Saving the Gulf: Forget the Top Kill

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Friday May 21, 2010 · 10:54 PM PDT

2010/05/21 · 22:54

Here's my suggestion: Use the two 3" choke and kill access lines to produce the well until the relief wells are successful.

I have been dreading the decision to attempt a top kill this Sunday (or thereabouts) there is so much potential danger for opening up a wide open well head scenario prematurely.

BP is in a race against time vs. the well and erosion. If they just wait for the relief wells they may be able to shut it off in 2-4 months. As they wait, the leak gets worse due to abrasion at the BOP and the leak directly above the BOP & riser package where the riser tubing is kinked at >90'. The well is flowing under high pressure with sand from the formation that is going to make the leak(volcano) worse over time.

If they attempt the top kill or the junk shot, both approaches could solve the problem or make it much worse. They are high risk moves. High payoff if successful and potentially terrible consequences with failure. For the top kill, they need to pump heavy mud very fast and under very high pressures to overcome the well pressure and the leaks. It will surely stress the leak above the BOP greatly.

Does everyone remember seeing this image of the bend in the marine riser tubing taken after the sinking of the rig?

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It shows the bent pipe above the BOP and marine riser package with no leak.

Last week they finally released video of the 2nd leak from this very section of pipe.

Clearly the leak from this point is getting much worse, and rapidly.

BP has claimed a notable yet insufficient success with their riser insertion tube which is 4" in diameter and inserted into the end of the open 21" riser casing on the see floor down stream of the 2nd leak near the BOP. They claim to be getting 5000 bbl per day of oil from that 4" tube.

Well the BOP has 2 separate 3" lines plumbed directly into the well that BP has been planning to use to pump heavy mud into to attempt a top kill. Here's a diagram of the top kill set up.

Here's another graphic:

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Heck they have 2-3" lines plumbed directly into the well before it hits any water.

Why not use these two lines to produce oil/gas mix directly and thereby reduce the pressure and flow at the remaining two leaks?

if the 4" riser insertion tube can produce >= 5000 bbl/day then these 2-3" tubes should be able to produce at least 1.125x as much or another 5600 bbl/day. That's not even assuming you actively pump it to increase volumes.

Anyway this diary was just intended to provide another thought about another possibility for collecting more of the oil/gas at source and reducing the stress at the other leaks without needing to make the big gamble that attempting the top kill may make things a lot worse.

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