Is the primary function of relief wells to make it possible to cap blowouts permanently?

[patrice]

Perhaps there is some cost to not following corporate media very well and this information IS broadly out there, but after nearly 50 days of this shit, it sure came as a surprise to me.

Once either of the relief wells strikes pay dirt, the plan is to pump heavy drilling mud and cement down it to bring the blowout under control and permanently seal the damaged well.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/03/1991393/sure-fire-cure-for-spewing-well.html#ixzz0pzNGI2GY

Why wouldn't drillers want relief wells? Well, money does explain at least some of that, but many of us are still left thinking: Drill the damned relief wells and if you have trouble, they'll save OUR ass and you can go ahead and cap that damn thing and keep on pumping your oil into the market.

Wrong.

BP didn't want the relief well(s) because the purpose of relief wells is to end their access to the oil.

That's a major correction in public perception.

[Statistical]

1. Yes the only purpose of relief well is to seal primary well (and in process seal relief well too).

No oil company drills them ahead of time for the first reason you listed: $$$$. Nobody should EVER expect a company to spend more than the absolute minimum. Ever. If you do well you are just setting yourself up for failure. Drilling rigs are very expensive and thus a well (even relief well which will never be used) are very expensive. For deep water it is roughly $20 million per mile (obviously that varies depending on crew skill, problems, complications, delays, etc). So for DWZ you are talking $100 million per relief well. No company is going to voluntarily spend that kind of money especially when in 99.99% of the cases it is never needed.

That is the job of govt: Make a pre-drilled relief well a REQUIREMENT for exploration.

As far as BP not wanting relief well after the disaster that isn't true. They began moving a rig into posistion the day the DWH sank. Drilling began less than 5 days after the explosion. When you consider they have to move one of these massive semi-sub drilling platforms. Get it into posistion, prepare for drill ops, lower 1 mile of riser pipe to ocean floor, deploy ROV, setup seafloor complex, drop a mile of drill string inside the riser AND ONLY then can you start drilling that is impressive.

BP knows the only guaranteed way to stop this gusher is a relief well.

[elocs]

2. No, no, no. You're supposed to tell us that BP is the Satan of all oil companies

and are in reality trying to make this disaster worse by causing more oil to gush out in order to despoil the Gulf.

[Statistical]

3. Sadly and ironically the reality is scarrier than the conspiracy theories.

I mean it would be a good thing if the leak could be stopped easily and BP simply didn't. Obama could order them off the site, hire a contractor and bing-bang-boom leak stopped in 13 hours.

The reality is BP CAN'T stop the leak without a relief well, and nobody can. Bad news is drilling relief well will take months.
Anything BP does on the ocean floor is either a long shot or an attempt to simply reduce (but not eliminate) the amount spilled.

[patrice]

5. And they put that off in favor of, what, FOUR other half-assed measures, in order to protect their

access to the oil.

People are mad about this, but they're not paying that close attention to the details.

Public opinion is against the perps: I pulled up at a stoplight next to a huge 4X4 with a McCain/Palin sticker still on the bumper; nice day - so our windows were open and I said to the young cupcake-land beefcake sitting behind the wheel "So what do you think of 'Drill baby drill' now?". He smiled ruefully, raised his eyebrows, and kind of shrugged his shoulders. I asked him how many soldiers had to die so he could drive that thing, before the light changed, he did not seem angry or offended by the question.

[Statistical]

6. No they didn't. you are listening (or simply want to be wrong).

They started moving drilling rig into place on day 1. They began drilling on day 5.
Bad news is at best the well won't be completed until day 90.

So in the meantime (day 5 to day 90) should they
a) sit back say relief wells are on the way just wait 85 more days.
b) try various methods to reduce amount of oil that ends up in Gulf.

A or B?

Either way you can make the relief well go any faster. Picking A or Picking B the relief well is still going to get finished at the same time.

[patrice]

7. k, thanks for the correction, but I guess I was thinking of the practice of drilling the relief well

(s) concurrently with the main well drilling. That is done isn't it?

[Statistical]

10. No. $$$$. Companies will never do it unless required.

It is the role of govt to set the "rules of the game".

If we want relief wells pre-drilled we need to:
a) demand Congress make regulations require them
b) accept higher oil/gas prices.

[Ozymanithrax]

4. It costs millions to drill an oil well. Now, if you drill two wells, that doubles your cost.

You have to have two crews and two drilling rigs. You want three wells, three crews and three drilling rigs.

It would be like you buying two cars just to get to work. You only need one, but that brand new car might not start tomorrow, so you buy a second brand new car for the same price and sit it in your driveway, and never use that car unless your first car doesn't work. Then, two years later, you donate your cars to some Charity and buy two more, one to use and the other just in case.

Now when you consider that blowouts are uncommon, and the cost of drilling relief wells is the same as a regular well, money is the primary reason. The majority of wells will never blow out because the technology to keep them contained is actually quite good.

One other thing, a relief well has the same chance of a blowout as a primary well. In a quick look, I actually found that in 1976 a relief well blew out. So that had a blow out on a primary well and then had to stop a blow out on the relief well, and dig a third well.

So, you double your cost to drill the relief well. You double your chance of a blow out.

[global1]

8. Ok - You Make Your Point About The Extra $'s To Build A Relief Well.....

but what pisses me off - BP supposedly cut corners on the original well and for an extra $500,000 more could have had safeguards on this DWH so as to prevent this from happening. Didn't they also make some other critical mistakes for the sake of time and didn't follow procedures. I remember reading about arguments on the rig the day of the explosion. Some wanted to take their time and do the right thing and they were rushed and voted down by the BP people.

So - I don't feel for BP in this situation. They cut corners. They are now having to pay through the nose and in reality - they'll tie this up in the courts and get away with murder and leave the bill to us taxpayers. Somehow they'll come through this disaster and make money for their stockholders and we'll be left holding the ball.

Granted - the government should take some of the blame as Bush/Cheney deregulated this industry and made it possible for a disaster like this to happen.

[Ozymanithrax]

12. I don't feel for BP at all. I suspect they will be found to have comitted...

at minimum, criminal negligence.

There needs to be some form of world wide regulation that forces oil companies to do things safely as possible. There should be required inspections of all oilfield safety equipment, like blowout preventer. They should be tested to make sure they actually work at 5000 feet underwater. No short cuts should be allowed. Government needs to do this. The idea that a company will voluntarily follow the safest and best methods is a fantasy.

Maybe we should require a relief well to be drilled at the same time, particularly in places like the bottom of the gulf, the Indian Ocean, or in other places like this. But we should not expect a company to double their costs voluntarily, when any doufas with a computer can show you a cost benefit analysis that will prove that doubling your costs doubles the chance of a blowout.

Regulation is critical. Because wells like this affect more than one nation, the regulations should be the same in any country where people drill oil.

[Stargazer99]

9. This is an excuse for destroying livihoods and

and enviroment that will take years to recover? Where are the values in this mammon driven nation? Is the only thing man values is money until he destroys himself?

[Ozymanithrax]

13. That was not an excuse. It is a reason why government regulation is required...

BP's purpose is to acquire the maximum amount of oil and exchange it for the maximum amount of money. In our civilization, where oil is literally in almost everything, it is a critical job. Without oil, we could not post on this website, and that is one of its smaller uses. Governments need to step up to the plate and demand specific standards be met in these situations.

[NNN0LHI]

11. didn't want the relief well because the purpose of relief wells is to end their access to the oil?

Whats to stop them from drilling a new well 50 yards away from the one they just capped to get at the oil?

What you are suggesting is not logical.

Don