Many have been asking about the current state of the previously gushing BP Oil Well at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The following questions have been coming fast and furiously since the well was capped.
Is it still leaking at the wellhead? Has the wellhead been pierced? Are there other wells leaking in the region?
Are there methane seeps in the area around the well? Are there other leaks in the area coming from this well?
Has the well been breached? Is it beyond repair? How deep are the leaks and breaches?
Has the well-casing been compromised? Has the well-bore lost its integrity? Did the methane explosion undermine the foundation of the wellhead?
Why was the cementing plan not executed according to industry SOP’s? Has the pressure (high psi) forced effluent through cracks and fissures in the cement?
Is BP considering a nuclear option?! Are the relief wells about this? If so, what are the potential consequences should BP execute such a plan?
What is the purpose of the upcoming top kill operation by BP, and will it work? What is the likelihood of success of the relief wells?
What are the prospects of this well ever being permanently sealed? Should BP have ever drilled this well in the first place? Why has so much gone wrong with the entire process of drilling, and then capping this seemingly untamable oil gusher? Â
For the first time we have received a pictorial rendition of what may have occurred over the several stages of developing the Macondo Prospect oil well. Full credit goes to BK Lim for publishing these revealing diagrams on alternative news websites. It is quite consistent with reports and assessments that we have received over the past three and a half months since the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.
Again, we express our deepest gratitude to BK Lim for these diagrammatic portrayals of the well gone bad at the Macondo Prospect.
Dr. Tom Termotto, BCIM
National Coordinator
Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference (International Citizensâ Initiative)
Tallahassee, FL
OilSpillSolution@comcast.net
http://oilspillsolutionsnow.org/
SKYPE: Gulf_Advocate
Diagrammatic Illustration of BP’s Deepwater Horizon Blowout
By BK Lim
All diagrams created by BK LIM
To view all of the diagrams associated with BK Lim’s body of work, please click on the link below:
Concerned Citizens of Florida
Deepwater Horizon Unified Command
Florida DEP Alert on Twitter
Florida Disaster Response Map
Florida Webcasting Network
Gulf Coast Drilling Platform Map
Hoodooed
NOAA BP Oil Spill Incident Response
NOAA Environmental Modeling Center
Oil Spill Academic Task Force
Protect Our Waters
Testing The Water
Wildwell Control, Inc.
From: Andthorne@aol.com
To: hyrocomgeo@gmail.com
Sent: 5/10/2011 12:18:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: BP gusher disection
This email to the above address was returned to me so I’m trying to reach Mr. B. K. Lim through your comment section. I hope it works./
An email colleague of mine sent me your diagrams of the condition of the Gulf of Mexico sea bed,showing the contribution of the methane hydrates and the salt dome to the BP blow out.
Theyâre very good, but I would like to challenge your guestimate of the age of the salt dome.
Ancient salt forms flat, like the salt flats of Utah . Salt from evaporating seas does not form in valley and peak like formations.
Something has made that salt dome, and I would like to suggest to you that it is the methane hydrate.
I do not have it here with me. I am away at school, but I have a report from a British ship that explored the topography of the Gulf in the 80’s and found that from their previous efforts of exploration in the same areas -100’s of new salt domes had formed, and there were also piles of sand dunes where they should not be.
The oil and gas industry uses tons of salt to avoid the formation of methane hydrates that inevitably form anyway. They must originate in fresh water; they do not like salt, and the industry uses a lot of salt to prevent them.
The thing about hydrate is that once formed- if then surrounded by methane gas- which saturates the salt water, it can then reach out grab the water and leave the salt behind.
My opinion of the salt dome is that it ranges from the time oil drilling began in Texas , Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico forward to today.
In support of this may I also mention that the government tried to store reserve oil in the domes all over Texas and they had to remove it, because they found the hollow domes were full of remnant methane gas
Your diagram is great otherwise. It shows so nicely how the industry’s drilling creates a myriad of small to very big new faults. I think you should expand your diagram to show the condition of the entire Gulf of Mexico , all its mushy crust, salt domes and hydrates, which- I am sure you can demonstrate- is a virtual, hazardous mess.
If you expand it to the Caribbean, Iâm sure you can demonstrate where that new fault that triggered the Haiti earthquake came from too.
Actually if you have the time, why donât you expand it to all the continental shelves where theyâve been drilling, then send it to Washington, so the government can stop their wishful thinking that this drilling can go on without further catastrophe.?
Your response is much appreciated.
Respectfully,
Andrea Silverthorne.
Dear Andrea Silverthorne.
Believe or not, I had just seen your letter. You got the email address wrong. It is hydrocomgeo@gmail.com
That model was to illustrate the top hole drilling conditions down to the first 10,000 ft and the suspected geotechnical problems attributed to drilling near a vertical structure be it salt or other intrusives.
I did not want to put any formal scale to it, as much of what we now know was not available at that time. It is also exaggerated where the vertical scale is many times the horizontal scale.
We have since updated the model to real size model with reference to a seismic section. You can see it at this article:
http://bklim.newsvine.com/_news/2011/04/10/6443959-part-1-mystery-of-the-new-found-oil-revealed
It is still a geological model but probably closer to the true geological situation; probably an Allochthonous Salt.
Rgds
BK Lim