Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill : An Engineer's Perspective
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been making the headlines for more than a month now. The gravity of the situation is best explained by the graphic images here. One of the reader writes, "I am heartbroken after seeing these pics... so sad... this creature has done nothing to deserve this.", reflecting the sentiments of many of us. However, the main stream media has focused mostly on the political and environmental repercussions, ignoring the engineering challenges; thereby making BP a public enemy. Through this article, it is my intention to create an awareness about the methods employed by BP to tackle the situation.
The Problem
Deepwater horizon was an ultra-deepwater offshore drilling rig. In September 2009, the rig started drilling the deepest oil well in the history, measuring more than 10km in vertical depth. On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred in the rig, leaving the well gushing, causing a major oil spill. According to the estimates, 5000 barrels or 210,000 gallons of oil is lost everyday.
A Blowout preventer is a fail safe mechanism which kicks in to check the oil flow in the event of any accident. The problem with this incident is that the precautionary measure has failed to kick in. The reason for this failure is not known yet and is still being investigated. My belief is that the blowout preventer could have failed due to the depth which is the greatest in history.
Quick Fix Solutions
In British Petroleum's defense, they are trying out every method in the textbook. The first attempt was to activate the blowout preventer. Remote controlled submarines with robotic arms were used to kick it into action. As cool as it sounds, the technique did not work and the reason is not known.
Deepwater Horizon accident is the second major oil spill in the last one year; the other incident being Montara oil spill which happened on August 21, 2009, in Timor Sea off the northern coast of Western Australia. The Australian rig spewed oil for 10 weeks, until November 3, 2009 when a decidedly primitive technique was used; the leak was plugged with large amounts of mud. However, the same technique did not work in Gulf of Mexico.
The other less catchy solution would be to create chambers around the leaks and connect pipes from those chambers to funnel up the oil up to the surface. Though this solution sounds simple, it has never been tested at these depths.
The Last Resort
Given that the quick fix solutions have failed, BP is left with no option but to create relief wells. According to my understanding, the creation of relief wells decrease the pressure of oil gushing out of the leaks, thereby making it simpler to plug them. However, it is going to take about 90 days before the relief wells are completed. At the current rate, 210,000 gallons per day, 18.9 million gallons of oil would have been spilled into the sea; this is not even accounting the oil already into the ocean.
I feel very bad for the affected creatures and we need to do everything possible to help them . It is also important for us to acknowledge the technological challenge faced by the engineers of British Petroleum. Though they are accountable for the mishap, they need our support right now; at least we could check our criticisms till later.
TJ
Next Up: A study of Exxon Valdez Oil Leak and Methods adopted for cleaning up the slick.
The Problem
Deepwater horizon was an ultra-deepwater offshore drilling rig. In September 2009, the rig started drilling the deepest oil well in the history, measuring more than 10km in vertical depth. On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred in the rig, leaving the well gushing, causing a major oil spill. According to the estimates, 5000 barrels or 210,000 gallons of oil is lost everyday.
A Blowout preventer is a fail safe mechanism which kicks in to check the oil flow in the event of any accident. The problem with this incident is that the precautionary measure has failed to kick in. The reason for this failure is not known yet and is still being investigated. My belief is that the blowout preventer could have failed due to the depth which is the greatest in history.
Quick Fix Solutions
In British Petroleum's defense, they are trying out every method in the textbook. The first attempt was to activate the blowout preventer. Remote controlled submarines with robotic arms were used to kick it into action. As cool as it sounds, the technique did not work and the reason is not known.
Deepwater Horizon accident is the second major oil spill in the last one year; the other incident being Montara oil spill which happened on August 21, 2009, in Timor Sea off the northern coast of Western Australia. The Australian rig spewed oil for 10 weeks, until November 3, 2009 when a decidedly primitive technique was used; the leak was plugged with large amounts of mud. However, the same technique did not work in Gulf of Mexico.
The other less catchy solution would be to create chambers around the leaks and connect pipes from those chambers to funnel up the oil up to the surface. Though this solution sounds simple, it has never been tested at these depths.
The Last Resort
Given that the quick fix solutions have failed, BP is left with no option but to create relief wells. According to my understanding, the creation of relief wells decrease the pressure of oil gushing out of the leaks, thereby making it simpler to plug them. However, it is going to take about 90 days before the relief wells are completed. At the current rate, 210,000 gallons per day, 18.9 million gallons of oil would have been spilled into the sea; this is not even accounting the oil already into the ocean.
I feel very bad for the affected creatures and we need to do everything possible to help them . It is also important for us to acknowledge the technological challenge faced by the engineers of British Petroleum. Though they are accountable for the mishap, they need our support right now; at least we could check our criticisms till later.
TJ
Next Up: A study of Exxon Valdez Oil Leak and Methods adopted for cleaning up the slick.
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