UPDATE 1-Weather delays retrieval of BP blowout preventer -US
* Bad weather expected to last 2-3 days
* Delay also pushes relief well kill back 2-3 days (Adds detail, quotes, byline)
By Kristen Hays
HOUSTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - BP Plc delayed retrieval of the failed blowout preventer atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well this week because of bad weather, the top U.S. official overseeing the oil spill said on Monday.
"We are in a weather hold right now," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said, noting seas were 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 metres) high at the site of the Macondo well off the Louisiana coast.
Allen gave the telephone briefing while aboard a rig waiting to resume drilling a relief well that is on target to intercept the Macondo well and kill the leak for good.
Drilling cannot resume until the failed blowout preventer is removed and replaced by another, so the delay in this step will postpone the relief well's work as well, Allen said.
He said bad weather is expected to last two or three days. That would push the blowout preventer switch to later this week from Tuesday or Wednesday.
"We should have been ready to go right after Labor Day but obviously this will move that," Allen said of the relief well.
"If for some reason the weather lays down, we will go immediately," he said.
He said the weather issues are unrelated to tropical systems that swirled above the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. [ID:N30177607]
The failed blowout preventer a mile (1.6 km) beneath the water's surface is key evidence in criminal and civil investigations into the April 20 blowout that preceded an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men.
The switch will preserve the evidence and ensure a working blowout preventer is atop the well to handle any pressure increases as the relief well bores in to inject mud and cement near its bottom about 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) beneath the seabed, according to Allen.
He said on Monday that the choppy seas hinder removal because rigs bob up and down and force a pipe lifting the equipment to swing back and forth like a pendulum. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Why not end this mess sooner?
They now have a well that is static and open to the sea water. The upper cap has been opened. Inside in the middle is a 6 5/8 od drill pipe that is not crimped shut by the rams but held there hanging maybe 3000 feet down from the middle of the failed BOP cutting rams.
What is available to do?
into the riser now there, have Haliburton lower their logging tool into the through the riser and into the drill pipe.
Then find the location of the bit being raised during the blow out. Say it is 3000 feet below the sea floor.
Then use a wireline pipe cutter and cut off the bit and let it fall thousands of feet to bottom — where the mile of cement at the bottom was put in by the static kill.
Then run another wireline tool to log the well to bottom and see exact things like the location of the cement, a cement bond log of the casing, and other parameters.
If the bond log shows good annular cement at the level of the lower 5000 foot cement plug in the casing — that PROVES that the annulus is perfectly plugged and the well is ready for standard plugging procedure. It will also show if any weak spots in the cement can be repaired by using a packer on tubing and perforate the lower casing to squeeze cement to repair it — all without needing a Relief Well.
NO RELIEF WELL can do anything more to help matters if there is cement — as that is all it hopes to do if it doesn’t restart another Blow Out to the Gulf.
Dudley (the new chief of BP) just stated the relief well WILL BE USED after they put on the new BOP.
The reason he gave for doing it was that the experiment of using a relief well at this depth needs to be tested as something could new could be learned by playing with it.
Experiments are for Cern Switzerland Particle Collider Physicists to run experiments to see if vastly higher energies will cause a chain reaction — to destroy our Gallaxy.
Experiments are certainly not for those of the Gulf — already suffering from the last BOP experiment BP tried on their Macondo Well.
We all know what experiments can do.
Standard procedures are safe and run no risk at all — like logging this well without doing another dangerous thing.
I forgot to mention that the above way to leave everything as it is and find the well is killed (for sure) or to run tubing or cement the annulus needed — can also be done after they remove the malfunctioning BOP for the investigation.
In that case I suppose they will then put on another BOP (hopefully a better one) and at that point (from Allen’s statement) will have maybe 3000 feet of drill pipe hanging below the BOP that he says they will cut off the bottom of the old BOP that will then fall several thousand feet to the bottom of the well and hit the 5000 foot cement bottom plug (hopefully not shattering and breaking something).
Maybe they will not let it fall if they are smart.
At any rate, after they fish out or remove this 3000 foot of drill pipe, they can do the same thing as above (even much easier).
They can check for lower casing cement outside the pipe with several types of bond logs etc.
If they find the annulus at the bottom needs more cement, they can run a packer on large tubing and set it near bottom — then run a wireline through the tubing and packer near the bottom cement inside the pipe — and then perforate the casing into any open annulus space they find near the bottom protected by the packer from anything (pressure) coming up the casing — then squeeze cement the annulus through the packer (with the set packer only there for insurance and safety).
That procedure would be everything the relief well could possibly do and more — as they can do logging to recheck and see if everything was done perfectly.
This will avoid the myriad of dangerous things the Relief Well experiment could cause.
They will be using safe standard O&G procedures that everybody know are safe.
The well is then “Killed Twice” like Allen keeps saying it needs and wants.
Everybody in the Gulf will be happy to know its over (except maybe Allen and BP people).
BP would love to do the experiment and play with the relief well at this rare depth to learn what can be done and potential problems can go wrong.
Allen also wants the relief well as then he will be glad they did what he promised: (”The well will not be killed until the relief well is used.”) because he is sticking by his stupid order to further endanger the Gulf and satisfy his pride.
Will they do the experiment and further endanger the Gulf and its people — YES.
They said they will, and they WILL — unless of course that they realize they are being inhumane and stupid to create possible problems with experiments.
Simple safe standard things however are best.
Doing what is best however will not be mentioned by history — if — the relief well does not cause another disaster.
It will only be mentioned as something that “should have been done” as a Monday morning quarterback view by our recorded history —
if Allen and BP create another HUGE Blow Out.
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