Yo Boomers. We've recently been given information from BP that they are choking flow from the #4 LMRP cap at the surface. This is signifigant. It's wrong. It's disgusting. Below, I'm going to explain all this as best I can. For a few here at Daily Kos and many many people outside our community, my credibility on this will, perhaps rightfully, be called into question. After all, I'm just some guy named Fishgrease and Fishgrease is obviously not my real name. I and a lot of Kossacks are pretty sure that Keith Olbermann was talking about me when he said "supposed industry insider on the internet" with reference to my saying there's a lot of boom being floated incorrectly. That doesn't hurt my feelings Keith, because it's fully accurate. I'm very much supposed. I do hasten to point out in my own defense, that Keith's expert guest at the time essentially verified what I'd said in my first booming diary many weeks ago. Last Thursday, Rachel Maddow's expert guest, (Michael Blum - Tulane University - Solid Boomer) did the same.
Whoa! Bump!
In this case, however, I don't really need any credibility, supposed or otherwise. Why? Because BP told us today that they are choking flow at the surface. At the boat. Logically, this means BP is leaking much more on the ocean floor right now than they need to. I don't think I need to explain why that is wrong and disgusting. Look at the live feeds after reading this and see if you don't find it just so.
For those who frequent my diaries for this, here is the obligatory "fuck". It's the last one I'll use herein.
I don't expect to be backed up on anything in this diary by anyone in the Oil and Gas industry. Like most industries, no, more than in most industries, the Oil and Gas industry does not like to aire its dirty laundry. Even specialized industry journalists won't touch this. It's a damned shame, but it is what it is.
OK - you're industry press. All you have to sell is access. You're supposed to know people in the industry who you can get real deal info from. Somebody doesn't want to talk to you, or feeds you obvious bullshit - you gotta play ball or you lose access. You've literally gotta play golf with these guys.
Only people who can afford to be confrontational don't have access.
Ever see Rolling Stone give a major act a bad review?
You never will.
-- Kossack, and one of my heroes, Remembering Jello
I guess I can afford to be confrontational. Knowing what I do and looking at the live feed of that oil still leaking into the waters of the Gulf, yeah. I'm going to be confrontational whether I can afford to or not. I do challenge anyone inside the industry or out, to refute anything I write here today.
Get To The Point! What's got me so upset?
From BP today, via their spill response website:
In order to maximize the amount of oil and gas being collected, engineering and operations teams continue to optimize the choke valve settings on the surface, overall systems pressures and valves on the LMRP cap.
• Daily oil collection will be maximized through maintaining a stable system.
• Both production trains for processing oil at the surface are in operation.
• We may leave some of the LMRP cap valves open to ensure system stability - one is currently closed.
The next update will be provided at 9:00am CDT on June 7, 2010.
From that, this:
continue to optimize the choke valve settings on the surface
I quoted the whole thing first so I can't be accused of taking it out of context. It means that after numerous iterations of Top Cap and LMRP designs working toward gathering the most oil into containment, they're intentionally holding oil back from containment. Now, that's not so bad if there's good reasons for it. There's not. There's reasons. They're just not good reasons.
What's a choke valve? It's a valve that controls flow -- holding a given amount of flow back -- allowing a given amount of flow to pass. Every water faucet in your house is a choke valve.
Here's BP's reasons for holding flow back:
- Inadequate surface production facilities -- perhaps limited by regulatory enforcement.
- Desire to keep water out of the cap and riser, where that water could form hydrate ice.
Inadequate Surface Production Facilities
Meet Transocean's
Deepwater Drillship, Discoverer Enterprise
(PHOTO: Transocean - HO/AFP/Getty Images)
Now, inadequate? No. Not for its intended purpose. In fact, you're looking at the finest multipurpose drilling vessel on Planet Earth. Not kidding. Even Transocean's competitors would not seriously argue otherwise. I have no doubt whatsoever that it is manned by the finest multipurpose drilling crew on Planet Earth. If you aren't the best of the best of the best, you never step foot on this drilling ship. I could not step foot on this drilling ship. But this multipurpose drilling ship is inadequate for producing this well via a purposefully leaking cap setting on a flowing BOP at 5000' ocean depth. The setup atop the BOP is very sensitive to backpressure and that surface choke is causing backpressure. This ship is inadequate in the same way a multipurpose printer-fax-scanner is inadequate for printing a full run of a large presentation project. How do I know this? BP has told us this. They've said their current surface production facilities are rated for 15,000 barrels of oil per day.
From
Transocean:
The Discoverer Enterprise also can conduct a wide range of subsea operations, including j-laying of ultra-deepwater pipelines, even during well-construction. What's more, the vessel has extended well-testing and storage capabilities.
I manitain that the extended well-testing and storage capabilities are not extended enough for this application. Production and testing equipment is rated for flow of gas and oil AT maximum working pressure. These pressures are standard at 1440 psig or 1800 psig. Reduce the pressure you're running at -- you reduce your rated throughput. That drillship is set up for production testing wells that have a solid connection to the producing formation. In those conditions, you can hold all the backpressure you want, pressure up your surface equipment to near design pressure and get the design-rated flow through your trains (a train is a series of separators, heaters and other processing equipment). It wasn't designed to hold minimal backpressure on a leaking riser at rated throughput -- which is what they need to do right now. If I'm right about this, with this setup, they'll never go very far beyond their present 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Maybe a little, but probably not much.
So they're choking it back at the boat, causing more to leak into the Gulf of Mexico than need be.
-
(thanks to Kossacks whitis and Tomtech for the violent, disgusting leak image)
(thanks to the poor pelican for the disgusting pelican image -- I'm told he was rescued)
(no one can rescue whitis and Tomtech)
-
They need other functions on that superb drillship, like its gargantuan lifting power, but its production capabilities need augmented. Park a small processing boat next to the drillship. Whatever. But get you some more processing capacity because this is surface work and there's just no excuse for not having more than you need. Not with this thing.
Desire To Keep Water Out Of The Cap And Riser, Where That Water Could Form Hydrate Ice
First off, this isn't the reason there's so much oil presently bellowing out from under the cap and out the vents. A mimimal amount of positive flow of oil under the cap would prevent water incursion. The reason above, inadequate surface processing facilities, is the reason most of the oil is flowing out from under the cap. But this brings up a question. BP? Here in a week or so, once you've established flow into the Q4000 as well, wouldn't it be nice to have live feeds showing NO or VERY VERY LITTLE oil escaping into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico? Wouldn't that be nice? Well this industry has been fighting hydrate ice for decades and decades and we've been winning. I've produced wells atop mountains where it is 45 below zero F. ambient temperature and hydrates kicked my ass. Then I kicked their ass right back. Our fathers were kicking the ass of hydrates 30 and 40 years ago. Yes, you're at 5000' ocean depth. But you had the unbelievable skill and ingenuity to drill this well at this depth and I refuse to believe that hydrates are an insurmountable problem. Heat water... HOT, at the surface and design a cap that can be heated by pumped water from the surface. Put in a double wall. Put in coils. Something. I refuse to believe you cannot heat a cap such that with some methanol injection, you cannot allow a small amount of water incursion and NO or VERY LITTLE (as in less than a percent of total flow) oil leakage.
This is possible and it is in your best interest and you know it, BP. You have production engineers and scientists IN BP who can do it. They cannot wait to do it. You know that too. Already working on it? Already working on augmenting the processing capability on the surface to where you can leave that choke wide open?
Then Tell Us That!
This is ONE area where you have no enemies, BP. EVERYBODY wants you to succeed in gathering every bit of this oil until the Kill Bores are complete and the well is dead. In some other aspects of this mess, yes, you have a lot of sworn enemies. I'm one of those. But everyone is your friend regarding your capturing all that oil. So don't lie to us. If you're doing something positive, designing something new, working on a new plan, TELL US! You'll get several billion dollars worth of PR from just telling us what you're doing, when you're doing it. Best commercial in the world. We all realize that this is an iterative process and that not everything you try is going to work. What we WON'T tolerate is you telling us that we're just going to have to put up with oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico until sometime in August... or September... or October. Let us know that your steadfast mission is to gather ALL that oil and share with us your thoughts on how to do that. Not most of it. Not Tony's "vast majority" of it. ALL OF IT! You can do it! We are on your side in that endeavor. I shit you not.
On Regulation
U.S. Regulatory Agencies, please don't tell me that the reason BP has this flow choked back is because of some regulation regarding flaring of oil or your requiring fully stabilized oil to enter a tanker. There's a choke point somewhere in this surface process. I know that for a fact and so do thousands of production people in this country. There is a surface deficiency. Please don't let it be our Government suddenly being a stickler over some previously ignored little air-quality bullshit reg. They may need to flare some of this oil. They may need to put some hot oil in a tanker and let it weather on the way to port. If they're safe about it, and they will be, LET THEM! The objective here is to keep the oil out of the Gulf. U.S. Government, don't be assholes.
Remember The BP Catastrophe Mothership and Keep It Holy
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