David Lock

OK so I can understand that they are sawing the top off the broken pipe and hope to fit a cap to this and get oil to the surface. But how is oil getting to surface - through a mile long pipe subject to huge ocean forces? And is oil pressure, which I know is high, enough to push it to the surface or will it have to be pumped somehow. I can't imagine a pump that could do this but I know sod all about underwater oil extraction. I keep hearing the expression "syphon the oil" but what the hell does that mean?


Any oil drilling gurus about?

dl

Steve vRS

The oil is lighter than water and is immiscible (does not dissolve) so it's inability to mix with the water and its buoyancy will drive it upwards.

Steve

BOB.T

Am I right in thinking that the gas down there also helps to pressurise the chamber, forcing oil out?

I also heard they're planning to cap the pipe with Katie Price

Steve vRS

The gas and crude oil will be in the same wells. The gas is compressed and yes forces the oil out although the oil is at pressure (it's the pressure from the millions of years of rock formation that convert the organic matter into the fossil fuel). As wells become spent, seawater is injected into the wells to force the last oil out in order to maximise production.

Steve

FlightMan

We can only hope!

Alg

Send Dwight Yorke down there. If his **** was big enough to plug Jordan's borehole they could use it to plug this slightly smaller one.

David Lock

Go and be silly somewhere else please (and don't give up the day job)

David Lock

But is oil transferred by pipeline to surface? If so it won't mix with the seawater at all. And a lot of oil seems to gradually sink to the floor?

Are you saying that with the natural oil and gas pressure that is enough head to reach surface?

Thanks, dl

BOB.T

It's meant to be!

I think the idea is, you drill into a chamber of oil / gas, stick a pipe in and stuff comes out and is transported to the surface / away. As the level in the chamber drops you'd need to put a longer pipe in so instead a second hole is made and sea water is forced into the chamber, the oil sits on top of the water and the cycle continues...

At least that's my limited understanding of it

speedking

Just to turn your question around: If they fix a pipe to the wellhead and the oil doesn't have enough pressure to reach the surface, then job done. Just seal the top of the pipe and sail away.

David Lock

Yeah I wondered about that. But you would then have a steel, I presume, pipe loose in perhaps half a mile of ocean currents. So I guess it would be anchored to the ocean floor somehow and checked regularly. I'd ut a number of gate valves in the pipe in case it breaks.

How far is the hole from the nearet land?

dl

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I suppose the theory can be proven by getting a bottle of oil, and submerse it in a bath full of water - and see what happens.

(Make sure the missus is out before comendering the bathtub though )

David Lock

A stunningly brilliant scientific approach Ali

Then tip the oil in and a goldfish which you can pretend to be a Bluefin Tuna and see if it survives

Thanks for sharing!

David

BOB.T

Don't forget to take the tuna out of the tin

SJ_Skyline

In order to make the experiment a true representation of the real world you will need to place the oil under pressure so attaching a footpump to the bottle of oil is the logical course of action.

HTH

David Lock

Honey, I've oiled the bathroom


How stupid - don't you know you can't get goldfish in tins

dl

Alg

Sorry, precious little Princess!

Chip

Oi, show some respect to your elders.

DL,

The oil after drilling is piped ashore directly rather than going back up to the surface.

Yes there will be gas present with the oil.

Chip

David Lock

Ah - now that makes sense and a lot safer than the vertical approach!

Cheers, David