BP well in Alaska blows out - oil and gas venting

[Bob]

Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage - April 14, 2017

UPDATE – Saturday, April 15, 5:30 p.m

BP is still struggling to contain an out-of-control production well (source of the release is Well 3 on pad DS2 on the North Slope), after a failed attempt to shut it down Friday night. The well continued to vent natural gas Saturday evening, more than a day and a half after BP first reported a gas release and “spray” of crude oil.

The area near the well remained too unsafe for workers to approach Saturday. But BP said flights over the area suggested that oil from the well was likely contained to the drill pad, and may not have reached the surrounding tundra. The company confirmed there have been no injuries, and no reports of impacts to wildlife.

“The focus today is on developing plans to fully and safely secure the well,” BP said in a statement.

“It’s been spewing gas and some amount of crude, and some of it’s getting onto the surrounding tundra,” Dan Seamount said. He’s a commissioner with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. “We don’t have any volumes yet.”

Seamount said it’s been years since an incident like this took place on the North Slope. The drill site, DS2, is about five miles from the industry hub of Deadhorse.

On Friday afternoon, BP was working to depressurize the drill site to reduce the amount of gas venting from the well. Regulators said no workers were being allowed near the well until that happened, because of the fire hazard.

“When a well has lost control, it becomes unpredictable, and we want to make sure that the people that respond to the site do so in a safe way,” Ashley Adamczak, with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) in Fairbanks, said.

We all remember BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster..

"BP first noticed the release at about 7:30 a.m. Friday, according to a situation report from ADEC. The report said representatives of ADEC, EPA and the North Slope Borough would establish a unified command with BP to develop cleanup plans.

"But as of 4 p.m. Friday, there was no word on when BP expected to have the well under control. Seamount said it could be hours, or days. The company hadn’t yet submitted a plan for shutting in the well to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for approval."

reference: https://www.adn.com/business-economy...dhoe-bay-well/

[Lifebringer]

Wow, they really mean for these, "accidents" to trash eco-species and land, for Alaska's offshore drilling partnerships.

[TargeT]

Posted by Lifebringer (here)
Wow, they really mean for these, "accidents" to trash eco-species and land, for Alaska's offshore drilling partnerships.

These pads are near the ocean, but not close enough for this leak to be a danger & if it's being contained at the pad then it's not very bad either.

Besides, the planet really does know how to deal with oil, it's not like we invented the stuff

[Bob]

Mechanical Plug to be installed shortly..

The leak was reported on Apr. 14 on BP’s flow station 1, drill site 2, well 3 about 5 miles from the Deadhorse Airport, ADEC said.

The well had been venting gas, which caused an initial spray of crude oil that impacted the well pad, ADEC said.

The well was killed by pumping in salt water, offsetting upward pressure, ADEC reported. Responders from well control contractor Boots & Coots were able to safely enter the well house and place a plug in the damaged riser coming off the wellhead.

Currently the situation is not yet safe for cleanup responders to access the area in order to confirm no impacts to adjacent tundra, ADEC said, adding that so far there have been no reports of impacts to wildlife and no injuries. No estimate of the leak volume is available at this time.

reference - ADN and AP