RASTUS - Oil rig fire ...

[MikeBjerum]

As our resident engineer dude, what insight can you give us on the oil rig explosion?  This is something that I remember hearing a lot of in the 60's, 70's and even into the 80's, but it is not nearly as common as it used to be.  Any thoughts you have on this?

[crusader rabbit]

Rastus can probably give you more of the technical stuff, but I used to be a crew-boat driver on an oil rig in that same area and I can share a bit of insight.  Rig work is mind-numbingly tedious and physically demanding, but boat driver is one of the better jobs.

The rig involved is a mobile floating platform designed to drill in particularly deep water.  Some time back, that very same rig managed to set a new record for deep drilling.  Anytime you have an extended drill depth, you have increased risk for something going wrong--it's just the nature of the beast.  In this case, it appears that they hit a particularly high pressurized gas pocket at an unexpected time.  They probably should have been prepared, but the tool pusher may have overlooked something, or somebody failed to do his part of the job--so, without knowing anything more specific to the contrary, I am going to put this in the operator error column.  This is almost always a problem related to fatigue and boredom.  

When you sign on to the rig, you sign for a two week stint and you are out there for 14-straight days with nothing to do but eat and work and sleep.  The oil companies offer an increased pay incentive for you to stay for a third week, and an even greater incentive for you to stay for the fourth week.  That means you have a bunch of semi-exhausted guys doing extremely dangerous work because they are making pretty good money by week 4.  Somebody screwed up.  When the high pressure gas exits the drill casing, it self-ignites, and explodes blowing up everything on the rig.  

It looks like they lost 11 as of last report.  That's a small number, considering.  I can only add my prayer that God grants them eternal peace and provides some measure of comfort to the families left behind.

[billt]

One thing that amazes me is you never hear of one of these rigs ever having a Red Adair style blow out like you do land based wells. Even this, and the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea never spoke of oil leaking into the sea in any large quantity. You would think they would be more prone to this type of problem, not less.  Bill T.

[deepwater]

well....
this is where I came up with my screen name, Deepwater. I used to work on these rigs. almost five years, also have some ex-shipmates working on the Horizon. about all that can cause this kind of damage on these ships/ semi submersibles now is a blowout. it sounds like they were cementing the production line when this happened. the production line is the last job done before leaving the well and capping it for future production.
when I left Transocean they did not offer higher wages for extra time on the ship or rig, in fact they often discouraged it to keep people from burning out. exceptions are made for times like this when they are completing a well or just starting and need the extra manpower.
I'm sure this is human error, as they have a blowout preventer on the sea floor to shut the well in when they get gas back with the mud (drilling fluid). seeing as they were cementing they may not have been monitoring the mud weight as closely... or they may have had a major failure in their blow out preventer. either way, I hope the 11 that are missing are found well and safe.
deepwater

[philw]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8664684.stm

Thousands of tonnes of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico after the disaster at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig over two weeks ago. But how does this leak compare with the largest offshore spills on record?

The current size of the Deepwater Horizon spill is hard to measure exactly, but attempts can be made to estimate it.
Based on oil flow calculations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr Simon Boxall, a marine pollution expert, says a total current spill can be estimated at about 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes of oil. (See factbox below for how this was worked out.)
But such estimates should always carry a caveat, he says, as these can be affected by factors such as the condition of the rig, the well and the quality of information available.
In terms of lives lost (11 workers died in the rig explosion), financial cost and environmental damage, the Deepwater Horizon incident is clearly serious. But it is not one of the world's largest spills in terms of size alone.
In fact, based on the estimate above, it would not register in the largest 50 single incident, offshore oil spills that have occurred worldwide. Even the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill - despite the controversy and coverage - is not in the top 10.
However the potential for damage caused by Deepwater Horizon is apparent when looking at the events of June 1979 in the Bay of Campeche, also in the Gulf of Mexico.
In that spill, the exploratory oil well Ixtoc 1 suffered a blowout and wasn't capped until more than nine months later, having released 461,000 tonnes of oil in total.
With the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico still uncertain, Dr Boxall, of the University of Southampton, points out reasons for optimism.
A plan to place a giant funnel over the leak could change things dramatically, he says.
"They reckon they will reduce the flow by 80% to 90%. And while there is no such thing as a good oil spill, the environment can cope much better with 70 tonnes a day than with 700 tonnes a day."
Only two of the spills in our list of the world's largest originated from oil rig explosions, the rest are tanker-related.
The largest of these came also in 1979, from the Atlantic Empress. It collided with the Aegean Captain in the Caribbean sea, spilling 287,000 tonnes of oil.
But far bigger than any of these peacetime accidents is the amount of oil spilled in the immediate aftermath of the first Iraq War, 1991. Although not a single offshore spill, it saw massive oil leaks that easily dwarf Ixtoc 1 with an estimated 1.4 million to 1.5 million tonnes of oil released into the Persian Gulf by Iraqi forces as they retreated from Kuwait.

1. Ixtoc 1: 476,000 tonnes Bay of Campeche, Gulf of Mexico
2. Atlantic Empress: 287,000 tonnes Off Tobago, West Indies
3. Nowruz Oil Field: 272, 000 tonnes Persian Gulf
4. ABT Summer: 260,000 tonnes 700 nautical miles off Angola
5. Castillo de Bellver: 252,000 tonnes Off Saldanha Bay, South Africa
6. Amoco Cadiz: 223,000 tonnes off Brittany, France
7. Haven: 144,000 tonnes Genoa, Italy
8. Odyssey: 132,000 tonnes 700 nautical miles off Nova Scotia, Canada
9. Torrey Canyon: 119,000 tonnes Scilly Isles, UK
10. Sea Star: 115,000 tonnes Gulf of Oman
Exxon Valdez: 37,000 tonnes Prince William Sound, Alaska, US
Deepwater Horizon: 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes Gulf of Mexico

The biggest leaks are not necessarily the most environmentally destructive.
The tanker Exxon Valdez, which ran aground on Bligh Reef, Alaska ,in 1989, caused serious damage to the environment, killing thousands of seabirds as well as seals, sea otters, whales and fish. The remote location in sheltered waters only accentuated the problems.
The overall impact of an oil spill cannot be measured solely on size; weather conditions, the type of oil and the time it takes to stem the flow are just some of the many factors that also need to be considered.

not bad considering that we are hearing that it is the WORST ever....

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

Worst in the Gulf. There are two things to consider. The first is that BP seems almost criminally negligent here. There was an article in today's Palm Beach Post with survivor interviews. What stuck me about all these was the work pattern. 21 days on and 21 days off. Now, not so bad, but the the 21 on were 12 hour days seven days a week. No days off, no half days etc. I'm sorry, but I call BS on that. No one can do 21 12 hour shifts dealing with physically demanding and exhausting work and not be mistake prone. BP should have seen this coming. The 21 day shift is fine, but lets at least make it 3, 4hr days in the mix to let folks sleep.

Second thing to consider is this this.The Gulf states make a hell of a lot more money from commercial and recreational fishing and beach tourism than oil drilling. If oil drilling cuts down on seafood production and tourism, drilling loses. Its just simple economics. No enviro-politics just dollars. Drill baby drill? Well first show us the money, otherwise, go talk to Sarah.
FQ13

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[TAB]

Worst ein the Gulf. There are two things to consider. The first is that BP seems almost criminally negligent here. Thre was an article in todays Palm Bch Post with survivor interviews. What stuck me about all these was the work pattern. 21 days on and 21 days off. Now, not so bad, but the the 21 on were 12 hour days seven days a week. No days off, no half days etc. I'm sorry, but I call BS on that. No one can do 21 12 dealing with physically demanding and exhausting work and not be mistake prone. BP should have seen this coming. The 21 day shift is fine, but lets at least make it 3, 4hr days in the mix to let folks sleep.

Second thing to consider is this this.The Gulf states make a hell of a lot more money from commercial and recreational fishing and beach tourism than oil drilling. If oil drilling cuts down on seafood production and tourism, drilling loses. Its just simple economics. No enviro-politics just dollars. Drill baby drill? Well first show us the money, otherwise, go talk to Sarah.
FQ13

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I disagree, it can and has been done.    I did it for years, only I didn't get 21 days off.

[fightingquaker13]

What were the consequences for failure on your part TAB? Talk to your wife. You and I both dated docs. Insane hours where a slip up can cost a life do not justify working to exhaustion and failure to save a buck. Add 10% more crew to each rotation to allow a little R&R time, even if it is just a half day shift once a week. It seems a lot cheaper than what we're looking at now. Yeah BP saved money by their rotations. How much will a decade's worth of oyster, crab and shrimp harvests cost them? And cost them it should. You make the mess, you clean it up. In this cae, its beyond even bankrupting BP's power to clean up. The solution? Work rules and safety regs that will eat into profits to minimize the chances of this happening again. The upside for oil compnies? A lessening of liability if they follow the law.
FQ13

[philw]

http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso_dreams/2010/05/a-creative-inexpensive-way-to-clean-up-the-oil-slick-in-the-gulf.html#tp

long one however look at the youtube vid

I am with TAB on this one  there are lots of industries that do that style of shifts

also you have your 12 hours off   most people would only have 8 hours if that of sleep any way.  they also know it is not a long term thing as I would be guessing they expect a high staff turn over



we had a leak on a well here. the West Atlas Rig took about 10 weeks to stop after a fire back last year

[fightingquaker13]

Its hard to argue with a smart redneck. Sometimes "Hold my beer and watch this" works just fine. These boys seem to have a cheap plan that's idiot proof, cheap, and certainley not going to make things worse, as some these dispersion chemicals will. The knock against them is that BP is dumping them in at too rapid a rate. It preserves the beaches, but it makes the oil sink, thus killing the grass beds, oysters etc., and poisoning the fishery. Easier to clean a beach than a grass flat, is just that a dirty beach looks bad on TV and is harder to defend against in court. .
FQ13