Tony Hayward Estimates Size of Deep Horizon Oil Field at about 2 Billion Gallons/50 million+ barrels

[flpoljunkie]

The question is, of course, will the relief wells--to be completed sometime in August--be able to kill this well?*

Hayward estimates size of oil field at 2B gallons
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 17, 2010; 6:29 PM

WASHINGTON -- BP CEO Tony Hayward says the reservoir that feeds the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico probably still holds about 2 billion gallons of oil.

Appearing before a House subcommittee, Hayward estimated that the reservoir tapped by the out-of-control well holds at least 50 million barrels of oil. At 42 gallons per barrel, that's 2.1 billion gallons.

According to government estimates of daily flow figures, anywhere from 73.5 million to 126 million gallons gushed from the breached wellhead - whether into the water or captured.

That means the reservoir likely holds 94 to 97 percent of its oil. At the current flow rate, it would take from two to nearly four years for all the oil to leak from the field if it can't be stopped.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061705110.html

*The wells proceed nearly straight down to about a depth of 10,000 feet. They then turn, guided by gyroscopes and magnetic sensors, drilling to within about a hundred feet of the leaking casing. From there, sensors detecting the lowered electrical resistance caused by the steel in the well help guide the drill. "So the target isn't really a few inches, but tens of feet," Evers says. "Once it has been located, the intersect wellbore can be guided toward the runaway well." The first relief well has already started this turn.

Oil well pipes are surrounded by casings of increasingly slim width, extended like an antenna deep into the ground and cemented in place. If the first well has trouble reaching the 7-inch casing at the foot of the well, an alternative is to aim for the 10-inch casing about 15,000 to 17,000 feet down.

Similar relief wells stopped Mexico's 1979-80 Ixtoc oil spill, the largest accidental leak in history, which ran for 290 days. If the ongoing relief wells stop the BP leak in early August as planned, it will have occurred after about 100 days of spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-14-oil-relief-well_N.htm

[patrice]

1. That's a lot of pressure on the blowout.

[Turbineguy]

2. So if this little adventure

costs BP $40 billion, oil will have to go to $800 per barrel before they break even on this find.

Chances are the risk has never been this accurately quantified before.