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Old 06-01-2010, 04:11 AM
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After several failures trying to stop a release far deeper than ever attempted before, BP tries another approach. This time it involves cutting off a 21 inch diameter riser and placing a containment over the release. The volume of the release will be increased by this action 20% by current estimates. They will attempt to control the formation of hydrides that caused two other similar attempts (Dome Part I and Top Hat) to fail through the injection of heated seawater and antifreeze into the containment. A strong tropical system would apparently leave this increased release untended as the vessels would be forced to go off station. A large gyre has developed related to the Loop Current impeding transport of the spill eastward towards the Straits of Florida for now.

"SPILL CONTAINMENT EFFORTS
* After BP Plc (BP.L) said the complex "top kill" maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well had failed on Saturday, it is moving to the next option -- the lower marine riser package cap, which will capture oil from the well rather than plug it.
* The company will know by the end of the week whether the new containment effort has worked, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
* Government scientists estimated that cutting the riser pipe coming out of the blowout preventer to prepare for the next containment option could result in a temporary oil flow increase of up to 20 percent.
* The ultimate solution may be the drilling of two relief wells began in May and to be completed in August, an expensive but more reliable way to intercept and cap the leaking well.

OIL SLICK THREAT
* The huge oil slick from the gushing well could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, driven by moderate southerly and southwesterly winds, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
* Louisiana's wetlands and fishing grounds have been the worst hit so far by the spill, while Mississippi and Alabama have escaped lightly so far, with only scattered tar balls and oil debris reaching its coasts.
* 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 tourism mecca Florida, as well as Cuba and Mexico."
Continued at:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3019706620100601


and from the NY Times:

"BP Tries Again to Divert Oil Leak With Dome
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
HOUSTON — Unable for six weeks to plug the gushing oil well beneath the Gulf of Mexico, BP renewed an effort Monday to use a dome to funnel some of the leaking crude to a tanker on the surface. A similar attempt failed three weeks ago, but officials said they had resolved some of the technical problems that forced them to abort last time.
If successful — and after the string of failures so far, there is no guarantee it will be — the containment dome may be able to capture most of the oil, but it would not plug the leak. Its failure would mean continued environmental and economic damage to the gulf region, as well as greater public pressure on BP and the Obama administration, with few options remaining for trying to contain the spill any time soon."

"A lasting solution for the leak may be months away, after engineers complete the drilling of a relief well, which would allow them to plug the leaking well with cement. On Monday, engineers positioned submarine robots that will try to shear off a collapsed 21-inch riser pipe with a razorlike wire studded with bits of industrial diamonds. If that is achieved, officials will need at least a couple of days to position a domelike cap over the blowout preventer, which failed to shut off the well when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. The trapped oil would then be funneled through a hose to ships floating near the well.

But, like all of BP’s efforts so far, this method had never been tried at such depths before this spill. Moreover, if kinks in the riser are now reducing the amount of oil escaping, cutting the riser could unleash a greater flow. And the greatest worry of all may be the potential arrival of hurricanes in the gulf; hurricane season officially begins on Tuesday.
Engineers and technicians working on the response said that an active hurricane season, which is predicted by meteorologists, could not only push more oil ashore, but also cause weeks of delays in efforts to contain the spill.

Once a hurricane appears to be heading for the gulf, officials will have to disconnect the hose from the container on top of the well and retreat to port, leaving an unabated flow of oil into the water. “Safety first,” said Andrew Gowers, a BP spokesman. “We build in hurricane preparedness in operations, and that requires us to take the necessary precautions.” Such precautions may stall the drilling of relief wells for weeks or more if a hurricane threatens. “Will hurricanes trump the capping procedures or even the whole operation?” said Donald Van Nieuwenhuise, director of petroleum geoscience programs at the University of Houston. “That’s the wild card.”"
Continued at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/us...&sq=oil&st=cse


and the latest from Roff's. Dr. Roff was the first one to note entrainment of the spill by the Loop Current by several weeks.


http://www.roffs.com/deepwaterhorizon.html


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Last edited by ricki; 06-01-2010 at 04:31 AM.
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