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Update:
BP preparing for top kill tomorrow morning
(5/25/2010 - OGI: Houston) BP has begun a number of tests to determine the optimum approach to carrying out a top kill on the Macondo well in the US Gulf of Mexico, which continues to gush crude into the Gulf waters.
Kent Wells, BP vice president, said today that these tests on the blowout preventer (BOP) are to learn whether it will be effective to inject heavy drilling fluids and mud in all five of the unit's entry points to effect the top kill. The company is concurrently testing both the pumping pressure in each of the valves and obtaining their static pressures as well. All of this testing, Wells said, will take from 12 to 24 hours, and will be followed - if all goes well - tomorrow morning with the top kill operation, which could take as much as to days to complete - and again it was stressed, this sort of operation has not been done before at such water depths and under such conditions.
The company said that most of the equipment is on site and this operation is underway. If necessary, equipment is also in place to combine this operation with the injection under pressure of bridging material (a "junk shot") to seal off upward flow through the BOP.
Being progressed in parallel with plans for the top kill is development of a lower marine riser package (or LMRP) cap containment option. This would first involve removing the damaged riser from the top of the BOP, leaving a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP's LMRP. The LMRP cap, an engineered containment device with a sealing grommet, would be connected to a riser from the Discoverer Enterprise drillship and then placed over the LMRP with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well and transporting it to the drillship on the surface. The LMRP cap is already on site and it is anticipated that this option will be available for deployment by the end of May.
Additional options also continue to be progressed, BP said, including the option of lowering a second blowout preventer, or a valve, on top of the present BOP on the Macondo well in Mississippi Canyon Block 252.
Beyond the subsea effort, BP has also revealed that its internal investigation into the causes of the blowout, fire on and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the resultant oil spill has not yet reached final conclusions, but that various issues have been identified for further inquiry. BP has shared these early perspectives with the Department of the Interior and will do so with all official regulatory inquiries into the accident as requested.
This is an internal investigation. There is extensive further work to do - including further interviews, and in addition full forensic examinations of the BOP, the wellhead, and the rig itself - all of which are still currently on the seabed.
The investigation team's work thus far shows that this accident was brought about by the failure of a number of processes, systems, and equipment. There were multiple control mechanisms - procedures and equipment - in place that should have prevented this accident or reduced the impact of the spill: the investigation is focused on the following seven mechanisms: the cement that seals the reservoir from the well; the casing system, which seals the wellbore; the pressure tests to confirm the well is sealed; the execution of procedures to detect and control hydrocarbons in the well, including the use of the BOP; the BOP Emergency Disconnect System, which can be activated by pushing a button at multiple locations on the rig; the automatic closure of the BOP after its connection is lost with the rig; and features in the BOP to allow remotely operated vehicles (ROV) to close the BOP and thereby seal the well at the seabed after a blowout.
"I understand people want a simple answer about why this happened and who is to blame. The honest truth is that this is a complex accident, caused by an unprecedented combination of failures," said BP CEO Tony Hayward. "A number of companies are involved, including BP, and it is simply too early - and not up to us - to say who is at fault.
Click here for earlier report.
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