Should BP re-drill the Macondo Prospect?

[rob]

Considering the recent tragic and politically-charged history of the Macondo Well, yet immense proven reserves of oil, do you feel BP should go back and develop this prospect?

[New Orleans Lady]

Absolutely NoT,,,,",A leopard, doesn't change his spots!!" That company, should be placed on some sort of "Probation", ,,,,We do not need another "repeat"....Another company, such as shell oil with much higher standards, would be a consideration. That , my friend, would be a slap in the face, to those 11 men, who died. The American people, will not allow it!!! Every Senator coming up soon for re-election, will have their job on the line, and they know it!!! I hope every stinking , arrogant, s.o.b., responsible, for this, either ask GOD's forgiveness, or Rots in Hell !!

[CaptAndrew]

It's a bit soon to think about this, but I have little doubt that in a few years when all the fuss has died down someone, though maybe not BP will drill again. It could be done from some distance away so as not to disturb the existing well.
Do I think they should do it? Not really, but when we are short of crude, who knows.

[dmc]

After reading extensively on the, Drilling Ahead" forums, and wading through numerous other sources, the blowout was an example of production engineers throwing caution to the wind and ignoring the practices that have been established in the industry for decades.

To make a long story short the people running the rig told BP they could complete the job many many days ahead of schedule. BP gave them huge incentives and offers of bonuses for completeing the job ahead of schedule. The number that comes to mind is that BP was told by the Rig Managers that they could finish about 14 days ahead of schedule. The DWH was leased to BP for about $450K per day. 14x$450K is a substantial amount of savings that some people were offered a piece of in the form of bonuses to finish ahead of schedule.

Some of the old hands on the rig were getting very upset at the rates in which they were punching into the bedrock and also the resulting cracks in the wellbore. The blow out preventer had been damaged by a mistake made by one of the rig floor operators pulling a number of feet of pipe up through the BOP when it was in a sealed position, hence damaging it's ability to properly seal the well.

Unfortunately most of the people that really know all of the specific details of what went wrong where trying there damnedest to prevent the blow out, are now dead. God rest there souls by the way.

All of this info is obtainable if a person wants to join "Drilling Ahead Forums", and read everything about Marcondo 252.

Its really easy for people to armchair quaterback and throw punches at another group of people that are involved in accidents without making any attempt at digging up the true story.

I have always had the opinion that if BP can control the well then they should be permited to access the oil. Since the disaster, there have been two relief wells that have been working to intercept the wellbore of DWH, and I believe that once the plugs have cured on the DWH wellbore, I see no reason why BP should be prevented from resuming another "Leg or Y" into Marcondo 252 to access the oil.

That being said I feel that the oil in Marcondo should fully fund the cleanup and payments that need to be made to people that have been impacted by this disaster. Once this is accomplished then BP should be able to redirect their profits from this well back into their holdings.

These men that drill for oil need their jobs, and we need to let them drill for that to happen. The Offshore oil industry represents 30 or so percent of the infusion of cash into the gulf region. So sit back and put that into an economic impact, and look at the wages and taxes that are generated by this industry.

And by the way we need the oil.

[rob]

Some of the old hands on the rig were getting very upset at the rates in which they were punching into the bedrock and also the resulting cracks in the wellbore. The blow out preventer had been damaged by a mistake made by one of the rig floor operators pulling a number of feet of pipe up through the BOP when it was in a sealed position, hence damaging it's ability to properly seal the well.

Not sure if I agree with this statement. Pulling pipe through a closed annular preventer (aka "stripping") is sometimes required depending on the situation. Doing so will certainly wear out the rubber annular faster, but it's done deliberately. Also, what do you mean by your first sentence here: "some of the old hands were getting very upset at the rates in which they were punching into the bedrock and also the resulting cracks in the wellbore." Can you elaborate more on that?

[dmc]

Your comments caused me to begin to retrace my hours and hours of reading at "drillingahead.com" and I can't find where the cracks in the bedrock are discussed on the forum but evidence of cracks are in the official reports listed below.

If I can find the discussion about the cracks that caused problems with the casing integrity to bedrock, I will post it. I think this is where I got my info from, there are 71 pages to sort through. http://www.drillingahead.com/forum/t...age=1#comments

The following links go a long way in explaining what actually happened.

http://www.drillingahead.com/forum/t...ource=activity