellona has received new information that sheds some light over what actually happened on Gullfaks C, which is operated by the Norwegian state owned oil company Statoil. The situation remained unresolved Friday afternoon.

The discovery comes at a critical time when world media attention is focussed on events unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon well explodes on April 20th and oil is making landfall in Louisiana’s vulnerable marshes and bayous . BP officials there are finally admitting that the gusher at the sea floor is spilling significantly more than 5,000 barrels of oil a day. Meanwhile, BP has still not come up with an effective method to cap the well.

Three critical events

For the third time in five months, a critical event has occurred in Statoil’s well 34/10-C-6 on Gullfaks, during drilling of a side track. The last event occured this Wednesday afternoon, at 3.47 pm, when the well was destabilized. Statoil immediately began efforts to establish pressure control on Gullfaks C. But all efforts toward stabilizing the well with heavy mud have so far been unsuccessful.

Read the full article at:

http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2010/dutch_ccs_money


- Let's hope Norway can get this under control. I believe this is a huge government nationalized oil company so the chances are probably better they can deal with it. Don't know for sure, just a guess and hope on my part. BBI -

[drm604]

1. Oh shit.

Hopefully this will be okay. :scared:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. The pictures of the oil rigs all lit up at night remind me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind..

when the Mother ship landed at Devil's Tower

[Better Believe It]

3. Bet the aliens spacecraft were not powered by oil products!

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Bet you are 100% correct!!

[BrklynLiberal]

5. WOW! While looking for pics to illustrate my point, I came across this......

Steven Spielberg knew only vaguely what the mothership would look like when he was filming the live action scenes. Basically he decided it would be big and hulk-like, and very dark. While filming in India months later he drove past a giant oil refinery every day and was inspired by the many lights and pipes and outcroppings on the rig to change the look of the spaceship. He now decided it would be brightly lit, which is how it appears in the final film, even though the footage of it casting a dark shadow over the crowd had already been shot.

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Dear NYT, oil is not "leaking" into the gulf. Your toilet "leaks". This is a geyser.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this detail.

[Control-Z]

7. Really?

'Statoil spokesman Gisle Johanson says the situation is "stable" and that all safety systems are working properly and there is nothing to indicate a spill will take place.'

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiht. Let us just see what he says AFTER the blowout actually happens.

[Better Believe It]

9. Nothing to see here .... move along folks.