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Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:28 am to MC123
Based on what I have heard from my father in law who works for a company that is helping out, the story sounds legit.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:30 am to tylercsbn9
Parts of the story certainly sound believable but they definitely werent tied off to the rig.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:30 am to rintintin
quote:
No way they were allowed to tie up to the rig.
Why?
A lot of operators have a policy where boats aren't allowed within a certain radius around rigs.
I know when I worked on the Auger for Shell, it was a 2 mile radius, and no vessel could enter that area without approval. Approval was given a lot to enter that radius, but nothing came within a mile, depending on our operations for the day.
The reasons sometimes have to do with liability. Sometimes with operations.
If you have a 5 million ROV in the water doing underwater work, you don't want some guy getting their fishing line tangled up in that.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:31 am to chryso
quote:
What is a kick?
When gas in the hole reverses pressure and comes back up the hole. BOP: Blow out Preventers are suppose to keep the gas from coming back up and igniting. From what I hear, the kick was so big that there was no stopping it. I have been on a rig that had a small blowout, and I have never heard anything so loud. There is nothing like it.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:34 am to BROffshoreTigerFan
quote:
What is a kick?
A rapid entry of gas from the formation into the wellbore and up to the rig. Happens when the drilling mud or plugs are unsufficient to hold back the pressure differential between the reservoir and the wellbore.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:36 am to lsugradman
quote:
From what I hear, the kick was so big that there was no stopping it.
Well the plugs should have held. Its not like they could have circulated mud downhole to ease the kick becuase they had pulled out of the hole. As far as I know, the BOPs are your only defense at that point.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:39 am to lsugradman
quote:
Well the plugs should have held. Its not like they could have circulated mud downhole to ease the kick becuase they had pulled out of the hole. As far as I know, the BOPs are your only defense at that point.
I know they were tripping, but didn't they still have mud weight? I understood that the mud shot out then it was straight gas, and a shitload of it.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:39 am to BROffshoreTigerFan
quote:
A lot of operators have a policy where boats aren't allowed within a certain radius around rigs.
I know when I worked on the Auger for Shell, it was a 2 mile radius, and no vessel could enter that area without approval. Approval was given a lot to enter that radius, but nothing came within a mile, depending on our operations for the day.
The reasons sometimes have to do with liability. Sometimes with operations.
If you have a 5 million ROV in the water doing underwater work, you don't want some guy getting their fishing line tangled up in that.
I believe it is actually law under the laws of Homeland Security but not all operators and rigs enforce it.
Not to mention, You really dont want to hook up to a rig while fishing that far offshore, you run the risk of the tuna running straight for the legs. Unless you are fishing specs or bottom fishing there is no need to tie up. In this case, floaters wont let you tie up to them any ways. Just float around the rig and troll, and that what it seems like these guys were doing.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:41 am to Kracka
Yeah they did have mud downhole but they couldnt weight up to offset the pressure differential. In other words they had no way of relieving the kick other than shutting the BOPs and praying. Unless i am mistaken..
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:46 am to lsugradman
quote:
Yeah they did have mud downhole but they couldnt weight up to offset the pressure differential. In other words they had no way of relieving the kick other than shutting the BOPs and praying. Unless i am mistaken..
Yeah, from what I understand, when they cut the power, someone was responsible for hitting the DM Switch manually to trigger the BOP's. But either they didn't hit the switch, or the BOP's fail. I think it was that they failed, but you won't know if someone was suppose to hit that switch until the final report is released.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:48 am to lsugradman
Do you believe the generators kicking on is what sparked the explosion?
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:50 am to MC123
quote:There are alot of things that could have trigger the gas to ignite. some equipment in the hole, or on the rig floor could have sparked it when the gas came out. On a kick, the pressure is so great, it blows alot of pipe out all over the place and whatever else is around it.
Do you believe the generators kicking on is what sparked the explosion?
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:52 am to bayoudude
quote:
I am surprised they would tie up to a deep water floater.
At 10:00 pm at night no less.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:54 am to Y.A. Tittle
they actually never said they were tied to it. that was Grand Isle hearsay, and I corrected the OP
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:54 am to Y.A. Tittle
quote:
At 10:00 pm at night no less.
It doesn't say they were tied up.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 10:58 am to MC123
quote:
Do you believe the generators kicking on is what sparked the explosion?
This was posted on the sticky thread by someone who was actually working on the rig when it happened:
quote:
When the gas hit the rig it got into the engine spaces causing the engines to overspeed. They exploded and were blown from the rig. These are HUGE engine, easily 10ft high and 20 ft long.
When the engines exploded it wiped out ALL power. Emergency generators and all were down.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 12:44 pm to lsugradman
quote:
Happens when the drilling mud or plugs are unsufficient to hold back the pressure differential between the reservoir and the wellbore.
My question for you is this, was there any human failure in the insufficient amount of mud (if that is indeed part of why it happened)? I know a couple of guys that do that for a living and was just wondering or if there was no way to know exactly what would have been sufficient.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 12:59 pm to Y.A. Tittle
quote:
At 10:00 pm at night
Lots of folks spend the night out there around the floaters. Thats when the tuna bite good.
Posted on 5/3/10 at 1:20 pm to lsuhunt555
quote:
My question for you is this, was there any human failure in the insufficient amount of mud (if that is indeed part of why it happened)? I know a couple of guys that do that for a living and was just wondering or if there was no way to know exactly what would have been sufficient.
I am sure there is some human error, but all the equipment that is designed to prevent the well blowing out failed, and once that mechanism failed, the rig was basically fricked. Supposedly there was a manual switch that could have triggered the BOP, but i am sure once the shite hit the fan, there was no way it could have been used.
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