Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster- Update on BP's attempt to stop the oil leaks - The Macondo 252 well is now officially DEAD

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• <SMALL>MAY 3, 2010, 2:23 A.M. ET</SMALL>

<!-- ID: BT-CO-20100503-700843 --><!-- TYPE: T Wire --><!-- DISPLAY-NAME: --><!-- PUBLICATION: Dow Jones Newswires --><!-- DATE: 2010-05-03 02:23 --><!-- COPYRIGHT: Dow Jones & Company, Inc. --><!-- ORIGINAL-ID: --><!-- article start --><!--CODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=NIBCODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=AEQCODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=NIPCODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=WMMICODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=NRGCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=LACODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=USCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=USSCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=SZCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=ECCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=WEUCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=TXCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=UKCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=EUCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=EUPWCODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=NMECODE=MARKET SYMBOL=NNDCODE=MARKET SYMBOL=ENECODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJNCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=UKMRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJG7CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CNWCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJFPCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJIVCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=ENVCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DOICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJQSCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=AERCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJMOCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=ENYCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=BKGCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJINCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJPNCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGVCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGSCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJIBCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DPGCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EUCMCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJPTCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=ADRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJQACODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EWRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=GENCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGPCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WERCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=NRGCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WEICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=ECRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJWRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=PETCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WAERCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EGYCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=NACMCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CMDICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=REFCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CMRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJEPCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=IPRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJEUCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJRTCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EMRCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=FXWCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EMTCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJAECODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJWICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJEICODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJENCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WSJCCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=APINCODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=TSYCODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=RIGCODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=BP.LNCODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=BPCODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=OIECODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XDJGICODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XNYACODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XGDWCODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=OILCODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XSLICODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XGTICODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=DRLCODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XFT1CODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XOGTCODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=XISLCODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=CH0048265513CODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=GB0007980591CODE=COMPANY SYMBOL=US0556221044-->US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days


The response team striving to contain the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well said Monday it plans to deploy a dome to cover the well and siphon off the crude within the next 6-8 days, depending on the weather.

The 125-ton dome--officially known as the Subsea Oil Recovery System--will be set on top of the largest leak, according to a fact sheet issued by the oil spill response group coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
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Officials said the Subsea Oil Recovery System could collect as much as 85% of the oil rising from the sea floor, with the crude moved from the dome via a vertical pipe to the surface where it is processed and stored temporarily on a ship.

However, the officials added the system is untested at the one-mile depth of this well.

Full text:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100503-700843.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

May 03, 2010
LINK: Subsea oil recovery system

FACT SHEET: SUBSEA OIL RECOVERY SYSTEM

The Subsea Oil Recovery System is a large structure that can be placed over the largest leak source in the Transocean Deepwater Horizon Rig. The system is designed to collect hydrocarbons from the well and pump them to a tanker at the surface, where they will be stored and safely shipped ashore. Weather permitting, deployment of the system is planned within the next six to eight days.

How it works

<DIR><DIR>? The system is made up of a 125-ton, 14? x 24? x 40? structure that will be set on top of the largest leak source. This leak is located at the end of the riser, about 600 feet from the wellhead.

? Equipment at the top of the system is connected to a 5,000 foot riser that will convey the hydrocarbons to the surface ship, the Deepwater Enterprise.

? Once in place, oil will flow up into the containment system?s dome to the surface ship.

? Once on the surface ship, the hydrocarbons will be processed and oil will be separated from water and gas. The oil will then be temporarily stored before being offloaded and shipped to a designated oil terminal onshore.

? The Deepwater Enterprise is capable of processing 15,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 139,000 barrels.

? A support barge will also be deployed with a capacity to store 137,000 barrels of oil.

? This system could collect as much as 85% of oil rising from the seafloor.

</DIR></DIR>How it was developed

<DIR><DIR>? This is the first time this system will be used at this water depth.

? To develop the system, BP quickly located existing structures that had previously been used as coffer dams in shallow water recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

? After Katrina, these structures were lowered over damaged wellheads to allow divers to repair wellheads.

? BP engineers have worked closely with the firm Wild Well Controls, Inc. to convert these structures for use in deep waters.


</DIR></DIR>What?s next

<DIR><DIR>? This system is being fabricated in Louisiana and will be transported to the Deepwater Enterprise.

? Once on site, the system will be lowered to the seabed.

? ROVs will monitor the installation and will complete connections to the riser (tubing).


</DIR></DIR>? Because of the weight of the structure and the muddy conditions at the sea bottom, "mud flaps" have been added to the sides of the structure. These flaps enable the structure to settle into the sea bottom and complete the enclosure.
...

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days



<!-- end photoProvider --><cite id="photoTimestamp">Mon May 3, 2:01 PM ET</cite>


<!-- end photo cont -->Welders work on top

Welders work on the top of a portion of the BP subsea oil recovery system chamber at Wild Well Control, Inc. in Port Fourchon, Louisiana May 3, 2010.

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Gulf-C...1544338086.jpg

[tropical]

Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

#3:...

http://media.al.com/live/photo/containment-chamber-for-oil-spilljpg-43f53639fc197bda.jpg

"a real piece of spacetec" ...
(couldn't it be already preemptive prompted)

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Officials ready containment dome to bottle up spill
Credit: AP
Workers at the Wild Well Control company work on a containment chamber that will be used to help contain the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Port Fourchon, La., Monday, May 3, 2010. The chamber will be lowered onto the well and capture the oil that is spilling into the Gulf Of Mexico. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)


by Vicki Smith and Allen Breed
wwltv.com
Posted on May 5, 2010 at 7:09 AM
Updated today at 7:14 AM

NEW ORLEANS -- The best short-term solution to bottling up a disastrous oil spill threatening sealife and livelihoods along the Gulf Coast should be arriving on Wednesday in the form of a specially built giant concrete-and-steel box designed to siphon the oil away.

Crews for contractor Wild Well Control were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on the 100-ton containment dome. A barge at about midday would haul the contraption to the spot 50 miles offshore where a mile-deep gusher from a blown-out undersea well has been spewing at least 210,000 gallons of crude a day into the Gulf for two weeks. BP spokesman John Curry said it would be deployed on the seabed by Thursday.

/.../

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Officials-ready-containment-dome-to-bottle-up-spill-92854024.html

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Containment box arrives onsite near source of Gulf of Mexico oil spill

By The Associated Press

May 06, 2010, 6:56AM

Patrick Semansky / The Associated PressThe barge Joe Griffin sails down a channel Wednesday on its way to the Gulf of Mexico carrying a chamber, right, that will be used to help contain oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform onto a ship in Port Fourchon, La.

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) -- A boat carrying a 100-ton concrete-and-steel contraption designed to siphon off the oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico arrived Thursday at the spot in the sea where a blown-out well is spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.

Another boat with a crane plans to start lowering the box to the seafloor later in the day. Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak that has only worsened since it began two weeks ago.

A rapid response team planned to head to the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's coast Thursday to look into unconfirmed reports that oil from the spill had arrived there, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson said.

The boat hauling the specially built containment box and dome structure pushed off Wednesday evening from the Louisiana coast and arrived at the site of the disaster Thursday morning.

The Joe Griffin would meet up with another BP-chartered boat, the Boa Sub C, a Norwegian vessel that will use a crane to lower the contraption to cover the gusher of oil spewing from the seabed -- something that has never been tried before at such depths. BP spokesman Bill Salvin said the drop is expected at about noon on Thursday.

The dome-like top of the structure is designed to act like a funnel and siphon the oil up through 5,000 feet of pipe and onto a tanker at the surface. Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded and sank last month, killing 11 people.

"We're a little anxious. They're gonna try everything they can. If it don't work, they'll try something else," Capt. Demi Shaffer told The Associated Press aboard his boat just after it set off. The AP is the only news organization with access to the containment effort.

A 12-man crew aboard a supply boat was carrying the precious cargo.

The 280-foot Joe Griffin, owned by Edison Chouest Offshore, also was involved in helping fight the fire that resulted from the oil rig explosion.

The vessel is named for a boat captain who worked with company founder Edison Chouest, when Chouest was still in the shrimping business.

The operator of the oil rig, BP PLC, has tried several high-tech undersea tactics to cap the leak. The containment dome endeavor is unprecedented and engineers are fully aware of the risks.

First, crews need to properly position the four-story structure above the well as it sinks deep into the mud at the bottom of the Gulf with the help of a remote-controlled robotic submarine. A steel pipe will be attached to a tanker at the surface and connected to the top of the dome to move the oil.

"It's very dark down there ... and we will have lights on the (submersibles), and we know exactly where to put this and guide it into place," said David Clarkson, BP's vice president for project execution.

That process presents several challenges because of the frigid water temperature -- about 42 degrees Fahrenheit -- and exceptionally high pressure at those depths. Those conditions could cause the pipe to clog with what are known in the drilling industry as "ice plugs." To combat that problem, crews plan to continuously pump warm water and methanol down the pipe to dissolve the clogging.

They are also worried about volatile cocktail of oil, gas and water when it arrives on the ship above. Engineers believe the liquids can be safely separated without an explosion.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry tried to moderate expectations that the containment box would be a silver bullet.

"I know we are all hoping that this containment system will work, but I want to remind everybody that this containment system is a first of its kind deployed in 5,000 feet of water," Landry said.

Asked to handicap the odds of success, Bob Fryer, a senior executive vice president for BP's Deep Water Angola, offered up this assessment: "This has never been done before. Typically you would put odds on something that has been done before."

/.../

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/containment_box_arrives_onsite.html

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Experts Uneasy About Success Of Oil Containment Dome

VIDEO:

http://www.wdsu.com/video/23461820/index.html?source=CNN

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

The AP's Harry Weber reports from aboard the supply ship carrying the oil containment device to the BP oil spill.

VIDEO:

http://www.wdsu.com/video/23474350/index.html

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

AP: Oil fumes delaying lowering containment box

Thursday, May 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
by Associated Press
wwltv.com

Posted on May 6, 2010 at 8:53 PM

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO -- The captain of a boat hauling a box that is designed to capture the oil spewing into the Gulf says the delay in lowering it into the ocean is being caused by oil fumes that could ignite.
Capt. Demi Shaffer tells The Associated Press Thursday night that the crews do not want to be fighting a fire while trying to unload the giant concrete-and-steel box over the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the sea. The AP is the only news organization on board the vessel 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

Shaffer says because of the lack of wind to circulate the air, the fumes from the thick oil surrounding the boat were rising to a level that any spark could start a fire. That includes metal on metal.

Crew members are wearing respirators. It was unclear when they would be able to proceed.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/AP-Oil-fumes-delaying-lowering-containment-box-93037299.html

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Friday, May 7, 2010

Photo Release: Workers lower dome in water


<table style="width: 303px; height: 44px;" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td>GULF OF MEXICO - Crewmembers aboard the motor vessel Joe Griffin look on as the mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000 lowers a pollution containment chamber May 6, 2010. The chamber was designed to cap the oil discharge that was a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley. <table style="width: 376px; height: 44px;" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table style="width: 338px; height: 44px;" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table style="width: 489px; height: 44px;" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>







http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse....c/2931/541231/

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

100-ton dome nears spill at bottom of Gulf

by Harry R. Weber and Tamara Lush / Associated Press
wwltv.com
Posted on May 7, 2010 at 5:59 AM
Updated today at 6:25 AM

Excerpts:

Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that brought the box to the site, confirmed a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that said the device would be in position over the well soon.

The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the 40-foot box.

A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker. Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours.

A steel pipe will be installed between the top of the box and tanker. If all goes well, the whole structure could be operating by Sunday.

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Full text at:

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/100-ton-dome-nears-spill-at-bottom-of-Gulf-93058209.html

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Box to contain oil leak touches down on Gulf floor

<TABLE><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>
Last Update: 5/07 5:12 pm
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) - BP lowered a 100-ton concrete-and-steel vault onto a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, an important step in a delicate and unprecedented attempt to stop most of the gushing crude fouling the sea.

Underwater robots guided the 40-foot-tall box into place. Now that the contraption is on the seafloor, workers will need at least 12 hours to let it settle and make sure it's stable before the robots can hook up a pipe and hose that will funnel the oil up to a tanker.

"It appears to be going exactly as we hoped," BP spokesman Bill Salvin told The Associated Press on Friday afternoon, shortly after the four-story device hit the seafloor. "Still lots of challenges ahead, but this is very good progress."

By Sunday, the box the size of a house could be capturing up to 85 percent of the oil...
/.../

http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/Box-to-contain-oil-leak-touches-down-on-Gulf-floor/M2BSJtlNik2DHz7QwBjRvA.cspx

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

Tricky maneuver: Will containment cap stop the BP oil spill?

Crews are lowering a steel and concrete containment cap over the underwater source of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a tricky maneuver, and there's no guarantee it will work.

By Bill Sasser, Correspondent / May 7, 2010
New Orleans

snip

“Out of 40 boats I saw dragging or deploying boom, about three [boom] actually seemed to be containing any oil,” says Mr. Steiner. “This oil is so thoroughly mixed with water that it’s just going right under the booms.”

Getting dome in place very difficult


...

More at:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0507/Tricky-maneuver-Will-containment-cap-stop-the-BP-oil-spill

[tropical]

Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

#13: "“A similar box was tried at the Ixtoc I platform, but they were never able to get it positioned correctly and it never really worked,” says Dr. Milgram, who served as a consultant on the oil spill disaster off Mexico in 1979.

“Ultimately the only way it was stopped was by drilling a relief well, which took several months.”"

Any ease less spilling is better than nothing.
If they had got the dome box already prepared before deep drillings, it will deminish the actual damage.

Maybe somobody could drag an explanation why
(of course with any further well usage there implicitely forbidden)
this spilling hole ultimate fast track solution could not be if possible,
some kind of explosive sealing?

instead of the prospected, now "galactical" trimestrial oil leakage,
which represent a collosal irreversible ocean pollution.

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Re: US Oil Spill Response Team: Plan To Deploy Dome In 6-8 Days

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/08/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1

Crews dealt setback in placing containment dome in Gulf oil spill

Biloxi, Mississippi (CNN) -- The effort to place a containment dome over a gushing wellhead was dealt a setback when a large volume of hydrates -- crystals formed when gas combines with water -- accumulated inside of the vessel, BP's chief operating officer said Saturday.

Gas hydrates are lighter than water, and as a result, made the dome buoyant, Doug Suttles said. The crystals also blocked the top of the dome, which would prevent oil from being funneled to a drill ship.

The dome was moved off to the side of the wellhead and is resting on the seabed while crews work to overcome the challenge, Suttles said.