Yesterday, BP said it was once again delaying the top kill, also announcing that they collected less oil through the riser insertion tool (RIT) than on Thursday, 2,200 barrels vs the 5,000 announced previously. What was frustrating, though, was that their story keeps changing, while claiming that what they said only a day or two before was not what they had said at all. Before we talk about the latest shape shifting, let's review BP's public disclosures the last 32 days. First, the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, two days after the blowout, BP said that no oil was flowing from the well into the Gulf. In fact, the biggest concern seemed the diesel in the fuel tanks on the rig. A day later, though, they admitted that the well was flowing, but only about 1,000 barrels per day. They stuck with that story for a week, ultimately shifting the estimate upward to 5,000 barrels a day, but concealing all videos of the well, of which you know they had hours, if not days of tape. BP tenaciously clung to that estimate, backed by the Coast Guard and MMS, for almost a month, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the flow was much, much higher. They also refused to give any data to the public so someone else could calculate an estimate of the flow, and continue that policy even now. Out of frustration, the government has finally ordered the formation of a multi-agency Flow Rate Technical Team, tasked with figuring out the flow and disclosing it since BP won't.
Earlier yesterday, BP reluctantly admitted that the well flow was higher than 5,000 barrels per day when they announced that they were indeed collecting that much through the RIT, even as thousands of barrels continue to boil out of the end of the wrecked riser and the widening crack in the kink above the blowout preventer, viewed live on streaming video finally provided after Congressman Ed Markey demanded the feed. BP spokesman, Mark Salt, had earlier disclosed the increased captured volume by saying, "It's now capturing 5,000 barrels per day of oil." That story didn't last long, however, when BP America's CEO, Doug Suttles, changed the story to 2,200 barrels late yesterday saying,
"We never said it produced 5,000 barrels a day. I am sorry if you heard it that way.""Sorry if you heard it that way"? I think we heard it that way because that's what you said. I do actually believe I understand what both Salt and Suttles were meaning, though; Salt was talking about current rate of flow, and Suttles was talking actual barrels recovered. The stumbling and changing stories is amateurish, exemplified by the May 3rd announcement by BP spokesman, Jeff Childs, that they had been able to close the blowout preventer, reducing flow from the well, only to be corrected by BP in a terse, one sentence retraction a few hours later with no further information. Clearly the well is slugging fluid and gas, meaning that rate is variable. If they were just being more honest about the rate, though, I believe everyone would give them the benefit of the doubt. Since they are not being forthcoming, no one believes a word they say.
More on The Daily Hurricane Energy Page
Follow Robert L. Cavnar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@dailyhurricane
"Cleaning up the spill is going to cost many tens of billions" say BP execs to the Feds, "legitimate compensation to injured businesses many tens billions more. We can pay it off over a 20+ year period, if you simply let us continue to operate a profitable business in the Gulf of Mexico. Shut us out, or shut us down, we have no incentive to cooperate. We'll write off our US interests and continue to do business overseas. Then try and collect money from us, in British courts, in Swiss courts, in all the multinational courts in the many countries we harbor our cash. Try and track that cash. In the end you'll see less than pennies on the dollar, if you are lucky. Far better if we keep out emotions in check and continue our mutually profitable enterprise." says BP. "We promise we'll do better in future. By the way, we like our current dispersant chemicals and we'll continue to use them." You can add maniacal laughter here for effect if you like.
Melodramatic, yes, but I can't think of any other scenario that can as convincingly explain why BP is still calling the technical shots, why the passports of top BP execs have been pulled, why bank assets in the US have not been frozen. After BP effectively dropped a dirty bomb in the Gulf of Mexico.
Another troubling aspect of this spill and any other future spills is that there is no government response plan, such as one contemplating incompetence by the operator and having guidelines for intervention and take over of the well by those people selected for this task by the government.
The companies that drill in the deep water should be required to post a bond for a minimum of $10Bn to drill in the GOM.
I feel sorry for Mitsui and Anadarko, BP's partners in the prospect. Mitsui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsui_family) a Japanese company, is responsible for 17.5% of the bill for this cleanup. We need some collateral assurance of their willingness to pay and our ability to collect from them. Future deep water development in the GOM should be halted until the citizens of the U.S. are satisfied that those companies choosing to drill there are well heeled enough to pay for a mistake this large.
Anyone else get the sinking feeling they spend as much time dreaming up catchy, P-R phrases as on anything else?
"The major hold up on trying a top kill is, finding a way to hook-up to the choke and kill lines. They are intentionally designed to be hard to take apart, you don't want them to open up anywhere unintentionally. Just like BOP stacks, there are very few access ports to one, because the more holes in something, the greater the chance is for a leak whether it be a valve or a blind flange. A valve doubles the risk for a leak because it has the potential of leaking through the valve and the flange where it attaches to the stack.
On the choke and kill lines if there is not a clean end at one of the broken riser joints, they will have to take a section of riser loose, I am not sure if the ROVs are capable of doing that, the flange bolts on the riser connectors are made up with hydraulic torque wrenches, tight enough to pre-load the flanges to 3 million lbs. And they would have to figure a way to get the needed hydraulic power down to 5,000ft to work one even if they could devise a way for an ROV to manhandle it into position on the bolts. Those flanges were designed to be addressed when the riser is vertical not laying on its side."
I don't know which is more discouraging: the uncertain nature of the procedure at this depth and orientation, or that I was actually able to comprehend it! Thanks for the link. It's a window into a world I never expected to have a peek at.