new thread...
Deepwater Oil Spill - the Congressional Illustrations - and Thurs. Open Thread 2
Posted by Heading Out on June 3, 2010 - 2:21pm
We are now reading that BP says there will be a 12 to 24 hour wait before the new cap is installed. So in this post, I will go back background material I put together earlier, based on material presented in the Congressional Hearings.
I am sure you are still interested in current events as well, so before going to the background material, these are a few news items. According to the New York Times:
A technician involved in the effort said that because the shear cut left the riser with a slight bend, a different cap would be used than the one originally planned. This cap would fit over the flange that attaches the riser to the blowout preventer stack, the large assembly of equipment atop the well that was supposed to seal the well in an emergency but failed to do so.
The technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the work, said that robotic submersibles had to "dress up" the cut end of the pipe before the cap could be lowered. "Everything just takes time," he said.
If the cap succeeds in capturing most of the leaking oil, BP will try a couple of other measures to minimize the amount of oil still leaking into the sea, Mr. Hayward said.
To combat hydrate problems this time around, BP is running methanol, which will act as a kind of antifreeze, and heated water through a hose down into the containment cap....
theoildrum.com |
