Major Change Down Below....

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Major Change Down Below...

I've put everything back into proper chronological order, and have begun adding images and video for documentary purposes.

I've been watching the live Spillcam, and discussing it with folks, here
all day long. About 5pm last night, we all started taking note of gas
bubbling out of the seabed floor. It started earlier than that,
actually-- see pic a few posts down. About 1am this morning, the
eruptions began to increase in spew volume.

The First Noted Venting Hole (TNVH).

At about 8am, CDT, as I watched, things started changing rapidly. Where the water around the two major gush points used to be very clear, it is
now super turbid, and detritus is flying everywhere in a chaotic manner.
seabed venting is obvious to see when ROV cameras pan around.

Yet-to-be-confirmed rumors are that the casing wall has finally worn through, about 300
feet below seabed, at an annulus (coupling), and the gas and oil are now
finding a new way out to the seabed.

Not good news, as it will make the Top-Kill/Junk Shot nearly ineffectual... At the least, it means
that more pressure and mud/cement is going to be required.

We'll see.

See for yourself, here: via BP Live Spillcam

Screengrab of the early Morning Chaos Event. Everthing went up all at once. ROV was perfectly stationary.
EVERYTHING went "BOOM" and black:

I am looking for video of this event. Most people started taping after the actual start.

The entire range of field erupted at once. Everything. Everywhere, and then the pipe went GUSH!

Update: Here's a screen grab showing the new hole in the seabed. That's not the riser end from a new angle. This was grabbed while the ROV on the riser end was panning around. The
BOP is over 600 feet away, so it is not that, either.

What the First Noted Venting Hole (TNVH) turned into 18 hours later.
Same pair of broken pipes, Riser end is in same position, except everything has settled down a few feet, and the hole is
bigger. that's an ejection rim. Those two broken pipes are more
exposed.
A lot of earth got moved down and away all at once.

UPDATE: The riser pipe used to be pretty clean all along it's top. Now, it is piled over with sediment.

Something had happened to the dispersant mechanism, too. Pipes and connectors got
knocked loose, green liquid (antifreeze?) was pouring out of the
machine, and we watched the ROV repair the leak.

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Seabed seems to have sunk rapidly (perhaps scoured away rapidly?). Riser end is now in a big crater. Side pipes
more exposed-- different angle?

UPDATE 1:20pm CDT: While watching, ANOTHER major "explosion" occurred.
ROV Cam now covered in Oil. It was pushed around by the force of
expulsion, or moved back a few feet by controllers. Our Favorite
Disaster Bot is taking a beating. Gush seems to have at least doubled
in size and volume.

Grabs:

Provided by BSC:

Photo series equating 12:23 minutes from "WTF?" to BOOOM! No need for ROV "reading" lectures, The pipe end billowed out,
and then everywhere around billowed up, and then SPLAT!: