Posted on 08/31/2005 9:24:19 PM PDT by tomahawk
Insider report on Katrina damage
There are MANY production platform missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.
We also set individual wells as satellites and pipe them back to existing platforms. These stand-alone wells are called caisson wells. 90% of those in the storm path are bent over, rendering them a total loss, We would have to remove the existing bent structure and drill a new well, as bent pipe is basically unusable.
We utilize platforms as gathering hubs. We pipe the raw oil/water to them and then send it on for separation, or separate it there and send finished oil on. Damage to a hub means everything going to the hub is offline indefinitely. There are +/- 15 HUBS missing. MISSING!! As in we cannot find them from the air.
Thus even if the wells feeding the hub are ok, we have nowhere to pump the oil to...
The jackup drilling rigs appear to be in various stages of damage, but most rode the storm out with minimal problems. However, each of them has shifted position.
When we jack the rig up, it is carefully positioned directly over the well slot where we are working. The derrick has rails that allow us to slide it in 4 directions to get the derrick directly over the well or slot. If the rig moves (right/left, or from level to uneven), it has to be jacked back down to the waterline and repositioned with tugboats, then jacked back up. After it is back up and level, the derrick is slid on the 2 sets of rails, and bolted into position over the well or slot again.
Thus we have to reset each of the drilling rigs, which requires getting OUT of the well, tugboats and a move, then getting back into the well. The open hole we have drilled (what is not enclosed in cemented casing) is likely to be lost, and if the wellhead or the casing is bent, then the well will have to be redrilled. This is an exploration setback of at least a month, but we don't yet know the boat situation.
Boats are usually brought into harbor to weather storms. We do not have a boat count yet, but from the initial reports, we may have lost or grounded 30% of the Gulf of Mexico fleet. This means everything will cost more, take longer - repairs, repositioning, everything.
In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production...
Loss of the MARS platform alone cost us 95,000 barrels a day for a year or maybe more.
YEARS, people. I know what this means - hope everyone else gets it too...
The front page of the Houston Chronicle has a rig beached on Dauphin Island. The legs have been sheared off and derrick is missing – thus it is a total loss. This rig was operating in Main Pass (adjacent to Plaquemines Parish), and thus was blown to Alabama and beached.
marked
An earlier post here said 20 of 4000 platforms were missing. 5%
The silence about this has been deafening. I knew when no one was reporting that everything was just fine, that it wasn't.
Is there oil leaking?
BUMPED and BOOKMARKED.
I think there are over 400 oil platforms off the Gulf cost.
Is it 4000 or 400?
0.5%, not 5%
20/4000 = .005
Well, obvious questions would be - to what [if any] extent could the damaged equipment be salvaged and/or refurbished for future use, and whether it could be possible in the future to anchor the rigs to the sea floor much more securely.
A friend of mine who used to do work on the Gulf of America's oil rigs said that about 1% of them actually drill (he confirmed the 4000+ rig #) and the other 99% do pumping, refining, storing, processing, etc. If this is so, it might be possible that some are idle and could be moved to active spots where they'd be needed. Sorta like a mothball fleet. Anyone with info beyond what I have able to confirm?
FYI!
Not sure if we know the whole story of what they have in their plans, and I am sure their plans had to be approved by someone other than themselves, like insurance companies and they are almost as anal as federal regulators.
Just a guess......
"..MMS estimates that, of the approximately 4,000 structures and 33,000 miles of pipelines in the gulf, 150 platforms and 10,000 miles of pipeline were in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan. This path brought Hurricane Ivan across the shelf and through the waters of the Mississippi River delta, the area most susceptible to underwater mudslides in the gulf.
Hurricane Ivan destroyed seven platforms as indicated in Table 1 and caused significant damage to 24 other platforms, 16 of which remain off production. Of the 16 platforms that remain shut-in, 14 are shelf facilities as indicated in Table 2, and two are deepwater facilities as indicated in Table 3. Any additional damage will be detected with underwater surveys required by the MMS Notices to Lessees (NTL 2004-G18 and NTL 2004-G19). With industry still conducting underwater structural damage assessments, the number of platforms with significant damage could still increase. However, updated projections tentatively have all remaining deep water facilities being back online by April 2005. (See Table 3).."
If there were oil leaking, Green Peace and other environmental groups would be screaming right now.
This is nuts, no gas at the gas station.
Here's your platform map, based on 1999 data.
"Abstract:
This is a point data set for the location of over 4300 MMS administered platform structures used for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Groups of platform structures connected by walkways form 'complexes.' There are approximately 3700 such complexes in these data."
Half a percent is not good, and will cause a price rise in oil products. But it shouldn't be devastating.
Future directional drilling jobs for Baker Hughes. Yeeeaaaah!
Read later.
I hope this isn't true, the platforms should have been built and factored in to withstand storms such as this one.
I am retired oil field trash (smile if you say that) who has worked offshore in Alaska. Production platforms there withstood (were designed to) solid ice packs several feet thick (in Cook Inlet) that moved in the 15-20 foot tides at 7-8 knots an hour. In the winter time with the ice breaking up and grinding on the platform legs, it was like a perpetual earthquake, but we were never in any danger'
Iraq will have to make up the shortfall. We need to send enough machinery and personnel over there to make sure this happens.
Throughout this whole thing, I haven't heard one word about drilling up in ANWR.
It's cold as a bleeping witches tit, but it's up there, and there's no frigging hurricanes.
This should be a rallying point for the Bush administration to push for drilling in ANWR.
And all down the Pacific Coast . . . just so we can hear the limo liberals wailing about the "improved" vistas at their beach houses.
The tectonic instability might be a factor there.
Just because they do different functions does not mean they are idle. They are doing that refining, processing, pumping, compressing, etc. Also they are not useful for drilling, they do not have the equipment. It would be like trying to use a cement mixer to haul gasoline, they are both trucks but incapable of performing the other task.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.