BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology

I’ve mentioned my engineering background in the past and how I marvel at some of the feats accomplished by American engineering prowess such as our accomplishments in outer space, submarine technology and medicine, just to mention a few. With that short intro, it is no surprise that the Gulf oil disaster has attracted my attention. I have logged on to BP’s web site every couple of days and watched their cameras on the undersea ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) showing barrel after barrel of crude oil flow from BP’s Macondo well. I’ve been collecting stories on the political consequences of this disaster for a forthcoming essay, but this series of posts will deal only with the core engineering challenges taking place in the Gulf as I write.

On Saturday afternoon I logged on to see BP’s progress on removing the LMRP cap (the temporary, loose fitting cap used to recover some of the oil flowing from the now broken Macondo well.

I was hooked!

Let me stop here to clarify that I have not expertise in the oil industry. My background in oil, aside from a couple of years pumping gas in a gas station after school, consists of exactly two days as a “boilermaker” for Texaco in San Pedro, CA in 1967 or 1968. I did work for for ten years for one the worlds largest oil-related engineering firms, but I was in their facilities organization and had little interface with the guys that designed and constructed huge refineries, petro-chemical plants and oil pipe-lines (the Alyeska Pipeline in Alaska) around the world.

As I watched, I started trying to figure out what the operators were doing as they manipulated the mechanical arms of the ROVs and slowly I began to understand the different steps as they began implementing the plan to replace the loose-fitting LMRP cap with a better-fitting device. I would recommend that you download a copy of a presentation (.pdf) BP has on their web site, showing their plan and the details of each element

At that point I began to take screen captures of the video from first one the two ROV cameras, thinking I could write a blog post. This is the first post of that anthology.

As it is late Sunday evening and BP has made a significant amount of progress over the last 18-20 or so hours toward their plan to capture most of the oil flowing from the run-away well, I’ll break this into several posts (who can say how many at this point?) for easier reading.

Almost 4:00 PM Pacific Time on July 10 I made my first screen-cap. From this point forward, I will reference all time as shown in the vid-caps , which is in Central Daylight Time.

BP removes LMRP cap

Following removal of the LMRP cap, the well flows uncontrolled. BP did install a tube to inject chemical dispersant directly into to flow, shown above (the white “U” shaped tube on the right of the flange and disappearing into the jagged pipe). At this point, I opened multiple browser windows to capture the various ROVs working either in conjunction with one another or on separate tasks and began to include the header indicating which ROV the image was being captured by.

At this point, removal of the top flange with the short section of pipe with the jagged edge (from being cut to allow the LMRP cap to be put in place) is the first task. In the next shot you can see the second ROV bring in the hydraulic socket wrench to begin removing the bolts holding the flange in place.

Ocean Intervention III ROV 1 arrives with tool to remove flange bolts (note tool in the left mechanical arm)

ROV 1 and 2 from Ocean Intervention III continue working together, loosening the six bolts around the flange.

View from both ROVs as BP begins to loosen the flange bolts (click for full image)

Note the hydraulic socket wrench being operated by ROV 1 on the right image, also seen from ROV 2′s camera on the left. This procedure continues as each bolt is loosened.

More flange bolts being loosened (click for larger image)

Note the loosened bolt to the left of the tool as viewed by ROV 2.

I’ll break here and continue in the morning.

Related posts:

1. BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology II
2. BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology III
3. BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part V – UPDATED
4. BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part IV – UPDATED