The Gulf Oil Spill海湾石油泄漏.pptVIP

The Gulf Oil Spill Whose to Blame as well as a reflection of the science literacy problem in the US Deep Water Drilling: The Dangers of High pressure Geometry of the BOP How an Oil Well Works Also Pressure by Direct Injection Simple Physics Without any additional source of pressure oil by itself will not be squeezed up the tube. Thus crude oil without an internal pressure sure is usually a Dry Well The deeper you drill the higher the internal pressure you likely to tap. This is why you need a pressure regulator a.k.a The Blow Out Preventer Flow rate from Velocity Estimates Velocity based flow estimate Diameter of pipe is 21 inches = 0.53m; pipe cross section is pR2 = .2 square meters Volume flow rate is then 1 m/sec * .8 = .2 cubic meters per second .2 * 3600 seconds per hour = 720 cubic meters per hour = 720,000 liters/hour One bbl = 159 liters. Thus 720,000/159 = 4500 barrels/hour (in round numbers) 4500 x 24 = 108,000 barrels per day Sources of Uncertainty Sources of Uncertainty Bottom Line Because of the presence of gas in the effluent it is scientifically impossible to precisely know the volume flow rate. Worse case: 50,000 – 100,000 bbl/day Best case: 10,000 -25,000 bbl day Total Official Oil Budget Whose to Blame – 3 Options BP as Corporate Greedy Assholes that punctured a deep wound in Mother Earth and let her bleed out Consumerism demand for the product drives the industry to premature extraction techniques where accidents happen and become the cost of doing business The regulatory environment (MMS) that didn’t understand simple physics. The Price of Business * * * * The oil entering at the bottom requires an internal pressure source to push it to the top – this is usually supplied by associated gas deposit Reservoir Pressure is key to driving the oil out 1. The top of the BOP is the bottom of the seafloor about 5000 feet below the surface. The confining pressure from 5000 feet of water is 2250 PSI (or 150 times higher than sea level air pre