The oil cap has held for three days

[bigrebnc1775]

For the last month or so obama or someone from the whitehouse has condemed and negatively spoken of all the ill's that comes with drilling for oil. Now the flow has stopped where's obama?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

For the last month or so obama or someone from the whitehouse has condemed and negatively spoken of all the ill's that comes with drilling for oil. Now the flow has stopped where's obama?

Obama's team wants to turn off the cap. Something about siphoning oil from the well head. Story is on Yahoo right now.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

BP, feds clash over reopening capped Gulf oil well - Yahoo! News Here is the story.

 

[Valerie]

“We are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way,” National Incident Commander Thad Allen in a statement today.

Three days of tests on the capped gusher have so far shown no problems that would prompt BP to reopen the well, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP, said today in a conference call from Houston.

The company will monitor the well closely, running a continuous series of seismic, pressure and temperature tests to make sure it isn’t damaged, Suttles said. U.S. government officials will review the test data daily to decide whether it’s safe to keep the well closed, Allen said.

Scientists fear that a seep detected near the well may be a sign of a hidden leak, the Associated Press reported today, citing an unnamed federal official familiar with oversight of the spill. The official provided no additional details to the press service.

On July 17, BP, based in London, said it will investigate bubbles coming from one of the valves on the well cap near the seabed. Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president for exploration and production, said the bubbles might be nitrogen or methane and were “quite normal,” but would be studied “with an abundance of caution.”

BP, Obama May Keep Macondo Oil Well Shut Until Final Kill - BusinessWeek

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Thanks to all for the timely response.

 

[Mini 14]

“We are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way,” National Incident Commander Thad Allen in a statement today.

Three days of tests on the capped gusher have so far shown no problems that would prompt BP to reopen the well, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP, said today in a conference call from Houston.

The company will monitor the well closely, running a continuous series of seismic, pressure and temperature tests to make sure it isn’t damaged, Suttles said. U.S. government officials will review the test data daily to decide whether it’s safe to keep the well closed, Allen said.

Scientists fear that a seep detected near the well may be a sign of a hidden leak, the Associated Press reported today, citing an unnamed federal official familiar with oversight of the spill. The official provided no additional details to the press service.

On July 17, BP, based in London, said it will investigate bubbles coming from one of the valves on the well cap near the seabed. Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president for exploration and production, said the bubbles might be nitrogen or methane and were “quite normal,” but would be studied “with an abundance of caution.”

BP, Obama May Keep Macondo Oil Well Shut Until Final Kill - BusinessWeek

Thad Allen has now acknowledged the seep as well. I don't think that's a good sign, so early on. Pray I'm wrong, but he was awfully quick to agree with the reports.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

“We are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way,” National Incident Commander Thad Allen in a statement today.

Three days of tests on the capped gusher have so far shown no problems that would prompt BP to reopen the well, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP, said today in a conference call from Houston.

The company will monitor the well closely, running a continuous series of seismic, pressure and temperature tests to make sure it isn’t damaged, Suttles said. U.S. government officials will review the test data daily to decide whether it’s safe to keep the well closed, Allen said.

Scientists fear that a seep detected near the well may be a sign of a hidden leak, the Associated Press reported today, citing an unnamed federal official familiar with oversight of the spill. The official provided no additional details to the press service.

On July 17, BP, based in London, said it will investigate bubbles coming from one of the valves on the well cap near the seabed. Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president for exploration and production, said the bubbles might be nitrogen or methane and were “quite normal,” but would be studied “with an abundance of caution.”

BP, Obama May Keep Macondo Oil Well Shut Until Final Kill - BusinessWeek

Thad Allen has now acknowledged the seep as well. I don't think that's a good sign, so early on. Pray I'm wrong, but he was awfully quick to agree with the reports.

That was what I was afraid of

Breaking – Official: Seep found near BP’s blown out oil well :

 

[Avatar4321]

Darn, that's not good.

 

[Valerie]

Thad Allen, the U.S. official in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, ordered BP Plc to prepare for reopening the company’s Macondo well after a “seep” was detected.

Allen said a “seep” was found “a distance” from the well and anomalies had been observed at the well head, in a letter sent today to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley that was posted on a government website about the spill.

“I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen wrote.

U.S. Tells BP to Prepare for Reopening Oil Well After Seep Found - Bloomberg

 

[Ravi]

For the last month or so obama or someone from the whitehouse has condemed and negatively spoken of all the ill's that comes with drilling for oil. Now the flow has stopped where's obama?

Obama's team wants to turn off the cap. Something about siphoning oil from the well head. Story is on Yahoo right now.

Why don't you take your negative energy and cram it up your ass?

 

[Mini 14]

Thad Allen, the U.S. official in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, ordered BP Plc to prepare for reopening the company’s Macondo well after a “seep” was detected.

Allen said a “seep” was found “a distance” from the well and anomalies had been observed at the well head, in a letter sent today to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley that was posted on a government website about the spill.

“I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen wrote.

U.S. Tells BP to Prepare for Reopening Oil Well After Seep Found - Bloomberg

Yeah, it ain't good.

They need to just go ahead and detonate this thing. The relief shafts will be close enough for detonation long before they are close enough to tap into the existing well. And with seepage now confirmed, sealing the existing well-head after completing the relief shafts is not going to be an easy task.

I'd blow it up, cut my losses, and start licking my wounds. This has gone on far too long.

 

[Valerie]

Thad Allen, the U.S. official in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, ordered BP Plc to prepare for reopening the company’s Macondo well after a “seep” was detected.

Allen said a “seep” was found “a distance” from the well and anomalies had been observed at the well head, in a letter sent today to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley that was posted on a government website about the spill.

“I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen wrote.

U.S. Tells BP to Prepare for Reopening Oil Well After Seep Found - Bloomberg

Yeah, it ain't good.

They need to just go ahead and detonate this thing. The relief shafts will be close enough for detonation long before they are close enough to tap into the existing well. And with seepage now confirmed, sealing the existing well-head after completing the relief shafts is not going to be an easy task.

I'd blow it up, cut my losses, and start licking my wounds. This has gone on far too long.

They were saying on Friday the first relief well was only 100 ft away, FWIW.

 

[Avatar4321]

For the last month or so obama or someone from the whitehouse has condemed and negatively spoken of all the ill's that comes with drilling for oil. Now the flow has stopped where's obama?

Obama's team wants to turn off the cap. Something about siphoning oil from the well head. Story is on Yahoo right now.

Why don't you take your negative energy and cram it up your ass?

What negative energy? All he did was tell what he saw in the breaking headline.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Thad Allen, the U.S. official in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, ordered BP Plc to prepare for reopening the company’s Macondo well after a “seep” was detected.

Allen said a “seep” was found “a distance” from the well and anomalies had been observed at the well head, in a letter sent today to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley that was posted on a government website about the spill.

“I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen wrote.

U.S. Tells BP to Prepare for Reopening Oil Well After Seep Found - Bloomberg

Yeah, it ain't good.

They need to just go ahead and detonate this thing. The relief shafts will be close enough for detonation long before they are close enough to tap into the existing well. And with seepage now confirmed, sealing the existing well-head after completing the relief shafts is not going to be an easy task.

I'd blow it up, cut my losses, and start licking my wounds. This has gone on far too long.

Even though I agreed to a certain point with what you said. Still if they did that what will happen to the gulf floor? will it rip a part?

 

[Mini 14]

U.S. Tells BP to Prepare for Reopening Oil Well After Seep Found - Bloomberg

Yeah, it ain't good.

They need to just go ahead and detonate this thing. The relief shafts will be close enough for detonation long before they are close enough to tap into the existing well. And with seepage now confirmed, sealing the existing well-head after completing the relief shafts is not going to be an easy task.

I'd blow it up, cut my losses, and start licking my wounds. This has gone on far too long.

Even though I agreed to a certain point with what you said. Still if they did that what will happen to the gulf floor? will it rip a part?

Not if they're deep enough, which isn't all that deep really. If the report of the relief well being 100 feet away is correct, then they're almost there, assuming they're 300-500 feet below the floor. 20 feet away would be ideal, assuming bedrock.

The Russians have done it before on a well of this volume (natural gas, not oil). It will seal the shaft, and disturb the floor very little, actually. Radiation is negligible at that depth, but the shock wave would kill a lot of wildlife. But a lot less than several more weeks of oil will.

Sentiment for a detonation has been growing down here. If the cap is opened back up, I imagine the supporters will become a lot more vocal.

 

[Valerie]

"Nothing has changed about the joint agreement announced yesterday
between BP and the US government," Allen said Sunday. "The ongoing well
integrity test will continue until 4 pm EDT today (2000 GMT), with the
potential for additional extensions in 24-hour increments."
Allen struck a cautious note, saying that any decisions would have to be
based on science and that the top priority was not to cause any further damage
to the well.
So far, pressure readings taken since the containment cap stopped the
flow of oil into the Gulf have shown lower-than-expected pressures. Allen said
more testing is needed to interpret that result.
"This work centers on two plausible scenarios, depletion of oil from the
reservoir and potential leakage caused by damage to the well bore or casing,"
Allen said.
"While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the
Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it
is important that all decisions are driven by the science. Ultimately, we must
insure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage
from numerous points on the sea floor," Allen said.
Earlier Sunday, Suttles told reporters that pressure continues to build
gradually in the well and that no signs have been found of leaking anywhere on
the sea floor.
"We're hopeful if the encouraging signs continue, we'll be able to
continue the integrity test all the way to the point where we get the well
killed," Suttles said. "Right now, we do not have a target to return the well
to flow."
Suttles said the cap would remain sealed as long as the pressure
continued to rise and tests showed no other breach of the well bore.
"None of the monitoring data have shown a problem," Suttles said. "If we
did see a problem, we may have to re-initiate flow. No one wants to see oil
flowing back into the sea and to re-initiate containment would require that to
occur. We'll take that day by day."
The well pressure has reached 6,778 psi, Suttles said.
On Saturday, Allen said that ships on the surface would begin taking
crude oil from the well after the integrity test had been completed.
"When this test is eventually stopped, we will immediately return to
containment, using the new, tighter sealing cap with both the Helix Producer
and the Q4000" vessels, Allen said, adding: "Additional collection capacity of
up to 80,000 b/d is also being added in the coming days."
Suttles said the first relief well has reached a depth of 17,864 feet,
leaving about another 100 feet vertically to drill. The relief well is about
four feet away from the main well bore.
Suttles said a last string of well casing will be run in the relief well,
an operation that should take about a week. After that, additional ranging
runs will be held to help guide drillers the last few feet to where the relief
well will intercept the main well.
That interception could happen in the last few days of July, Suttles
said. But the operation to pump heavy drilling mud and cement down the well to
kill it permanently could take until mid-August, as originally forecast.
A second relief well has been halted at 15,874 feet. BP is waiting to see
the results of the first well and can re-initiate drilling on the second well
if needed, Suttles said.

Platts: RSS Feed Detailed News

 

[hortysir]

The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

What happens if they attempt this and can't re-cap it? how many more thousands of gallons will be spilled?
Who's to blame then?
Why would 3 days more of spillage be okay?

 

[Valerie]

Sounds like the scientist think they might see a potential seepage problem and just want to make sure BP has a plan in place for every possible scenario.

 

[AquaAthena]

BP is not as enthusiastic about the results, as of this afternoon...

 

[Mini 14]

"Nothing has changed about the joint agreement announced yesterday
between BP and the US government," Allen said Sunday. "The ongoing well
integrity test will continue until 4 pm EDT today (2000 GMT), with the
potential for additional extensions in 24-hour increments."
Allen struck a cautious note, saying that any decisions would have to be
based on science and that the top priority was not to cause any further damage
to the well.
So far, pressure readings taken since the containment cap stopped the
flow of oil into the Gulf have shown lower-than-expected pressures. Allen said
more testing is needed to interpret that result.
"This work centers on two plausible scenarios, depletion of oil from the
reservoir and potential leakage caused by damage to the well bore or casing,"
Allen said.
"While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the
Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it
is important that all decisions are driven by the science. Ultimately, we must
insure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage
from numerous points on the sea floor," Allen said.
Earlier Sunday, Suttles told reporters that pressure continues to build
gradually in the well and that no signs have been found of leaking anywhere on
the sea floor.
"We're hopeful if the encouraging signs continue, we'll be able to
continue the integrity test all the way to the point where we get the well
killed," Suttles said. "Right now, we do not have a target to return the well
to flow."
Suttles said the cap would remain sealed as long as the pressure
continued to rise and tests showed no other breach of the well bore.
"None of the monitoring data have shown a problem," Suttles said. "If we
did see a problem, we may have to re-initiate flow. No one wants to see oil
flowing back into the sea and to re-initiate containment would require that to
occur. We'll take that day by day."
The well pressure has reached 6,778 psi, Suttles said.
On Saturday, Allen said that ships on the surface would begin taking
crude oil from the well after the integrity test had been completed.
"When this test is eventually stopped, we will immediately return to
containment, using the new, tighter sealing cap with both the Helix Producer
and the Q4000" vessels, Allen said, adding: "Additional collection capacity of
up to 80,000 b/d is also being added in the coming days."
Suttles said the first relief well has reached a depth of 17,864 feet,
leaving about another 100 feet vertically to drill. The relief well is about
four feet away from the main well bore.
Suttles said a last string of well casing will be run in the relief well,
an operation that should take about a week. After that, additional ranging
runs will be held to help guide drillers the last few feet to where the relief
well will intercept the main well.
That interception could happen in the last few days of July, Suttles
said. But the operation to pump heavy drilling mud and cement down the well to
kill it permanently could take until mid-August, as originally forecast.
A second relief well has been halted at 15,874 feet. BP is waiting to see
the results of the first well and can re-initiate drilling on the second well
if needed, Suttles said.

Platts: RSS Feed Detailed News

4 feet is too close for comfort for a detonation, but 17,000+ feet is certainly deep enough! It all would depend on the angles they took in drilling the relief wells. Surely one of them is a better distance away than 4 feet, somewhere deep enough to blow the existing well closed?

Its a cluster, for sure. Hindsight is always 20/20, but had they approached a detonation as a workable option from day 5-6 (and I've always been assuming the strata is not too soft for a detonation), it could have been sealed at any point after they had reached a safe depth (a couple of months ago?)

I wonder if the depth is measured from the rig floor, or the gulf floor?