Could the oil well have been shut down if there wasn't an eye by BP toward saving the well .....

[Better Believe It]

and building a new oil rig over it after the leak is plugged?

A reader of CNN had the following observation in a "Soundoff" comment. It got me to wondering if this could be a possible. I don't have any expertise in this area so I don't know if this is feasible. If it's an outlandish idea I'm sure someone on DU can explain why.

"mrrusss

No one here should believe me because to you I am an anonymous guy posting on a discussion forum. But I know a girl who is dating a guy who is an engineer for a company that designs and sells equipment for offshore rigs. I finally got a chance to strike up a conversation with her about this, wondering if she had any inside scoop or just wanting to know how this all affected her boyfriend. She told me that they were sitting around discussing (her boyfriend and a bunch of other guys in the business), and they said that this well could have been shut down if there wasn't an eye toward saving the well. I don't understand how this makes sense (is it really more expensive to ruin the well?), but these aren't a bunch of liberals criticizing BP, they are basically rednecks who work in the oil industry sitting around in the woods talking on the weekend. You can dismiss me because this could be bull****, but I'm in a position where I have to wonder why would engineers in the industry say this?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/24/gergen.oil.spill.leadership/index.html?hpt=T1

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. No.

I don't know if that's a good example of the really stupid people that send comments to CNN, or a parody of the really stupid people that send comments to CNN.

[donco6]

2. Don't be silly - BP has our best interest as their utmost concern.

:sarcasm:

[LawnKorn]

3. BP keeps delaying the "Kill Shot"

They are STILL trying to save the well.

[Hempathy]

6. ummm- no, they aren't trying to save the well.

that well will never be used again, and BP has said so numerous times over the past weeks. it will ultimately be sealed and the shaft completely filled with concrete.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Actually, replacing the BOP with another one is one of their ideas

Oil will explode out of the well when they take the old one off, but they seem to think (per MSM reports) that this is an option.

[Hempathy]

11. but not to save the well.

If you have different info- by all means, post a link.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. Motive was not disclosed - it was listed as another option.

But if they have a working well, what will incent them not to tap it?

[Hempathy]

16. Because it won't be a working well.

They have said so repeatedly.

[backscatter712]

15. There's only so much money that can be saved by saving the well.

Eventually, it'll be overwhelmed by the damages caused by the spill, the cleanup costs, the bad PR in the news, the lawsuits, etc.

It would be cheaper for them to just plug this one and drill a new well next to the old well to recover the oil.

[WeDidIt]

4. "I know a girl who is dating a guy who is an engineer for a company"

My sister-in-law's cousin's brother-in-law says that girl dating the guy is full of shit.

[JBoy]

7. I heard they're not even dating.

[Codeine]

27. Besides, I totally kicked that guy's ass. nt

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. I just learned from another DUer that in order for the relief well to, well, relieve

it needs to be a working well.

Doesn't that mean that they will be tapping it - just from another location?

What would incent them to stop production at that point?

[Hempathy]

8. ultimately, there could be 40-50 wells sunk into the oil deposit that they were drilling into.

Which is one reason why losing this particular wellhead in and of itself, is not really a big deal to them. The cleanupof the mess- IS a big deal. a BIG F-ing Deal, in fact, bottom-line-wise.

[Statistical]

18. Relief well is much smaller. Drilling speed is determined by well bore (size)

To drill in 3 months requires the well to be smaller than a production well.

BP will tap this oil nobody is saying that. To get maximum production out of a field this size requires dozens of wells. Look at the map of wells in the Gulf. Each well isn't an independent oil field. A large field requires multiple wells to extract (unless you want to wait 3 centuries).

Still there is no reason to try and use this crippled well. They will do exactly what Mexico did.
Seal the crippled well and drill a new well a couple miles away into the same pocket, and then another, and then another, and then another, and then another.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. You are just a fountain of knowledge.

:toast:

[Statistical]

25. Well that is second hand but seems pretty reliable.

I chatted with a friend who works for a drilling company via facebook.
I was curious why BP is saying relief wells will be done in 90 days however the well which exploded took 7 months.

Given they drill 24/7 without any breaks (rigs costs about $500K per day so they drill nonstop to keep cost per foot down to minimum) it seems kinda strange that relief wells could be done in half the time. He told me it is all a matter or bore width. Larger well (thus larger pipe and larger flow) = less feet per day in terms of drilling progress. To drill faster BP (or any company) needs to drill a smaller hole.

We technically can drill a well of virtually any width. Certain sizes are chosen because they maximize ROI. It is a calculation of drill speed vs rig rental vs flow rate vs cost of pipe, etc.

[Ruby the Liberal]

26. Well, thanks for sharing with the class then.

:D

[TexasObserver]

32. You might want to take that with a pound of salt.

Didn't you see his thread three weeks ago, when he announced buying BP at $52 a share because it was such a great deal and the clean up allegedly wouldn't cost nearly as much as many observers seemed to think? Of course, three weeks later, BP is now selling at $42 a share, and there's no end in sight to the disaster.

When one bets on BP a week after the eruption began, they can't be considered an unbiased source of anything to do with BP's handling of it, can they?

[TexasObserver]

10. BP's priority is saving the well, not killing it.

BP most wants to salvage the ability to drill there and recover oil there.

[Hempathy]

13. WRONG.

BP has said repeatedly that this well will never be used to pump oil from the deposit once they get it sealed.

That doesn't mean that they won't be drilling more wells into that particular deposit, however. Ultimately, there could be 40-50 or more oil platforms there, depending on it's size.

[TexasObserver]

31. BP's goal is to save their ability to maintain a well at the location.

If it matters to you to say it will be a new well, then you can say it that way. It's a ridiculous point you're attempting to make, though. My point and that of others is simple: BP is more interested in being able to create and maintain wells from the site than in stopping this eruption in the ocean.

You completely ignored the body of my post:

"BP most wants to salvage the ability to drill there and recover oil there."

Now why not be honest and admit you ignored that statement so you could make your silly rebuttal post?



How's your BP stock doing? It closed below 42 today. What number did you buy at? One guy here bought at 52 AFTER the well blew out. It's below 42 now, a few weeks later.

[Hempathy]

33. They'll end up with a lot of wells on that same deposit...

But some people here seem to think that they're trying to salvage/maintain the same hole as a working well, when that's not going to happen. As to the statement: "BP most wants to salvage the ability to drill there and recover oil there." , i guess it depends on how you define "there"...There's also a sunken drilling rig platform and a mile of crumpled pipe "there" as well. At this point- I honestly believe that BP's main concern at this particular site is to stop the gusher of oil as quickly as they can. And history shows that it most likely won't occur until several relief wells have been drilled.

[SidDithers]

12. 'Cause that multi-billion barrel oil field can only be reached...

through that one particular spot.

Sid

[Statistical]

20. Exactly. Some think this well is in a magic unicorn nexus point.

Of course the entire sum of Gulf oil (under 5000 square miles of water) can only be tapped in this exact spot. It is like a 3 feet wide corridor to the super oil.

The other common argument is that somehoe it more sense to waste billion dollar to keep this damaged and crippled well operation to "save" the $100 million needed for a new well.

New Well: $100 mil
Cost to date: $700 mil
Likely costs: $10B - $20B, more?

It is utter lunacy to think they are spending that kind of money and intentionally letting oil (future profits) flow into Gulf, plus long term destruction of brand name when $700 million could buy them 7 new production wells today without any leaks and each pumping 30,000+ barrels per day. 30,000 bpd * 7 wells = 210,000bpd * $70 = $5 billion annually in revenue.

Nope according to some they would rather waste all that money intentionally keeping this crippled well open "saving it".

[Codeine]

28. It's the Feng Shui, man.

Ley lines and shit. Don't discount the ancient wisdom. :rofl:

[SidDithers]

30. Ley lines!!!...

:rofl:

Sid

[madrchsod]

17. i doubt they`ll be able to do anything to stop this

[Bitwit1234]

19. I forgot to add on my previous post.

They want to drill an oil well next to the gusher so they can get what oil is there to come up thru a controlled hole and maybe it will stop the oil from gushing out the one that is leaking.

[Feron]

24. That's not how relief wells work.

A relief well will intersect the main well pipe horizontally right above the reservoir. Then cement and mud are pumped in via the relief well to seal the main well.

A relief well is not a production well and will not be used as such.

[jp11]

22. IIRC they spent around a week trying to use the Blow out preventer valve manually with the ROV's

once they knew there was a leak, after that failed they spent another week making the giant caps or were making them from the start as they tried the Blow out preventer valve. Next they tried the other cap/dome when the 2nd one failed due to a clogged port. Why they couldn't unplug the port, I don't know, why they couldn't have a hose of some sort connected to the port as it descended or in the last 50ft I don't know. Then they spent a couple more days on the suction pipe that has been on for almost a week or so. My perception of the times is no doubt wrong but loosely close to how things transpired or were reported.

Feel free to check it out yourself on the web and:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/543771/

Why it takes so long to get the next idea off the ground I don't know, do they wait for the current to fail before getting to work, I don't know. Those answers might be somewhere but I lose interest trying to sift through all the information I think the media should be asking BP and the government especially when they have plans A, B, C, D, E, F, etc and a timetable of their own.

We are also told that plugging the leak is not a fix as the only permanent fix is to drill relief wells, again I do not know anything about deep sea oil wells and the reliability of any plugging to be done on a well drilled however deep it is in the actual sea floor for the Macondo oil field from the 5000ft of water to reach the floor is something I've heard questioned which is how they have said the relief well is the only permanent solution.

[Statistical]

29. Relief wells have been used in the previous platform super spiils.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8406661

IT is the only proven method to seal a well once BOP fails.

[Statistical]

23. Fail. Cost of new well about $100 mil. Cost of mitigation so far: $700 million.

Think the way BP thinks. Ignore any animal casualties, the destruction of beauty, the long term poisoining of the seas.

Just think about it like a cold hard capitalist. All that matter is money.

Likely damages (mitigation, long term cleanup, and $10 billion liability): $10 - $20 billion.

Yup makes a ton of sense to open yourself up to $20 billion in costs ($700 already incurred) plus losing billion worth of oil plus increased government oversight plus brand destruction all to avoid drilling a $100 mil well.

OF COURSE! I MEAN IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE.

It would be like burning down your house with no insurance to avoid having to pay property taxes.
Everyone does that right? That reminds me I need to go fill up the gas can. Property tax time is coming.