The Special "TOP HAT" Cover on Top of the BOP has Apparently Blown Off!

reply to post by GATruthseeker

No, it's not for the new well. It's apparently part of improvements for the risers that are taking the oil they are collecting from the cap on top of the BOP.

Okay I've gotta go to work. Can't be late again or I'll be shot...

Mike

I guess I am just having a hard time picturing this giant pipe being hooked into the BOP. I'll have to go back & look at the diagram again but this just looks very different to me. It looks like a whole new pipe that is also having trouble containing what is coming up.

reply to post by GATruthseeker

Oh, I see what you mean. Okay, just to elaborate a bit, based on what I've been able to glean: much of the riser equipment is situated away from the BOP and that accounts for a lot of the piping on the sea floor that you've seen here and there. It's connected to the risers. That new stuff they're bringing down is likely part of the riser improvements they're working on. So, it won't go directly on top of the BOP but instead will hook into the feed/s they're drawing from it. They're taking multiple feeds (ie not only from the top) and the risers are being upgraded to handle more capacity.

Mike

To save space I'm replying to a few posts at once:

reply to post by Divinorumus

Thanks for posting that link. I don't recall that it's been posted in this thread before. It's useful data to have and also to compare with what Halliburton's say in their own report.

reply to post by GATruthseeker

Thank you most sincerely for your comments and forgive me for not responding sooner. As I've been away I'm still catching up on a lot.

reply to post by whatsup

When originally fitted the LMRP cap ("top hat") apparently did have an O-type seal. I don't have any info on whether it was retained when the cap was refitted a few days ago, or how effective it might be in light of the damage to the protruding pipe. As for how much oil etc is being captured versus how much escapes, while BP published daily figures for the former, we only have guesstimates for the latter.

Just from the angle the LMRP cap is sitting at it's logical that its effectiveness for capture would be less.

Regards,

Mike

[edit on 29/6/10 by JustMike]

I don't believe the BOP is swaying although the shadows, debris, and movment of the water seem to be playing tricks with the mind

The LMRP however is puttting on a show.

I wonder if it was designed to allow such a play in movement and still be locked in place so well.

reply to post by sweetliberty

You're right -- it's not really possible for us to determine right now if the BOP is really swaying or not, or if it's just due to movement of the ROV's and their cameras.

The LMRP cap is sure moving up and down a lot... Something like we've noticed before when the wells' outflow seems to "burp". It's very noticeable right now.

I think the engineers who designed it expected this to happen. Providing that enough pressure can be bled off through the top of it, the cap should hopefully stay more or less where it is. However, any blockage that upset the balance to much would mean they'd probably have to pull it off again.

Mike

reply to post by Terviseks


That is a lot of pressure. I heard water jet cutters used to cut thick steal is between 30,000 psi to 90,000 psi. I am surprise the oil didn't cut the cap in half when they try to put it on.

reply to post by Chopper

True enough, those ultra-high-pressure cutters are really something. I'm not an engineer but all the same I have my doubts that this well is gushing at quite that sort of pressure, even though some have mooted it. Like you say, when you get a water jet up around 100,000 psi it can cut through steel. Of course, what's coming out of this well is a mixture of oil, gas/gas hydrates, and whatever debris it grabs on the way: bits of rock and sand (very likely), eroded fragments of steel pipe (possibly), and maybe pieces of cement as well (conjecture but not impossible). So, working out its effects is far more complex. Is it more damaging than gushing water would be at the same pressure? Maybe.

There's also the fact that as the LMRP cap is able to move around under all this pressure, that will slightly alleviate the effects of any abrasion that's taking place inside it. On the down side, as the cap is tilted there will be an imbalance in the abrasion (damage) that's taking place as more of the leak is gushing from the higher area of its tilted base.

And then there's that protruding pipe that is covered for the time being. As we saw when the cap was removed, the pipe protruding from the BOP was evidently in much poorer condition than it was before the cap was first placed on it. There was evidence that a section on one side had completely gone. The constant abrasion by debris brought up with the oil/gas/hydrate mix may have been the primary contributing cause to that, along with the fact that it was partially sawn then "snipped" through to begin with, creating a ragged and uneven edge and also probably some areas of stress within the pipe walls that could lead to cracks and failure.

I'd hate to think what condition that pipe is in now -- and I don't just mean the protruding part, but the section that runs out of sight down inside the BOP as well.

Mike

Anybody know how to do a screen capture? I tried the left click thingy- nothing, tried the Print Screen button- nothing. Anyways, there seems like something glowing? on Skandi ROV2. Watch it for awhile when the oil billows away for a second in the back of it it looks like the metals glowing, most likely an illusion.

Has anyone seen this? articles.latimes.com...

I think this very well may explain some of what we have been seeing down there esp. the last few days. It also would explain the constant use of that Nasty Corexit.

Any thoughts?

Forgot to give credit to Greensage, who posted that link in this interesting thread: [url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread588715/pg1]

Looks like enterprise 2 is losing the fight with the top hat.. Has no one at BP ever put their thumb over a hose pipe? I wouldn't be surprised if that thing just shoots off of there all of a sudden, dragging the ROV with it.

Edit to add: Anyone else think it looks like the fin on the top hat is digging a line in the pipe on Skandi 2 (front and center)?

[edit on 29-6-2010 by ganja]

Check out skandi rov 2 - at 13.36 GMT (UK) it is fixing a new dispersant connector when it went to the bottom under the BOP as a lot of current seemed to be heading up from the bottom, and I'd swear I saw a release of methane with a shower of bubbles from the seabed below the BOP. Did anyone else capture or see that?

reply to post by Chance321


The PrtSc key should work. You do realize that it won't pop up some nice requestor box asking where you would like to save it. It merely copies the screen. You have to start your favorite graphics program, such as PhotoShop, and open a new file to match your screen size and then PASTE the copied image into your graphics program and save it to whatever format you desire.

At 9:14 eastern standard time, the Discoverer Enterprise Rov 2 panned to the right and down, showing a glowing red spot and a slightly larger glowing red spot, any one see it?

Originally posted by BluePillOrRedPill
At 9:14 eastern standard time, the Discoverer Enterprise Rov 2 panned to the right and down, showing a glowing red spot and a slightly larger glowing red spot, any one see it?

Why do people keep posting here regarding the streams?

The TOP HAT hasn't blown off so let this freaking topic die.

There's already a STICKY LIVE FEED DICUSSION TOPIC.

USE IT.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[edit on 30-6-2010 by trolleleet]

[edit on 30-6-2010 by trolleleet]

[edit on 30-6-2010 by trolleleet]

Please excuse my questions, I'm trying to understand what the 12 cams are looking at.

Is Skandi ROV 2 and Discoverer Enterprise ROV 2 looking at the same well but different parts?

What is the Yellow thing sticking out of Discoverer Enterprise ROV 2. It looks like it has holes along the side and air or gas is coming out. It's slowly swaying to the left and right. Wow, now all the cams faded to black.

Click here for more information.

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