Deep-Sea Ice Crystals Stymie Gulf Oil Leak Fix (Dome Fails)

Source: AP

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Icelike crystals encrusting a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box meant to contain oil gushing from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico forced crews Saturday to back off the long-shot plan, while more than 100 miles away, blobs of tar washed up at an Alabama beach full of swimmers.

The failure in the first attempt to use the specially constructed containment box over the leak 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, coupled with the ominous arrival of the sticky substance at Dauphin Island, Ala., crushed hopes of a short-term solution to what could yet grow into the worst oil spill in the nation's history.

More than 3 million gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf since a rig exploded April 20, killing 11, and officials said it would be at least Monday before a different solution is found.

Authorities in protective gear descended on the public beach on Dauphin Island, three miles off the Alabama mainland at the mouth of Mobile Bay and much farther east than oil had been reported.

About a half dozen tar balls had been collected by Saturday afternoon at Dauphin Island, Coast Guard chief warrant officer Adam Wine said in Mobile. Authorities planned to test the substance but strongly suspected it came from the oil spill.

The containment box, a method never before attempted at such depths, had been considered the best hope of stanching the flow in the near term.

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100508/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

(much easier to fix a windmill)

I'll ask the mods to move this to one of those threads.

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc said gas hydrates like ice crystals formed inside the steel chamber it’s trying to use to capture leaking oil from a Gulf of Mexico well, forcing the company to move the structure aside while working on ways to stanch the flow of crude.

The hydrates clogged the 40-foot-tall containment system, which was designed to funnel oil to an overhead drillship, Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said today at a press conference in Robert, Louisiana. He said BP placed the chamber on the seafloor, about 200 meters (656 feet) away from the well’s biggest leak, and will evaluate ways to prevent hydrate slushes from forming.

“I wouldn’t say it’s failed yet,” Suttles said. BP expected to deal with hydrates forming in the pipe above the containment system, which would have been broken up by sending warm water through an insulating layer, he said.

The containment system was London-based BP’s best hope for slowing the leak while the company drills a relief well aimed at relieving pressure so the flow of oil from 5,000 feet beneath the Gulf’s surface can be stopped altogether. BP has 20 experts studying the possibility of injecting pieces of rubber into the well, called a “junk shot,” to stop up the pipe.

“We continue to look to see if that’s going to be a viable option,” Suttles said. He said the company wants to ensure the junk shot doesn’t make the leak worse.

Clogged Dome

Meanwhile, BP over the next 48 hours will consider ways to prevent the containment dome from clogging, such as applying heat. Hydrate gases crystallize like ice in the cold waters and high pressure deep beneath the ocean’s surface. BP engineers thought the opening atop the dome was large enough that it wouldn’t clog with hydrates, Suttles said.

BP expected the containment system, a rectangular structure with a pyramid-shaped dome on top, to capture as much as 85 percent of the flow of oil. He said the relief well is “ahead of plan,” having reached a depth of 9,000 feet.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aP2ZrjaBp7a4

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."



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