Oil Spill Suggestions
Here at BP Oil News we’ve gotten almost two thousand suggestions for ways to plug the Gulf oil leak or mitigate the damage from the Gulf oil spill. Here’s a link to some of your oil spill suggestions. And here’s a link to a page with many more oil spill suggestions. Many of the suggestions are contained in comments, but some oil spill suggestions were sent in using our contact form. Because of the volume of suggestions, we would like to request that future suggestions be submitted via comments to this post. And if you have suggestions about how the President should deal with the oil spill, please post your comments under the article “We need a New Deal for the Gulf Coast.”
Here are some oil spill suggestions we’ve already received via the contact form:
Bryan has the following oil spill suggestion:
I would like to discuss with a BP engineer an easy way to stop the oil leak. I am very serious about seeing this leak stopped and all efforts concentrated on clean up and containment. please contact me ASAP.
You can reach by my email or you can contact me via my mobile phone,my number is 321-228-5053.Thank you and I really hope someone contacts me quickly.
Carmen wrote:
I think if you add hard, round, rubber plates to the pipe that is siphoning the oil, starting from a small rubber plate gradually increasing the size till it plugs up the oil spill you can add metal for more support.
Paul has the following suggestion to plug the oil leak:
1) Drill a 1/2 hole on the side of the leaking pipe.
2) Insert an appropriate cable through a ratchet puller & through the drilled hole so that the cable comes out from the 12” leaking hole.
3) Push the cable all the way to the surface if needed, this just to attach an appropriate sized plumb-bob shaped stopper from the tip.
4) Pull back the cable from the ratchet side, eventually cable will guide the plumb-bob to the pipe’s mouth & the ratchet will prevent the gushing oil from pushing plumb-bob out.
5) The 12″ hole will practically be seal completely, a minor oil leak might be present from the 1/2″ hole but it should be negligible.
Thanks, if you require any further clarifications just email.
Our oil spill suggestion box got this suggestion from Gary:
Could you not use a vacuum system and vacuum it to the top and then have a separator for the oil and water?
Duane made the following suggestion for dealing with the oil spill:
I’ve been thinking as I know all of you are also. Just an idea. If you can put a tube in the pipe is there a way you can direct a bell shape steal cone with a cable going through the middle with a lead or steal ball attached to the cable and the bell above it. Lower the ball and bell shape into the casing when it is place pull the cable up at high speed an the ball will flare out the bell to the side of the casing .
If you need any more descriptions e-mail me. I would be glad to answer or explain this .
Wayne had the following oil spill suggestion:
Drill a parallel well fairly close to the leaking oil well to a depth of 500–1000ft. Stop drilling in close proximity to the leaking well’s casing.
Using knowledge of the geology of rock and explosives, destroy the well casing and block the flow with debris. The upward flow of oil will help to fill cavities with debris.
At sufficient depth, the present wellhead and ocean floor would not be disturbed. If this does not stop the oil flow rate, it should slow it down to be more manageable.
Wayne Durst
860-974-2301
A professional engineer named Bob shared the following suggestion to plug the oil leak:
API pipe is ductile and is made to be crimped. If you can get a hydraulic crimper down to the pipe, you could crimp it off. Its done every day on land with smaller diameter pipes.
Michael submitted the following oil spill suggestion:
DRILL / BLAST / SEAL
1) drill down below sea floor such that end of drill is close to the existing pipe that is leaking. Through the new pipe pass down explosive.
2) before setting off blast, pre-drill several ‘sealant’ pipes to within 100 ft of the blast point, such that they can complete drilling quickly after the blast.
3) set off initial explosive pipe to fracture the oil-leaking pipe and the rock around it.
4) ASAP complete drilling sealant pipes getting them around the blast zone.
5) through sealant pipes pump under high pressure a combination of quick-setting foam / concrete or other material that will fill the cracks and leaks around the fractured oil pipe.
Charles submitted the following suggestion which, he says, was submitted to the joint response task force:
This was submitted to the joint oil spill response task force on Friday may 21 2010:
Brief description of technology (200 words or less) Please stop thinking of harnessing or stopping the pressure of the spewing oil and gas mixture. Let the pressure and flow assist you in the recovery of the oil and gas by directing its flow to the surface where recovery is simply a matter of pumping to waiting tankers, barges, and bladders. We have all seen these collapsible tubes/tunnels children crawl through or dogs run through in agility contests. They can be made to any length and nearly any diameter desired. The one I envision will be about five feet diameter, made of marine grade canvas or sailcloth, it could have an internal continual spiral of steel (similar to what is used as rebar in concrete columns) intermittently attached to cables which will be used to lower it into place over the leak in the riser pipe. I think the internal spiral is unnecessary.
You apparently have three or more leaks so three or more will need to be constructed and deployed. Your pipe insertion method while useful to some extent is still not recovering anywhere near a majority of the spill let alone all of it as the method I proposed will. The bottom can be weighted with rubberized blasting mats.
Material list (100 words or less)
For each tube/tunnel you will need
-One (1)- 5280 foot long five foot diameter marine canvas or sailcloth tube
-Five (5) – 5,500 foot long steel cable 3/4″ to 1″ diameter
-Hundreds of connectors to keep the tube together down its length.
-Weighted flexible collar for the bottom of the tube so it sort of seals itself around the riser
Optional
-Six to Eight (6-8) miles of spiral (4’10″ diameter) formed 1/2″ to 3/4″ rebar joined at intervals (only necessary of the tube/tunnel collapses, I don’t think that will be a problem once this is put in place the tube will “fill itself”)
Equipment (100 words or less)
Sewing machines to make the canvas/sailcloth tube and attach rings at intervals for the cable to pass through.
Winches to let down the cable and tube.
Ships to deploy this apparatus.
Tankers for recovering the gas and oil.
Separator Pumps to recover the gas and oil as it comes to the surface.
The amazing robots to direct and place the open end of the tube above the leak.
Expertise Required (100 words or less)
Mine of course, call me, seriously though all kidding aside I think if you are reading this idea please get it to someone who can make it happen. Somebody with an open mind who can visualize and accept that sometimes the simplest solutions are really the best.
Finally, we’ll quote President Obama’s reported suggestion: “Plug the damn hole.”
We appreciate all the suggestions. Our oil spill suggestion box remains open. If you have a suggestion to plug the oil leak or limit the oil spill damage, please submit it as a comment to this post.
Update June 8, 2010: The official Deepwater Horizon response website has made an online form available for oil spill suggestions.
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Lower a massive steel ball(as big and heavy as needed) on top of the leak. Then encase it with concrete.
This should have been call the suggestion box for idiots.
Hey! Put down the KOOL-AID
Listen up
They know how to shut off the well.
They are not going to shut it off and lose their investment.
They could have shut it off on day 2 or 3.
So, please stop showing how big of an Idiot you are and contact your Elected Officials and tell them to have BP shut it off or Lose their jobs come Nov 2010.
no they don’t give a damn about the well bp wants to seal the well
You are wrong my friend. It is all about saving the well and their investments. They know for a fact how to shut off the well. And it will be done when the other 2 wells are completed.
Attach a strong wire(Heavy and thick) over the riser.
Secure the wire mesh to the lower part of the riser. A fastening device could easily be fabricted.
After the wire mesh is tightly secured over the riser, allowing the oil and gas to flow out, then do the junk shot.
The reason the junk shot did not work is because the leaks in the pipes were too porous.
Placing and securing the strong mesh over the riser will catch the junk shot debri’s and clog the riser.
Place a sleeve over it.
The sleeve would slide down the current pipe and it would have a seel on both ends of the sleeve.
One end would seel toward the middle of the riser and the other end would seel to the pipe coming out of the top of the riser.
The seel would have to have a device that would allow the robot to tighten it.
This sleeve should be completely fastened and secured on the riser first. The Sleeve could be as long as needed, it could even go from the riser to above the water. The sleeve material would have to have a PSI rating higher than the PSI given off by the gusher.
The sleeve could possible be made from a material similar to FIRE HOSE. I believe fire hose can withstand up to 1200 PSI but I am not sure.
How about a concrete funnel 20′ – 25′ at the bottom to a 30 inch neck at the top to a 30 inch diameter hose up to a ship. (ships)
Through the tubes that you tried to pump the mud try pump beads of polyacrylate (the gel put in diapers) down into the bop the swelling of the polyacrylate should slow the the oil enough to able the pump to lay concreate in the pipes sealing the well for time to think of a more solid solution if this fails couldn’t you just replace the bop
Why not just insert a device that can be inflated with water or gel or some
sort of expanding foam into the leaking pipe ?
Sam suggested a sleeve over the gusher. That is the right track but I think it could be simpler than that.
The “sleeve” would not have to be sealed at both ends. Think of smoke coming out of the ground and spreading out through the air all around. You could control it by putting a tall curtain around it so the smoke would come out the top at whatever height you make the curtain. For the oil in the water, it could be a round, tube like curtain of any size needed. dropped over the leak with weights to hold it down and floats at the top to hold it up. Just use as many siphon hoses needed to pump the oil into a tank off the top of the water.
Nobody will try this because it is too simple to work!!!
E. Floyd Chamness
A very large concrete dome with a single hole at the top – insert a large pipe that reaches the surface and connect to a pump to transfer to tankers. The size of the dome must be large and deep so as not to require precise positioning; and the diameter of the pipe must be sufficient to handle the oil pressure so too much oil doesn’t build up under the dome and leak out or shift the dome.
inject liquid nitrogen deep into the pipe to cause a temporary slowdown of the flow to implement whatever other effective capping or plugging method.
We can stop the spill by lowering a rocket size lead plug into the open oil pipe. The plug would hav e to be pointed to get it into the opening and increase in size to 21 1/2 inched (oilpipe is 22 inches) for forthy feet than increase to 22 inched for ten feet and 23 inched for 5 feet. The wieght of the plug would stop the oil. The lead rocket would have to have a solid steel reinforment rod down the middle with branching rodes to take the heavy lead weight. The rocket would wiegh about 450 tons.
Why not line hay or straw along the coast line? The hay will absorb the oil and it can be disposed of.
Would help the coast line before it gets worse and help the farmers too.
Cryogenic solution. Since they’ve previously had icing problems, go with that. Instead of pumping drilling mud to try to kill it while such a strong flow rate is present, Pump liquid nitrogen at the deepest point in the pipe possible. Extract the conduit tube slowly while continuing to pump creating a solid column temporarily plugging it. Leave a gap on top of the frozen column, plug the gap with cement. If a tube is not feasible, insert a canister of liquid nitrogen for time release.
I’m not going to waste a whole lot of time typing. I have a low tech solution to a high tech problem. If an engineer from BP would contact me I live in Nova Scotia and can be reached at 902-864-3640 or 902-441-1184. What I have to propose is a modification to the box that you have already designed and tried. I strongly believe that my solution is viable and practical. Please take the time to give me a call.
Sincerely,
Chauncey B. Cox
Well I don’t know if this has been said or not but here we go. Use a couple of very heavy weights and slide that down the casing attached to one end of a balloon. Thread it down the casing couple hundred feet and inflate it and then pour cement or some type of sealant on top of that. Same concept as two dogs stuck together. Use a piece of drill stem that should work.
Fast freeze the pipe and surrounding sea floor. Obviously first fropm the outside, then a good liquid nitrogen enema. Cut off the now slow sludgy pipe close to the sea floor bed. Cap it. Cap it well. Pun intended.
set up buying stations around Louisiana and Alabama to buy recovered oil. Then sit back and watch the Good Ole Boys go to work. As a bonus add a 10$ bounty payable by BP to every bbl recovered and bought. So much a bbl for emulsified oil, so much for clean oil etc. etc. You get the idea
I have an idea for stopping the oil leak, which, in comparison to what you have already done, would be simple and effective. Make a cut half way through the leaking pipe. Then, using steel plate with the same thickness as the as the width of the saw cut, and one end of the plate shaped to fit the ID of the pipe, slide that plate into the saw cut to stop the oil flow. However, before inserting this steel plate, a provision should be made to attach a strap or hasp type device to help support the cut side of the pipe after the steel plate is slide into place. Ideally, it would be preferrable to weld this, but obviously too dangerous. If a small pipe was tapped into that pipe upstream of this plug, a filler material could be injected to seal off any residual oil flow. Another small ID pipe tapped into the leaking pipe could bleed off excess pressure. Both of these taps should be done before sealing the pipe as the pressure in the pipe would be lower before it is plugged.
Plug the well by forcing an inverted “umbrella-like” object (BP’s engineers will have to figure out the design details like angles, struts, materials, strength, etc.) down into the leaking pipe (s), through the strata, all the way to the place where the drill cut through into the pool of oil and gas. Once there, open (or unfold, if you like) the “umbrella plug” so it expands to a diameter sufficiently large enough to cover the hole at the bottom of the strata, and let the petroleum and gas push it back and position it over the hole at the bottom of the well. Plug the hole from the inside the oil reserve, using the pressure of the petroleum and gas as an ally to seal the hole. If this works, you can then put a final sealant (concrete?) down the hole.
The solution is simple , set a great pyramid on top of it. You could weld one up from scrap steel to save money. Once on the bottom the ocean’s pressure would do all the work.
My proposal is a means by which to contain the out-flowing oil not to plug it. Firstly, I’m a molecular Biologist not an engineer or physicist. Anyway, my idea is to establish a containment diameter around the flowing oil. This containment field would take the form of a cylindrical tunnel that would extend from the sea bed to the ocean surface. This tunnel would be made of a material that would be impermeable to oil and durable. Circular rods would be set up in place of equal distances along the length of this tunnel in order to maintain its shape. At the base of this tunnel, on the sea bed, there would be again a cylindrical concrete base, immensely heavy, that would be submerged into the sea bed. Once in place, floatation devices would be activated which would raise the containment “tunnel” up to the ocean surface. Once on the surface, a rig would be in place of identical diameter which would be fitted with openings that would allow oil tankers on the surface to drain the contained oil from the tunnel. I would suggest a relatively large diameter for this containment field. Numerous tankers can drain the oil on the surface and salvage what can be salvaged.
I don’t know how plausible this idea is. I’m just the idea man.
Paul S Kelly
Too late for this well but possibly a last resort, fail safe for BOP’s. Place two sets of shaped charges above the BOP designed to force “chuck like” sets of steel wedges into a cone shaped containment vessel which would crimp the casing and the drill pipe. As a last resort a simple electrical circuit or even pressure sensors (fast lower pressure, bending pipe?) could trigger the explosion forcing the crimp. The BOP would not be damaged and could be used to salvage the well. An airbag for deep drilling…
Greetings,
As stated before, the API pipe is ductile and is made to be crimped. This is something that is done on land and is also the same procedure used in refrigeration when installing a valve.
Im not sure how much material “pipe” you have to work with or what condition the end of the pipe is in. If you have a way of truing up the end, Install a valve. Clamp a flange back from the edge the distance needed the length of the valve. Next, the valve should be left open to allow the flow of water and oil to pass though and should have a flange on both ends. One flange to attach to the first flange already mounted to the pipe, the other flange on the opposite end of the valve so that a pipe can be mounted to it to retrieve the oil after this is all over. A seal would need to be implemented into the valve so that when the valve is lowered onto the pipe, it would create a seal after it has been drawn back by connecting it to the first flange that was mounted to the pipe. At this point, close off the valve, job done!
If the end of the pipe can’t be trued up, implement a seal further back on the valve that is like a crimp ring or bladder type.
Thanks,
Dennis
funnel entire flow to surface and use ots machine to seperate it. 60,000 gal a day =41.6 gal /min. the v20 can process 200 gal/min.
Hi bp had the right idea but wrong pieces of pipe they need to get a pipe a bit bigger and sleeve it over the original pipe with a value at the other end .leave the value open while they weld the sleeved pipe to the original pipe then once it is secure close off vale at other end no more leak .plumber and drain layer do this all the time, the principle should work for bp .Hard to do a mile down but it can be done.
Lower the Dome that was made for sucking the oil out over the leaking pipe and fill with a fine cement. Simple!
reenter with weight pipe and collars the holes open,and a longstring with a locked up heavy weight pipe would easily overcome it.ytou can take pictures but you cant reenter?spear point and blow it off if you have to.pump heavy mud maybe as high as 20# GET CONTROL SET PACKERS AND CEMNENT.you have regular drill ships at your disposal you know barges?even coil drilling with one evil bottom hole assembly.hell start with 4 inch collars just to get in upper string weight will drive it home.5000 foot of heavyweight will n ot be pushed out that hole especially if you leave enough anulass to g.et started before kicking up to 6 or 8 inch collars;the oilfield is going to hell in a hand basket.
ps.that wellhead is allready fighting over 2300 psi 0f hydrostatic pressure to exit the well bore.thats a small bop.what was the wellheads original pressure.with that you could calculate what kind of string weight you need to overcome.remember hydrostatic is a constant and i am being light on the oceans weight.if you can film it cut it and make it into cake you can guide a drillstring into it.whats up?plug the damn thing!!!
Why hasn’t the plumb-bob idea suggeted by Paul or the hydraulic crimpping suggested by Engineer Bob been utilized yet? Seems very simple with todays technology, and can possibly be used togther. I think with just the few suggestions that I have read, this leak could have been stopped for some time now. Who ever is calling the shots here needs to get off your bums and apply some of these good ideas. I think the longer you let this leak continue, the more it will appear that you are using this disaster to push the whole Go Green campaign. All the while letting the people, animals and economy suffer. Who will be looked at as the guilty party then?
I am a previous manager of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery in Jordan.
I have no offshore experience , but we had many times to deal with serious oil and gas leaks at the refinery and were successful.
Often, the top experts are looking for sofisticated solutions to contain the oil spill and forget the simple ideas. Below is my very simple suggestion to contain the spill:
Drop a long stainless steel cylinder ,extending from the bottom of the sea up to 2 meters above sea water level, to surround the oil spilli stub. The cylinder to be made from sections of 2 to 3-meter diameter and 6 meter length. The first cylinder to be held verticall in the water leaving one meter over the water level to weld a second cylinder on top of it. Then the second cylinder to be then lowered into the water to weld a third cylinder on top oft and so on until the lowest cylinder(Nos=sea water depth devided by cylinder length) toutches the ground over the spill.
The oil will flow in the cylinder to the top , which shall extend few meters over the sea level. The oil to be withdrawn through a valved tap just below the sea water level to be pumped to a container ship.
This might look very primitive, but I think it will work.
Contact Union Tank Car–they have many empty tank cars not in use. The tanks can be lifted from their wheels and will float. Chain these tank cars together to form a circle around the oil. the tank cars will be less suceptable to the wave action. Inside the circle of tank cars place the large round hay bales to soak up the oil. There are thousands of these old hay bales setting in fence rows through out the Midwest –rotting away. The saturated bales can be removed to burn in power plants. Also, hydrated lime can be dusted on the oil spills a a dispersant.
1. Use a large cone or carrot-shaped plug, lowered poing-first into the pipe. Cone must be heavy enough if solid steel to withstand pressure of oil. Angle of taper will fit inside existing pipe and will smooth out any rough edges and stop leak.
2. Other possible solution: Use an inflatable balloon, like in a stent for clearing blocked arteries. Many canvas air bags are on the market now for rescue workers to raise cars involved in crashes, and these should be about the right size. Insert uninflated balloon as far as possible down into pipe, then inflate, and this should significantly slow and/or stop the leak. If inflated quickly, then friction should hold it in place.
Please contact me if you have any questions/comments. Thank you.
My suggestion to stop the spill employs the same concept used in nuclear explosions.
I suggest using an implosion to compress the casing below the bottom surface.
Drill a series of short bore holes in a circle a short distance from the problem borehole. Load the holes with high explosive material.
Detonate the charges simultaneously and it amost certain that the implosion will compress the casing converting it from a tube into a solid rod. The material surrounding the resultant rod will also serve to seal the leak.
This solution can easily be tested to establish the optimum parameters to achieve this end.
Remember that all atomic explosions required the fissionable core be compressed with explosive lenses surrounding the core in order for fision to occur.
Sincerely suggested.
Max Holler
Sudbury. Ontario. Canada
Drop a cable into the pipe. When the weight of the cable length exceeds the pressure of the rising oil, attach collars of increasing diameter around the cable. The cable weight will pull the collars into the pipe to plug the leak. An alternative is to use a cone instead of the collars.
Thread a cable into the hole. After enough cable has been threaded into the hole the weight of the cable will exceed the pressure of the upcoming oil. Attach collars around the cable. These collars will be of increasing size until they reach the size of the hole diameter. Gravity will pull the cable with the collars into the hole. Another option is to use a long cone shaped torpedo instead of the collars.
Why cant you guys just make a big clamp that will attach under the flang. Off the sides of this clamp have some 60 or 100 foot all threads than bolt a valve ontop and start screwing it down. Simple whats the problem. This is more simple than all the smart people think. Stop talking to all the smart guys and get some ever day joes to fix it.
First, Golf balls, then trying to recap it with something that will just barely fit in, given the fact that this is pressurized oil coming out of the damage pipe is impossible. If BP cannot recap it from the outer part of the pipe, why not use a cone shape design with rubber around it to plug it. If the U.S can built a 60 ton tank, so why can’t we built a 60 tons + cone shape object to plug it and there is no way the pressurized oil will push it out of the way because it’s just like an external aerodynamics when it goes in. No perfect realignment needed. BP can even have the option of placing a hollow opening in the middle of the cone shape plug to attach a new pipe and control valve to close or open it to release oil pressure or oil. Just a suggestion but I do believe that it will work or at least contain the major oil flow.
Can you create a molly bolt type of insert that would go down through the pipe into the resovior – once in the resovior expand and then be pushed up against the bottom of the pipe – shutting off the oil and being kept in place by the same pressure that is forcing the oil out.
Try soaking the oil up with chicken feathers. We do eat a lot of chickens. We could then suck up the oil and feathers with a big vacuum. Then we could burn the oil covered feathers in power plants instead of coal. Good luck!
This idea/suggestion is based on an assumption that the leak is migrating downhole and any annulus between the casing and the “hole” is being enlarged due to errosion.
At some point the casing and remnants of the BOP may be ejected from the well hole. If/when this occurs, I suggest fabricating and installing a pile driving template over the well. The template would be anchored to the sea floor with piles. Using the template as a guide, a pipe pile (likely segmented) could then be inserted and driven. At a sufficient depth of hole engagement, a seal between the pipe pile and the well hole should be achieved. When this occurs, all oil flow would be out the top of the pile and could then be controlled by capping. If it is determined that the uplift forces on the pile would overcome the pile friction, it could be additionally anchored to the template.
Sink a ship on it.
Why don’t you put a hose on it and capture the oil that comes out and put it in barrels like you do any other time?
Lower a large weighted dome-type cover over the area with numerous relief pipes linked up to oil tankers. The dome obviously needs to be much larger than the diameter of the pipe. Once the dome is flush against the ocean floor, the pressure of the leak will force the oil through the relief pipes. Obviously this won’t stop the leak but at least the leak will be going into tankers NOT the ocean subsequently destroying our environment!
Yeah – thats also my idea: I named it: Big reinforced concrete containment cone
Large sea cranes can handle parts of 200 metric tonnes and more into this deep.
A reinforced concrete containment cone has to be built with several pre-fabricated reinforced concrete parts – each as heavy as possible – each of these parts have the form of a conical ring.
There conical form permits that they can be placed atop of each other with relative ease – they overlap and should fit well into each other.
Built into the upper one or two rings are connections where hoses can be fitted to pump out the liquid from inside the cone. The amount of liquid the pumps must handle have to succeed the amount of oil spill to enable a suction trough the small gaps between the ring to seal the oil spill.
Once pumps are in action the cone can be closed with a reinforced concrete cap.
Reinforced concrete parts can be constructed at nearby shipyards.
A lot of companys have the qualification to build such parts, the raw material is not rare. The construction of reinforced concrete parts is a relative speedy task.
A supper simple measures to stop the oil spill
Firstly, prepare 2 components:
component 1: a nail-liked plug
the nail-liked plug is made up of soft steel(low cabon steel which is easily to be transformed) approximately 1.5m long by a diameter that shares the gushing pipe’s calibre and a cap on the top bottom with 3 or 4 caved-ins on at the lower part, each with 1 meter in length(to let the oil to spill) when put into the pipe(to reduce the presure on the plug)that can be well fitted into the gushing pipe, which roughly weights a couple of hundrad of kilograms.
component 2: a framework
a solid infrastructure with 3 poles evenly and trianglely distributed on the base platform of the framework, each of which is a 3 meter high by 25 cm in diameter steel pole(used as rails or tracks of a metal block); the matel block with 3 rounded drilled-through holes is fixed on the top of the framework’s poles by latches or locks(can slide down if the locks are released during operation); Optionally, I strongly recommend the installation of an remotely controlled electric motor onto the framework to control the matal block’s sliding up and down on the tracks.
Secondly, parperation:
1. Cut the demaged facilities from the ROOT, only keep a short pipe that is approximately less than 1 meter which could be seen above the seabed;
2. clear 3 meter by 3 meter working site on the seabed with the gushing pipe in the middle, or from the gushing point to a 2 meter radius circle area, which is enough to allocate the framework;
Operation:
step 1. HORAZONTALLY locate the framework onto the seabed with the gushing pipe in the middle of it(no need to perfectly located, just in the middle of it is perfect enugh).
step 2. use the robotic hands to put the 1.5 meter long nail-like plug into the gushing pipe(crude is still spilling after the plug put into the gushing pipe);
step 3. Unlesh the locks which hold the matel block on top of the 3 poles of the framework, the 2 tons flat matel block falls down on the nail-like plug by the power of the gravity along with the guidence of the 3 poles tracks, and pushing the nail-liked plug way into the gushing pipe(then, crude is definitely stop spilling).
Attention:
1. !!! Presume that the upper parts of the damaged facilities have been well cut and removed, only a short oil pipe could be seen on the seabed.
2. the framework should be horizontally located onto the seabed as horizontally as possible and also as steady as possible;
3. any re-enforcement of the structure of the framework or of the fixition onto the sea floor is warmly welcomed;
4. when the matel block is fallen onto the top of the plug, more blocks could be added according to the situations.
5. you can get more details including demo pictures by emailing me at andy_l_y@yahoo.com
simple??? sure it is, from my knowledge, 2-3 days is absolutely enuf to make things done!
andy
Burn the oil underwater at the wellhead source instead of trying to gather it up and burn it on the surface. If you can get air/oxygen to the wellhead (either by long tubes from the surface blowing air down and coming out at aimed right at the wellhead, or else bring down big tanks of oxygen and shoot those right at the wellhead), and then ignite the oil underwater, there’d be no more oil to rise up and pollute. This would be a temporary solution until the relief wells are ready.
I think there should be some sort of barrier built around the local area of where the spill is at (ex. 1000 foot radius). I know that the area where the break is located is thousands of feet deep but if we can build the Great Wall of China and these superhighways, this can be done. Also, before the barrier is built, perhaps a temporary barrier can be used so that the oil can be contained. The temporary barrier could large, thick plastic sheets which can be put up like a tennis net with several boats holding onto either end. The bottom parts of the temporary barrier can be attached to the ocean floor with long poles (like a tent). How long could it take to make four 5,000′ x 500′ pieces of thick plastic (or rubber). Of course, the temporary barrier will not keep all the oil from seeping elsewhere but it will largely stop the spread. Then other barriers can be placed around it to catch what gets past that barrier.
Also, once you have the area contained, the water will be more concentrated with oil and scientists can start to work on brainstorming for ideas on how the oil can be taken from the contained area and be commercially used. I mean, they figured out how to get cars to run on salt water so I’m sure they can do something with this saltwater-oil mixture.
They should send Tony’s ego, and Barak’s huge ears to plug the hole, if that fails fill it with Biden’s Ghaffes!
Drill a paralel hole next to the well at
An appropiate depth
Put the appropiate gear in place to tap
the new well put a charge or break through
to the existing well to take the
pressure off and the block the old hole
Simple
I think that first you take a very large barge, cut a round hole about 10 feet diameter in the bottom of the hull, an appropriate diameter hole in the top deck, fabricate a funnel to go in the hole with the appropriate pipe and valve on top and weld it all together. Weld in the fittings to sink the barge and also to fill the sunken barge with cement. Hook the largest pumper to a line on the valve. Use tugs and lines to guide the barge down over the leak with the pumper running, fill the barge with cement and make it a permanent underwater header. You have the engineers to figure out the details how to do this. Someone did something similar in the North Sea a few years ago with a concrete drilling platform. Think about it.
Why have they not simply placed a twenty foot diameter pipe over the wellhead that extends to the surface so that all of the oil can be collected at the surface without any need to contain the pressure at the source?
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