They Managed To Do Something

I have three versions of what BP has finally managed to accomplish below the fold. I considered including the AP version, but you can get BP press releases at a lot of places, so why give the AP a link for their version?

My take is that while this “tool” will suck up some gas and oil and reduce the amount flowing into the Gulf, it is more about recovering crude to be sent to a refinery than controlling this well. Using a wet-dry vac with a 2-inch hose might slow the rate at which your basement is being flooded by the 6-inch water main, but it isn’t going to stop it.

In case you haven’t noticed the thread in BP’s efforts, they are based on recovering oil, not on stopping the leak. They have been at it for a month and sticking a hose into the riser is the best they could come up with?

Jennifer Latson writes for the Houston Chronicle: For BP, third time’s the charm

Nearly a month into their quest to contain a gushing oil spill, BP officials had their first major success on Sunday, when robots threaded a thin tube into a broken pipeline almost a mile underwater.

The 4-inch tube was expected to work like a straw, sucking as much as 85 percent of the leaking oil into a tanker waiting on the surface. After a failed first attempt on Saturday, followed by a successful insertion that was subsequently dislodged, BP found that the third time was the charm.

“We’re obviously pleased,” said BP spokesman John Crabtree. “It’s progress.”

But officials stopped short of celebrating the occasion, which came after a series of stinging defeats in the battle to plug the gusher. Early efforts were stymied by the unpredictable gas combinations and high-pressure, low-temperature conditions that caused equipment to clog with icelike crystals on the Gulf’s floor.

Anyone think that Houston is a company town? I’m surprised they didn’t have a “Mission Accomplished” banner headline.

Jaweed Kaleem writes for the Miami Herald: BP finally connects mile-long pipe to begin capping oil spill

MIAMI – Oil giant BP succeeded Sunday in connecting a mile-long pipe to help capture what it hoped will be a majority of the oil flowing from a damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico _ “an important step” toward capping the massive spill, the company said, but not a complete solution.

The company initially connected the suction pipe for about four hours just after midnight Sunday, sending some oil, gas and water to an oil tanker 5,000 feet above the seabed, but then the pipe was dislodged. It was reconnected late Sunday morning.

“We’re looking to optimize this over the next couple days to try to produce as much oil and gas as we can,” said Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president for exploration and production, at a press conference. He added that while the amount of oil being captured was gradually increasing, the company had not measured it.

The effort doesn’t plug the massive oil leak that began on April 20 when an offshore rig caught fire and sank, but it’s the first success in almost a month to begin capping the erupting flow. A similar effort had failed early Saturday.

More skeptical, but how does this help in any way, the capping of the well? Their goal is “to try to produce as much oil and gas as we can”, but that isn’t questioned.

Dennis Persica writes for the Times-Picayune: BP says tool is working ‘as planned’ to capture leaking oil in Gulf

A tool inserted into the leaking drill pipe on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico is pumping oil to a surface ship, a BP official said Sunday afternoon.

Kent Wells, BP’s senior executive vice president, said the tool was inserted into the riser on the Gulf floor Saturday night.

However,”we were just starting to get oil to the surface when the tool got dislodged,” he said.

The tool was reinserted Sunday morning and “It’s working as planned,” Wells said.

Both oil and natural gas are being pumped to the surface; the natural gas is being burned off while the oil is stored on a vessel, said Wells, who spoke at a news conference in Houston.

Wells said the insertion tool is extracting “some” of the flow from the leaking pipe.

“We will continue to increase the amount” of oil being extracted, but will do so slowly, Wells said. “It will take a little time.

“We will do everything we can to capture as much as possible,” he said. He had no estimate on how much of the leaking oil is being captured by the tool.

The amount of oil and gas being pumped to the surface will be increased slowly. Wells said it has to be increased slowly or there is a danger the tool will take in seawater.

They have heard promises before in the Big Easy.