The 83rd Day, Gulf of Mexico. Tail of the Dead Dragon

….. which was placed on top of the new spool on top where they removed the old flange and riser stub, which  will be used to attempt to shut down the well leak slowly as other oil gathering equipment takes oil and gas from hoses and manifolds attached to the old BOP below and to a new riser pipe installation.  These are equipped with disconnects for bad (hurricane) weather.  



Cap ‘n Stack 7/12/10  ROV checking out new sealing cap and ram valve assembly on top of still gushing DWH well.  live screengrab around 12:30 pm PDT.  very murky original color lightened.

Cap ‘n Stack.  ROV tending new sealing cap and stacking ram valve assembly which has just been mounted successfully on the new spool.  7/12/10, around 12:30 pm PDT, live screen shot grab.  color lightened.  

It took the BP Oil Company 83 days after their rig kicked, exploded, burnt, and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and injuring scores of others,  to install another cap and ram valve BOP type device on top of this well.  In the meantime, at least 4 million barrels of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, making this the worst oil well blow out ever.

The relief well(s) will be used to eventually pump drill mud and then cement into the old well bore to finally plug it.  They may be done by next month, nearly 4 months after the accident, which was caused by massive negligence and BP trying to be cheap.  

The Obama administration issued another moratorium (temporary) on offshore deepwater drilling, to check for safety hazards, after a judge with financial ties to the oil industry negated the first stay.

The Obama administration, when pressed at a news conference, said it intended to resume offshore deepwater drilling, once it was proved to be safe.

Is it safe ?

…. again after being delayed Monday and then delayed Tuesday, per Adm. Allen, because they want to do more seismic tests of the area around the well.

 Wednesday  Adm. Thad Allen-

“Today I met with Secretary Chu, Marcia McNutt and other scientists and geologists as well as officials from BP and other industry representatives as we continue to prepare and review protocols for the well integrity test – including the seismic mapping run that was made around the well site this morning. As a result of these discussions, we decided that the process may benefit from additional analysis that will be performed tonight and tomorrow.

The new assembly has 3 big shut off valve rams on top of the new cap, it’s basically a BOP on the old BOP.  Shutting these valves slowly is what will be done to see if it indicates the well bore is intact or has holes in it that would make the oil and gas go sideways somewhere else that they don’t want it to go.  

http://www.theoildrum.com/node…

The Helix Producer and the Q4000 are currently online and allegedly sucking up more oil to the surface ships for collection and processing. When they finally begin pressure testing the new cap assembly, assuming they conclude it is worth the risk,  they will first shut these down and let the oil/gas come out those choke and kill lines they are using for this, during the pressure tests.  

My guess is that they installed all this crap to help them get the relief well mud and cement operation to work, not to actually shut the well down with just this device, and they want to not make anything worse until then.

Surface winds today are driving the oil sheen and the gassing volatile compounds in the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico west, towards the Texas and Mexican coastlines.  A light sheen of oil is clearly visible next to the Texas coast today the 14th.  http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa…       Winds near the site of the DWHorizon well are swirling clockwise in a smaller circle,  and would be driving the heavier oil back into the Louisiana coastline.   The satellite has not made all its passes yet, so there is not a good single picture of the entire Gulf yet.