Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
The SpaceX mission
A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. Slideshow
Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here are developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the largest in U.S. history:
SPILL CONTAINMENT EFFORTS
* BP is now collecting about 11,000 barrels per day of the leak volume with a containment cap over the blown-out well, and plans to nearly double collection efforts in coming days to 20,000 barrels per day.
* The ultimate solution remains the drilling of two relief wells expected to be completed in August, a lengthy, expensive but more reliable way to intercept and cap the leaking well.
* With an eye toward the U.S. hurricane season that began June 1, BP and the U.S. government are designing an oil-collection system that can be quickly connected and disconnected in the event that stormy seas require the temporary abandonment of oil-collection efforts.
* BP is also preparing containment enhancements that BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward says could capture "the vast majority" of the oil. The first will be ready in mid-June, and the second in early July, BP says.
OIL SLICK THREAT
* The spill has so far affected 120 miles of shoreline stretching from Louisiana to Florida. The top U.S. spill responder says clean-up will take at least four to six weeks after the well is sealed but that the spill impact will last years.
* Oil is looming off white sand tourist beaches in northwest Florida, depositing tar balls and debris on some, after soiling stretches of coast in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the worst U.S. environmental disaster.
* Fully one-third of the Gulf's federal waters, or 78,603 square miles (202,582 square km), remains closed to fishing, and the toll of dead and injured birds and marine animals, including sea turtles and dolphins, is climbing.
* The U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research projected the oil slick would be driven by wind and currents around the Florida peninsula by early summer and up the East Coast, possibly as far as North Carolina.
* The NOAA forecast was a sober reminder that oil from the unchecked spill, broken up and carried by winds and ocean currents, could threaten a vast area of the U.S. Gulf Coast, including Florida, as well as Cuba and Mexico.
POLITICS
* President Barack Obama, speaking at a White House news conference after a cabinet meeting about the spill, promised Americans the spill will be contained but said the cost will be big and ongoing.
* The president faces rising criticism that his administration was slow to react to the spill. As Obama spends more time managing the spill cleanup, it could derail his domestic agenda and hurt Democrats' chances during the crucial November 2010 mid-term elections.
* The Obama administration has delayed plans to increase offshore drilling as a result of the spill, and is calling for an energy policy rethink that encourages clean energy sources like wind and solar.
COMPANY NEWS
* BP executive said Monday there is no change in the company's upstream exploration and production policy for now. Clive Christison in Kuala Lumpur said policy decisions are unlikely until lessons from the Gulf spill become clear.
* Goldman Sachs and Natixis brokerages downgraded BP shares to "neutral" from "buy.
* BP shares have lost about one-third of their value since the crisis began but in London on Monday they rose more than 2 percent before later slipping 0.7 percent. The rise came on the news of progress in the operation of the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap put in place late last week.
* Nordic bank Nordea said it divested all its BP shares, worth about 10 million euros ($11.94 million), from its funds and would halt further investment in the British oil company until further notice.
* BP has spent about $1.25 billion on the response effort to date.
The Obama administration said it had sent a preliminary bill for $69 million to BP and "other responsible parties" to cover oil spill costs. The United States is pushing BP to improve handling of spill damage claims in affected areas.
GLOBAL REACTION
* The Norwegian prime minister said on Monday that Norway will apply lessons learned from the oil spill in exploring the Arctic for oil.
* China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), China's biggest offshore producer, said it will tighten safety checks after the Gulf oil spill.
* An Exxon official in Kuala Lumpur supports efforts to prevent a repetition of the disaster. But another in Beijing urged government caution in drafting new deepwater drilling rules.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on potential fines that BP might face: "There will be penalties that are involved in this in the many billions of dollars."
($1 = 0.84 euro)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
I pose this question: How can sea water enter the system when the internal pressure is 4 times the external pressure? I challenge PB’s engineers to publically disclose their thinking on that.
Reviewing the cut and cap process that took place a few days ago I wish to point out the following:
In the video of BP’s first attempt to cut the riser pipe they used a diamond saw. The saw was a standard solid, rotating disk with diamond granules embedded in its periphery. This blade would have cut the riser just fine except for the fact that there was a stream of oil moving through the riser at 300 to 500 gallons per minute under a well pressure close to 10,000 PSI. The axial force impingent on that blade as it entered the pipe and began blocking the stream was significant. When the blade was 40% into the pipe it stopped dead and stuck in the kerf. When the flow cross-section at the saw became smaller than the down-stream leak cross section, the pressure differential at the blade began pushing the blade into the kerf and binding it. This means that when it stopped at 40%, the leak cross section was at least 60% of the pipe diameter.
Look at the numbers. BP estimated that a completely open riser pipe would increase the oil flowing into the gulf by 20%. That would mean the flow cross section is 80% of the cross section of the pipe. The cross section of a pipe with a diameter of 21” is 346 sq in. The flow cross section is 80% of the pipe diameter, or 277 sq in. When the blade is 40% of the way through the pipe the flow cross section at the saw cut is 60% of the pipe diameter or 208 sq in. So the pressure differential at the saw would be proportional to the ratio of these cross sections or 208/277. if the wellhead pressure is 10,000psi and the water pressure is 2300psi you have a net pressure of 7700psi and when you multiply this by the cross-section ratio it is 208/277*7700psi or 5781psi. So with the saw blade 40% through the pipe the pressure on the upstream side of the blade is 7700psi and on the downstream side is 5781psi and the pressure differential is 1919 PSI. This pressure differential imposes an axial force on the saw blade. The area of the saw blade in the pipe when it is 40% of the way through is roughly 40% of the cross section of the 21inch pipe or 138 sq inches. So the axial force on the blade is 138 * 1917 = 264882 pounds. Now how could that blade rotate with a force of 264882 pounds pushing it against the kerf of the cut?
BP was very clear and spoke a lot about how and why they were going to use a diamond saw to cut the pipe. “The cut has to be clean so the cap will fit properly,” they said. “The cleaner the cut the better the containment cap will fit and this is very important to the success of the operation,” they emphasized.
When the saw blade lodged in the kerf they struggled to get it out and abandoned the diamond-saw approach to cutting the pipe. Then they brought down a pair of crude industrial shears and snipped the pipe off with them. If you have ever seen a pair of shears like that cut a pipe you would know that the cut is anything but clean and smooth. So the end of the pipe is mangled and the cap they put on will at best leak terribly and at worst fly off under the full pressure of the well when they close the vents. It is a horrible fact that not only did BP stupidly take shortcuts in bringing in the well but they have been totally incompetent in every attempt they have made to repair the damage culminating with this stupid shear cut on the riser pipe.
If they had perforated the bade by drilling holes in it to allow the oil to pass through it during the cut they would have stood a good chance of completing the cut.
So why isn’t BP closing the vents and maximizing the oil flow to the surface? Is it truly fear of methane hydrates blocking the flow or are thy afraid the well pressure will blow the containment cap off the riser?
“Jeez, wow, why aren’t you two, fmills and Alkan, out there fixing the leak. Sounds like you have a clearer idea of how to sort this problem than BP. :) Helte”
Helte, I can only speak for myself, but I am just an old guy in my late 70’s that used to drill and produce oil and gas wells. Many years ago I even drilled cable tool wells and know what blow outs can do. When you deal with high pressure, things are different than using a garden hose and sometimes I even had to have special tools invented and made to do things. But being retired, there are lots of young people that are domestic O&G people that can advise Admiral Allen. There are common sense things that can be done, and then those like BP is using.
Almost anybody can understand the common sense ones.
Maybe Rube Goldberg can understand these others… I surely don’t… and leave that to the new generation of problem solvers (such as those now advising Admiral Allen).
He needs more O&G advice and choices to test for common sense, as he is an honest and practical man that made a helpful difference during the Katrina aftermath.
Follow Reuters