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I can plug oil leak, says NY genius

ADK_Forever said:

I thought the rig landed about 1500 feet away from the BOP.
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The wreckage did, yes.

Shortly after the explosion, the fire killed the computer controlling the pods under the rig which were keeping in place. When these pods went off line, the rig was at drift for the couple days it took to sink.

During those couple days, the rig was pulled as the ocean tides willed. As the tides tried to move the rig, the only thing keeping the rig in the same general aria was the drill string. The BOP acted link an anker.

As a BOP is not designed to take pulling forces of that magnitude, the BOP was pulled by the rig while it was at drift and while the rig was falling to the sea floor.
 
ADK_Forever said:

I thought the rig landed about 1500 feet away from the BOP.
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You thought correctly... but the rig didn't need to land on or even close to the BOP to damage it, since while it was sinking it was still connected to the BOP via the riser and drill string. Looking at the 90 degree kink in the 1" thick, 21" diameter riser pipe should give you an idea of the forces there... and that kink is only a foot or two above the BOP.

Jerry said:
Do you know in what way the BOP is damaged? Are we talking about parts flying of the BOP or the BOP blasting off the base?
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I don't... and nobody really does. Hopes were lifted that the BOP is ok during top kill, because the drilling mud they were forcing in raised the internal pressure of the BOP quite a bit. The worry with it though is that it could be internally damaged after the shock from the rig sinking and subsequent massive runaway leak running through it. It just wasn't designed for that, and looking at how the oil stream has been eating away at the kink in the riser raises legitimate concern. With so many working parts in the BOP, and not knowing exactly what the oil path is, there are a lot of variables once a true top cap is placed and the full wellhead pressure comes into play.
 
donsutherland1 said:
It should be noted that as attractive as the idea sounds, there is the reality of pressure of 1 ton per square inch where the leak is situated. Auto tires would not withstand such pressure. If the leak were near sea level, the idea would be far more viable.
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What if it was inflated with a liquid instead of air? Wouldn't that have the same effect of plugging around a pipe as a air filled tube but without the pressure concerns?
 
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