Hm obviously i only know what i have read on the internet etc but I looked up quite a lot so i might just share it.
No idea of I understood everything correct.
How it got destroyed:
-The drilling plattform sunk because a giant bubble of gas rushed up from the sea ground ("blowout")
-oil rigs have a "blowout preventer" (BOP) on the sea ground that is supposed to close the pipe in such a case. It can close the pipe in different ways like with normal valves, some rubberdonut or it can also can cut the pipe with giant hydraulic blades. (the blades then also close the pipe)
The BOP did not work at all.
-supposly because someone accidently a joystick (really) and 50 meters of pipe were pulled upwards through the closed device. There is some rubber thing like a donut in the BOP that can close the pipe but the pipe was pulled through this when it was closed and that damaged the rubber.
-The blade thing is not strong enough to cut through the pipe in the spot where 2 pipes are joined.
-The rig sinks from the explosion of the gas etc and the pipe that goes 1500m from the seafloor to the top falls over of course. So there comes oil at least 2 locations: At the BOP that sits on the seafloor and 1500m further away where the pipe end now rests on the ground.
What they tried:
-Activate the BOP by pushing buttons with the ROVs, did not work.
-Top kill: Pump mud into the well so that it is clogged. The mud is some very expensive superspecial "drilling mud" that must have just the right density etc. but on land that works. Here it did not work.
-Junk shot: Put lots of trash (golfballs etc) into the pipe to clog it -> didnt work.
-Put giant doms over the BOP to catch the oil and pump it to the top: Methan that also comes out of the well froze and that clogged the pipe so that the oil just came out at the side or something.
-Cut the fallen over raiser pipleline: That increased oil flow at first but now they could put some smaller dom/cup over it. Works okish it seems. While cutting the saw always got stuck so they brought a giant claw to finish the cut. That was fail because the claw made no clean cut and so the dom does not work so good as it could.
-More drilling:Asap after the sinking they started to drill into the well to relieve pressure but that will take at least 3 months.
-Install some device on the well that sprays chemical stuff into the oil to make it into clumps and stay in the deep instead of floating to the shores. Sadly this stuff is also toxic for sea life.
Why they can not "just seal the pipe":
-The water is reaaaaaaally deep. No divers go so deep, hardly experience of operating at this depth. (Look at bobthedinosaurs image)
-The oil/gas comes out of the well at unbelievable pressure.
-The ROVs are clumsy, they do not work as good as R2D2 when repairing Luke's spaceship.
-The well is not just a hole in the ground: There is a pipe and the walls are supposeldy made from beton that is pumped down. Now these piping might be damaged so if they pumped the mud down it could just disappear into the walls. Also if they closed the leakage the pressure in the well might rise and the oil just finds a way through the walls and then comes out of the seafloor everywhere -> then its really fucked.
-The oil is not nice WD-40 type oil but a mix of crude oil, gas, sand, mud etc. It is not easy to pump.
-The BOP does not stand on the seafloor but instead rests on the thousands of meters long pipe that is in the ground. It seems that this pipe is tilting and so is the BOP.
-It seems there is no connection from the well to the top. Or if there was it sunk with the original pipe. So everytime they want to read some value from a sensor/instrument they have to use a ROV to look at the gauge with a camera.
-For example sometimes you can see how they look at some water-level ruler on top the BOP. Its round, looks like a 1 meter dartboard and has a airbubble that sits in the middle when it is upright. Sadly the streams are too low res to see where the airbubble is.
Thats a BOP:
blade thing at top, rubber donut device at bottom.
Thats a ROV:
Not sure if thats the excact type but sometimes you see them when two of them work togeher and they look very familiar.
in 1979 a different oil rig sunk: Ixtoc I
That was in only 50 meters deep water and it took 10 months to get it under controll.
The yellow things with the black cans might actually be vibration sensorik or something, the paint got removed in that area which would make sense.
Hey cool iam like Argh
