Oil pressure dropping is a BAD thing!

Link to article

Crews will begin taking pressure readings inside the well today by slowly closing valves on the new cap and ceasing to suck oil from the well to vessels on the surface. If the pressure falls to about 9,000 pounds per square inch with all the valves shut, it will mean that the cap is keeping oil inside the well and it can be left alone to some degree until the relief well intercepts it. If the pressure falls below that amount, however, engineers will continue to suck oil out of the well and onto as many as four ships on the surface. Low pressure would signal that oil is finding another way out of the well, possibly through weak points in the well far below the surface. That testing could last from six to 48 hours, Allen said.

So this is the probable reason the perforated pipe was removed so quickly. The pressure dropped and they had to reopen it. I hope that pressure can be maintained so that they can get this thing closed finally.

"BP will be in regular contact with the government during the test, and the government will halt the test if the risks of doing further damage to the surrounding formation are significant," Allen said in a statement released Monday evening.

Well, we can hope they have a more rapid response than they previously have had if that is the case.

The rest of the article is here if you want to read the rest. Any thoughts?

From another article here:

The cap will be tested by closing off three separate valves that fit together snugly like pairs of fists, choking off the oil and blocking it from entering the Gulf. BP doesn't want the flow of oil to stop instantaneously, said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, director of Professional Geosciences Programs at the University of Houston. Shutting the oil off too quickly could cause another explosion, he said. "Rather than like a train running into a brick wall, it'll be more like putting the brakes on slowly," he said. "That's what they're aiming for. You can keep the brakes on and everyone arrives alive, or you hit the wall and have big problems." Engineers will be watching pressure readings. High pressure is good, because it would mean the leak has been contained inside the wellhead machinery. But if readings are lower than expected, that could mean there is another leak elsewhere in the well.

So this just furthers the explanation of the ram stack and the low pressure situation.

ok

boondock's bookie board is now open

today's odds are:

pressure falls below 9K PSI =========== 1 - 1 (even money)
pressure rises to or above 9K PSI ======= 5 - 1

gentlemen place your bets

PERFECT answer!!!

I guess we know what you think is gonna happen.

Of course, I think I am with ya here.

reply to post by boondock-saint


nice odds but do you honestly think BP or the Gov will admit the pressure dropped below 9K?

and for the record IF i was a betting man i'd put $100.00 on falling below 9k PSI

[edit on 7/13/2010 by Mercenary2007]

The only 'good' part of this new pipe leak is that it's something they have lots of backups of. (pipes). So they pull it off, swap out the bad pipe, reset it, and drop it down again.

I HOPE thats all they need to do.

Originally posted by Ceriddwen
PERFECT answer!!!

I guess we know what you think is gonna happen.

Of course, I think I am with ya here.

yea I run the bookie board around here
sometimes. But don't tell anyone
Big Al doesn't like me taking side bets
off the books .... hahahaha

One of these days Big Al is gonna feed me
to the trolls in the East River and weigh me
down with Obama's Golf Clubs.


[edit on 13-7-2010 by boondock-saint]

Thank you for that information, it helps explain a lot. I know that when I was watching the pressure gauges when they went up momentarily, I never saw it go above 7,000 PSI and then dropped rapidly. Of course, I have not been watching all that much so I am sure I missed a whole lot more than I saw.

I would think that perhaps things are not going as well as they could have, seeing that it is going into Tuesday and the oil is still flowing freely. A far cry from that oh-so-optomistic artcle from late last week.

I am still hoping that this can be contained, but it just seems like they are poking a stick into a hornets nest. Somethings gotta give...

reply to post by westcoast


I understood more when I read the articles, so I was happy to pass them along.

I think we are all hoping for the same thing.

Something seems off ... maybe it's the wording ...

Head pressure should rise, not fall, as the valves shut. If it doesn't rise high enough (9000?), that could mean there's a significant leak elsewhere in the well.

But no matter what I'm pretty sure it should rise compared to flow pressure.

They want it to rise and then STAY there. They don't want fluctuations of large amounts and they don't want it to fall since that would mean leaking elsewhere.

Originally posted by Ceriddwen
They want it to rise and then STAY there. They don't want fluctuations of large amounts and they don't want it to fall since that would mean leaking elsewhere.

well I think we already know what the answer
is gonna be. There's streaks from multiple
leaks all across the gulf. It's not that difficult

Yeppers, but at least those aren't possibly going to explode if the pressure gets too high.

At least, not that we are aware of.

Have you ever seen a drunk barf between his fingers?

I think the pressure readings they give us will be a little on the low side.
I'm not much of a gambler but what are the odds of an epic fail?
I'm tempted to place my long shot bet on a nuke right now..

Say, how does hopeful info affect Bp's stock price and ability to raise credit?

reply to post by Danbones


If we use a nuke for peaceful purpose, stopping oil leak, that gives Iran a reason to have nukes for peaceful purposes. Cant use nukes.

We are in a tricky situation if this doesn't work.

[edit on 13-7-2010 by knell1906]

Every single time someone mentions nuking the well I am reminded on Steve Buscemi sitting on the gun on the asteroid imitating "Slim Pickens in that movie". Then he starts saying no nukes no nukes. Cracks me up seeing it, but then I think yeah... NO NUKES NO NUKES.

reply to post by knell1906

good point...
Though the Rus have used them 5 times to stop wells, so the Iranians can always site that as an example.

Canada doesn't have nukes but we use nuclear technology so I suport a country that has fought less wars then we have like Iran having the technology.

Originally posted by Danbones
Have you ever seen a drunk barf between his fingers?

I think the pressure readings they give us will be a little on the low side.
I'm not much of a gambler but what are the odds of an epic fail?
I'm tempted to place my long shot bet on a nuke right now..

Say, how does hopeful info affect Bp's stock price and ability to raise credit?

And with this statement you have hit the nail on the head. Notice how the good info always comes on a Friday?

what happened to the idea that this well hit a oil migration chamber and a very large & highly pressurized methane gas pocket at the onset.

a steady pressure would be the logical train of thought, seeing as the pressurized gas & oil blew itself out & all that remains is a constant steady flow of oil from the upwardly flowing migration channel...
and the possibility that pockets of oil from the higher strata is back flowing into this reservior.


about the only danger would be new pockets of pressurized gas finding this release area to migrate into because of the empty voids left from the well strike ...well 84+ days of outgassing & oil volume release.



if there were other oil & gas releases in the strata of the formation... the
pressure would not noticeably drop or rise because of the future valve closings.... the only evidence would be that oil slicks & underwater plumes would grow ever thicker, larger.

the theoretical Abiotic oil creation flowing in this migration channel would maintain a pretty near constant rate-of-flow (pressure) at all the leaks/gushers/fissures... because they all happened at the same moment when the well blew..

its not like a tire with 3 0r 4 punctures in it, because the tire had only a certain ammount of pressure within its confinement area...
this (deepwater horizon) situation might be like a volume of 10 million tires in a subterranian labyrinth ...which could takes months to years of unabated flow to subside to where the natural flow might need to be 'pumped' out of the reservior

i get banned at survivalist board- for this and that -but here i find some thoughtful discussion and not bewildering ignorance. they think all they need is guns and mre
meals and by all means toss nukes around. sure cure for everything.