How Big Is The Pipe?

[bigtiller]

We have seen the pipe on the ocean floor leaking on the nightly news for 6 weeks now and I have not heard anyone say how big the pipe is. Is it 4 inches or 40 inches?

NBC's Brian Williams did not answer that question last evening but he did have a section of pipe on his desk like the one that is leaking and it looked to be about 16 inches with ｼ inch walls. But others saw Brian's news cast and thought it was more like 20 to 24 inches.

So, does anyone really know how big the pipe is?

 

[nap61]

One of the newscasts said the pipe was 22 in. in dia. They didn't say if that was inside or outside.

Norm

 

[Big Bri]

they said on the news that they were sucking up about 42,000 gallons of oil a day, thats less than what my trash pump will pump. I heard on the radio that Russia had a couple of wells that did the same thing, they drilled a second well at an angle and set off a low yield Nuclear bomb which closed the well.
It sure is sad to see what is happening to the gulf.

 

[mustangsallysdad]

According to BP...it is 24" OD and 21" ID.

 

[CDsdad]

According to BP...it is 24" OD and 21" ID.

I was told by one of the drillers from the Horizon it is 21" ID.

Everything about these rigs is getting bigger. I spent several years on a 4th generation semi and it doesn't begin to compare to the Horizon, which was 5th generation. The drillships are almost unbelievable in size.

 

[NSBound]

.... they drilled a second well at an angle and set off a low yield Nuclear bomb which closed the well.
It sure is sad to see what is happening to the gulf.

That's what they are working on in the Gulf now too (not so sure about the nuclear bomb part), but they say it will take until August sometime to get it done.

 

[aczlan]

I heard on the radio that Russia had a couple of wells that did the same thing, they drilled a second well at an angle and set off a low yield Nuclear bomb which closed the well.

Problems with that include:
Geology: Is the rock stable enough to melt into a plug, when the blast goes off, then hold that shape to keep the oil in. IIRC, they had some problems with rock crumbling and draining drilling mud during the drilling of this well.
Risk: If that doesn't work, you now have no way to try any other methods of plugging the well because you just destroyed the pipe.
Location: IIRC you have to get the bomb within a few feet of the pipe for maximum effectiveness
We have safer methods: If we get the pipe as close as would be needed for a bomb we can just as easily send up drilling mud and cement to plug the hole (thus the 2 "relief wells"
The bomb itself: A bomb would have to be made (or modified) to fit down the hole AND withstand the high pressures at that depth.
Diplomatic relations: It would not go over well in some nations for us to blow up a nuclear bomb underwater to shut off an oil well
Treaties: I think that we may possibly be signatories to some treaty that prohibits blowing up nuclear bombs underwater

See: Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill? No Way, U.S. Says - NYTimes.com for their thoughts on the subject

Aaron Z

 

[Big Bri]

See: Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill? No Way, U.S. Says - NYTimes.com for their thoughts on the subject

Aaron Z

Thanks, that was a good read.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Why could you place an inverted funnel over the pipe with a new pipe attached.
You would have to separate oil from water - which can be done easily - but at least you would stop the flow of oil into the gulf.

Should be using the KISS factor or at least get very creative. This has gone on far too long.

 

[aczlan]

Why could you place an inverted funnel over the pipe with a new pipe attached.
You would have to separate oil from water - which can be done easily - but at least you would stop the flow of oil into the gulf.
Should be using the KISS factor or at least get very creative. This has gone on far too long.

The problem is that if they get water in the oil/gas mix, it will turn to ice when the gas expands from its liquefied state (at the seafloor) to a gaseous state (at the surface). That is what happened to the first containment box, they had to stop using it because the pipe kept clogging with ice chunks.

Aaron Z