BP's Deepwater Oil Spill - Approaching the Well and the Birth of Hope - and Open Thread

The Oil Drum ^ | September 15, 2010 - 10:25am | Heading Out

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

With very little change since yesterday in the situation in the Gulf, it may be time to start spreading these reviews out a little more, or if the well is intersected this week, to consider moving to more general topics. The DDIII drilled 30 of the remaining 50 ft between the relief well and the original Deepwater Horizon well on Monday. The drill was then retracted to make a ranging run, and once that is completed, one can assume that they might just go ahead and do the intersection on the next drilling pass.

That will begin to generate the next set of answers to remaining questions about the well condition, and what happened when the well blew out. At the same time

The DDII continues to conduct diagnostic tests on the MC252 well, and final plugging and abandonment procedures are being worked through the approval process.

One wonders how long the approvals will take?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Nearing the end of closing down the Wild Well?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Subthread of Interest:

My best guess at the moment is that the Relief Well has already intercepted the wild well and that DD-2 has punched through the casing.

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posted by MoonofA on September 15, 2010 - 9:47am

My best guess at the moment is that the Relief Well has already intercepted the wild well and that DD-2 has punched through the casing.

Why?

Helix Producer, which has been on station some two miles away from DD-2 for weeks has spend the night only some 300 feet away from the DD-2. It them moved off from there a few hours ago and is again some two miles away from DD-2.

The only use of Helix Producer is to capture and process oil. If they expected oil in the annulus moving it to the DD-2 for the opening of the annulus is reasonably.

There will be a Thadmiral press-call at 10:00am CDT. Expect some good news.

Also - BP has new feeds on its video wall, though we don't really know what for.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

MoonofA on September 15, 2010 - 12:07pm

Says:

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Okay - I was wrong - according to Thadmiral the relief well will intercept within the next 24 hours.

The whole operation could be over in 96 hours.

[Vinnie]

I was (and still am) ignorant of the complexity of oil well drilling.
How they can drill sideways from a mile away, starting a mile below the surface of the ocean and intercept another well is truly amazing.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another subthread :

US: Abandoned Wells In Gulf Must Be Plugged...says The Obama administration

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posted by tinys_alabama on September 15, 2010 - 1:42pm

US: Abandoned Wells In Gulf Must Be Plugged
by (AP) WASHINGTON
Published: Wed, September 15, 2010 - 11:49 am CST
Last Updated: Wed, September 15, 2010 - 12:17 pm CST

The Obama administration says it will require oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico to plug nearly 3,500 nonproducing wells and dismantle about 650 production platforms that are no longer being used.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a formal notice issued Wednesday would make energy production in the Gulf safer and prevent potentially catastrophic leaks at wells that in some cases have been abandoned for decades.

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and more than 1,000 oil rigs and platforms sit idle. An Associated Press investigation showed that many of the wells have been ignored for decades, with no one in industry or government checking to see if they are leaking.

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/us-abandoned-wells-in-gulf-mu...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Back in the early time of my following the threads of TOD there was some good tutorials of how they do that....it is (as I understand it...) all in the way the drill bit is driven (rotation by the force of the mud fluid and shims at the endpoint of the drill pipe.

That is a rather incomplete answer...

Some of those I usually ping may be able to give you a better answer...

All of this punching a hole in the earth is NOT SIMPLE

[OrioleFan]

Did you plug the hole, daddy?

[Vinnie]

I watched a video of them lifting the BOP up and placing on a fixture to examine it.
Shazzam! That thing is huge. The underwater videos only showed a small part of it.
How they can locate the old well is amazing.
The entire procedure is amazing.

[UCANSEE2]

Modern drill bit heads have a built in magnetic sensing mechanism which guides the bit towards the steel pipe casing from the original well. It's call MGS (Magnetic Guidance System).

[UCANSEE2]

P.S. The drill bit ‘head’ itself ‘tilts’ according to either guidance from the magnetic sensors, or from manual input at the surface.

[ArmstedFragg]

Looks like he’s found a way to solve the employment impacts of the drilling ban while still accomplishing his goal of torpedoing the economy.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sort of a WPA style project.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks...

Got to shut down and run an errand.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks for the ping. Looks like if the weather permits it will be a done deal within the prescribed time frame.