June 14 (Reuters) - BP Plc will add up to 80,000 barrels (3.4 million gallons/12.7 million liters) a day of oil-processing capacity for crude collected from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico by mid-July.
That amount is higher than BP originally proposed to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 9, and more capacity will be added faster under a revised plan submitted on June 13 at the agency's request.
Here are details of the new plan, as explained by BP:
CURRENT SYSTEM:
* A containment cap is on the remnant of a pipe jutting from the top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP, which sits atop a failed blowout preventer at the wellhead.
* Oil and gas continue to gush from under the cap and through its open vents at the top as BP pumps nitrogen and methanol into the cap.
* Captured oil and gas travel through a pipe, called a riser, that is connected from the top of the cap to Transocean Ltd's Discoverer Enterprise drillship at the ocean's surface, one mile (1.6 km) above.
* BP has ramped up collection from 6,000 barrels a day on June 4, the first full day of operation, to 15,200 barrels a day on June 13. The highest rate so far was 15,800 barrels on June 9.
* The Enterprise can process up to 18,000 barrels a day. It can store up to 147,000 barrels, but oil must be separated from natural gas and water through processing first. Natural gas is being flared off.
* A shuttle tanker, the Massachusetts, began taking oil from the drillship to transport ashore on June 9. The tanker can hold up to 140,000 barrels and transport it to shore, unload it and return to the drillship in four days.
ADDITIONAL OIL COLLECTION CAPACITY
* Starting this week, BP aims to use seabed equipment installed last month to conduct the failed 'top kill' operation to boost the containment cap system.
* The top kill involved pumping heavy drilling fluid into the blowout preventer to try to smother the leak. Mud was pumped from a ship to a service rig and down to a manifold, which routed the fluid to two hoses connected to the blowout preventer.
* BP will reverse direction and pull up to 10,000 barrels a day of oil from the blowout preventer through one of the hoses and manifold to a service rig, Helix Energy Solutions' Q4000, at the surface.
* That oil will be burned off. The rig has no storage capacity to keep oil onboard. Natural gas will be flared as well.
* BP had also planned to bring a second Transocean drillship, the Discoverer Clear Leader, to the site to provide another 10,000 barrels per day of capacity and increase the total to 38,000 barrels per day by the end of June.
* That part of the plan changed with the revision.
NEW PLAN
* The Enterprise is operating, and Q4000 will operate, as originally planned. The Clear Leader will be in reserve for another purpose in July.
* By the end of June, BP will add up to another 25,000 barrels a day of capacity to the 28,000 provided by the Enterprise and the Q4000. The company originally had planned to reach up to 50,000 barrels (2.1 millions gallons/7.9 million liters) day of capacity by mid-July.
* Instead, BP will use connect the blowout preventer hose not used by the Q4000 to either the Toisa Pisces, a well testing ship revamped to process oil and gas, or the Helix Producer, a rig with processing capability that the Q4000 lacks.
* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer have up to 25,000 barrels a day of capacity.
* Collected oil would travel through the blowout preventer to a floating pipe, called a riser.
* The riser will stretch to about 300 feet (91.5 meters) below the water's surface.
* A hose will connect the riser to the vessel.
* The floating-pipe setup allows the vessel to quickly disconnect from the pipe and move out of the way if a hurricane approaches.
* Until mid-July, the Enterprise and Q4000 would remain hooked to less hurricane-ready systems that cannot be disconnected quickly.
MORE HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS
* By the end of June, BP will switch out the current containment cap with a new one that is larger and has a stronger seal. If it works as planned, the cap cover the entire top of the LMRP, not just the pipe remnant, and oil should not leak.
* Oil will leak unchecked during the cap switch because nothing will cover the opening.
* The switch is part of readying the entire system to be hurricane-ready.
* By mid-July, whichever of the Toisa Pisces and Helix Producer that were not installed in June will be connected to the second blowout preventer hose via a floating pipe.
* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer will accompanied by oil tankers that will carry collected oil to shore to be processed.
* The Discoverer Enterprise and the Discoverer Clear Leader will each be connected to the new containment cap via a drillpipe system.
* The Q4000 will depart from the area.
* The Toisa Pisces, Helix Producer, Enterprise and Clear Leader will have a combined capacity of up to 80,000 barrels a day.
* The two drillships will siphon oil if needed. Otherwise, they will be on site to begin operating if the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer have operational problems.
* All four vessels will be able to disconnect quickly in the event of a storm.
* If they disconnect, the oil leak will flow unchecked until they return and reconnect.
* The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1.
OTHER BACKUPS
* BP will bring 3,800 feet (1.16 km) of extra hoses in case those at the seabed fail.
* A floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is being mobilized from South America to expand capacity by another 25,000 barrels a day if needed and fill in for the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer if needed.
THE RELIEF WELLS
* Drilling continues on two relief wells intended to intercept the oil and cap the leaking well beneath the seabed. The first was begun on May 2 and the second on May 16. Both are expected to be finished in August.
* The oil containment operations are stopgaps to minimize or corral the leak until the relief wells are drilled.
(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Sandra Maler)
((For full coverage of the spill, click
http://link.reuters.com/hed87k)) Keywords: smOIL SPILL/TECHNOLOGY (kristen.hays@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713-210-8538; Reuters Messaging: kristen.hays.reuters.com@reuters) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
That amount is higher than BP originally proposed to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 9, and more capacity will be added faster under a revised plan submitted on June 13 at the agency's request.
Here are details of the new plan, as explained by BP:
CURRENT SYSTEM:
* A containment cap is on the remnant of a pipe jutting from the top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP, which sits atop a failed blowout preventer at the wellhead.
* Oil and gas continue to gush from under the cap and through its open vents at the top as BP pumps nitrogen and methanol into the cap.
* Captured oil and gas travel through a pipe, called a riser, that is connected from the top of the cap to Transocean Ltd's Discoverer Enterprise drillship at the ocean's surface, one mile (1.6 km) above.
* BP has ramped up collection from 6,000 barrels a day on June 4, the first full day of operation, to 15,200 barrels a day on June 13. The highest rate so far was 15,800 barrels on June 9.
* The Enterprise can process up to 18,000 barrels a day. It can store up to 147,000 barrels, but oil must be separated from natural gas and water through processing first. Natural gas is being flared off.
* A shuttle tanker, the Massachusetts, began taking oil from the drillship to transport ashore on June 9. The tanker can hold up to 140,000 barrels and transport it to shore, unload it and return to the drillship in four days.
ADDITIONAL OIL COLLECTION CAPACITY
* Starting this week, BP aims to use seabed equipment installed last month to conduct the failed 'top kill' operation to boost the containment cap system.
* The top kill involved pumping heavy drilling fluid into the blowout preventer to try to smother the leak. Mud was pumped from a ship to a service rig and down to a manifold, which routed the fluid to two hoses connected to the blowout preventer.
* BP will reverse direction and pull up to 10,000 barrels a day of oil from the blowout preventer through one of the hoses and manifold to a service rig, Helix Energy Solutions' Q4000, at the surface.
* That oil will be burned off. The rig has no storage capacity to keep oil onboard. Natural gas will be flared as well.
* BP had also planned to bring a second Transocean drillship, the Discoverer Clear Leader, to the site to provide another 10,000 barrels per day of capacity and increase the total to 38,000 barrels per day by the end of June.
* That part of the plan changed with the revision.
NEW PLAN
* The Enterprise is operating, and Q4000 will operate, as originally planned. The Clear Leader will be in reserve for another purpose in July.
* By the end of June, BP will add up to another 25,000 barrels a day of capacity to the 28,000 provided by the Enterprise and the Q4000. The company originally had planned to reach up to 50,000 barrels (2.1 millions gallons/7.9 million liters) day of capacity by mid-July.
* Instead, BP will use connect the blowout preventer hose not used by the Q4000 to either the Toisa Pisces, a well testing ship revamped to process oil and gas, or the Helix Producer, a rig with processing capability that the Q4000 lacks.
* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer have up to 25,000 barrels a day of capacity.
* Collected oil would travel through the blowout preventer to a floating pipe, called a riser.
* The riser will stretch to about 300 feet (91.5 meters) below the water's surface.
* A hose will connect the riser to the vessel.
* The floating-pipe setup allows the vessel to quickly disconnect from the pipe and move out of the way if a hurricane approaches.
* Until mid-July, the Enterprise and Q4000 would remain hooked to less hurricane-ready systems that cannot be disconnected quickly.
MORE HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS
* By the end of June, BP will switch out the current containment cap with a new one that is larger and has a stronger seal. If it works as planned, the cap cover the entire top of the LMRP, not just the pipe remnant, and oil should not leak.
* Oil will leak unchecked during the cap switch because nothing will cover the opening.
* The switch is part of readying the entire system to be hurricane-ready.
* By mid-July, whichever of the Toisa Pisces and Helix Producer that were not installed in June will be connected to the second blowout preventer hose via a floating pipe.
* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer will accompanied by oil tankers that will carry collected oil to shore to be processed.
* The Discoverer Enterprise and the Discoverer Clear Leader will each be connected to the new containment cap via a drillpipe system.
* The Q4000 will depart from the area.
* The Toisa Pisces, Helix Producer, Enterprise and Clear Leader will have a combined capacity of up to 80,000 barrels a day.
* The two drillships will siphon oil if needed. Otherwise, they will be on site to begin operating if the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer have operational problems.
* All four vessels will be able to disconnect quickly in the event of a storm.
* If they disconnect, the oil leak will flow unchecked until they return and reconnect.
* The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1.
OTHER BACKUPS
* BP will bring 3,800 feet (1.16 km) of extra hoses in case those at the seabed fail.
* A floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is being mobilized from South America to expand capacity by another 25,000 barrels a day if needed and fill in for the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer if needed.
THE RELIEF WELLS
* Drilling continues on two relief wells intended to intercept the oil and cap the leaking well beneath the seabed. The first was begun on May 2 and the second on May 16. Both are expected to be finished in August.
* The oil containment operations are stopgaps to minimize or corral the leak until the relief wells are drilled.
(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Sandra Maler)
((For full coverage of the spill, click
http://link.reuters.com/hed87k)) Keywords: smOIL SPILL/TECHNOLOGY (kristen.hays@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713-210-8538; Reuters Messaging: kristen.hays.reuters.com@reuters) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.