[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his by the way was Thunderhorse's predecessor.

[oilfieldguy]

New guy here just passing by and noticed your discussion on the BP Thunderhorse. I am by no means an expert in this particular field but I have been on similar rigs and have monitored production of certain systems that operate on that type of platform. I've been involved in monitoring the production of the riser strings on Shell's Brutus, Ursa, Ram Powell, and Auger TLP's, BP's Marlin TLP and ExxonMobil's Kizomba TLP off the coast of Angola Africa. A riser string is what connects the well head on the sea floor to rig floor. The production tubing and casing "piping" runs inside the riser string. The Thunderhorse is a Tension Leg Platform also (TLP). The four columns contain ballast tanks that support ballast control of the vessel. I was fortunate enough to have been taken on a tour of the "legs" while visiting the BP Marlin several years ago. Anyway, the rig actually floats and is attached to the sea floor by tendons. Each rig is a bit different but the idea is the same. The tendons that I have seen are 32" in diameter and there are dozens attached to the rig. The Ballast Control Officer montiors the dynamics of the rig constantly. Makes changes to the rigs elevation as necessary or as directed. I personally do not see how Dennis could have caused this to happen. The storm hit west of Thunderhorse's location exposing the rig to the weak side of the storm. Not saying it did not happen but these things are better engineered than that to collapse like that from a storm. A 10 ton winch could not do enough damage to cause that. Even if it took out a couple of tendons there are safety factors built in to accomodate loss of tendons. They say the storm did it, but I still think there were extenuating circumtances involved or human error. Just my opinion. Those dozen or so exhaust stacks you see in the picture are actually the turbines that power the rig. They can run on deisel fuel if necesary but are designed to run on the natural gas that is retrieved from the site. It looks like from the picture that the rig has about 6 turbines. THey do not all get used at the same time. Some are backups. The quarters for the crew are acutally pretty nice. Some folks get their own, some share quarters from 2 to as many as six. Depends. The galleys are very nice. You will not go hungry on a rig. Its been quite some time since I have been offshore but IIRC Fridays is Seafood, Tuesdays are steak day. Almost anything you want to eat is out there. There is usually a recreation area inside as well as a TV room and computer room. It is a small city. I hope you did not just suffer from TMI.

[SD_Scott]

I was on DP ships myself. You're right about the food. I gained weight bigtime. I was on the Ocean Clipper, and a couple others. I developed the power management systems. These ships used recip engines instead of turbines. The turbines wouldn't start fast enough after a blackout. You're right about the fuel. They'll run on #2 or natural gas. They like the gas fuel better. The Ocean Confidence is operated by Diamond offshore. It's a semi sub like Thunderhorse, however it uses dynamic positioning(DP) instead of tendons. link

[smiley]

here's a nice picture of the substructure.

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfieldguy', 'I') hope you did not just suffer from TMI.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grimnir', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfieldguy', 'I') hope you did not just suffer from TMI.

[Leanan]

Would agree that this degree of damage is surpising, and I think BP was surprised, too. The original newspaper reports said passing boats noticed the problem, and notified BP. Seems like if they had any cause for concern, they'd have been out there checking for damage themselves, not waiting around for some random fisherman to phone and ask them if they've suddenly started hiring oil workers who have one leg shorter than the other.

[Armageddon]

my question is, what is it going to take to fix it ?

[SolarDave]

It's doomed. I've built models of submerged pontoon platforms with four vertical "legs" and played with them with different amounts of weight in the pontoons and on top. It "wants" to float that way.
I am not an expert - but seeing my models urgently attempting to flop over to 45 degree angles like this turkey just did would keep me from ever planning a visit.

[Leanan]

They are being very close-mouthed. They won't say what caused the problem. They won't even confirm or deny that Dennis caused it. But it sounds like they are very busy today. The Coast Guard is there. An oil-spill response ship is there - just in case. There's a bunch of people with pumps, a team of structural engineers, monitors from the nearest city, etc.

Maybe they don't know themselves what's wrong yet. BP shares are dropping like a rock.

[LadyRuby]

What a difference a few months can make: link
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')emarks Prepared for Delivery By The Honorable Gale Norton Secretary of the Interior
Dedication of the Thunder Horse Production Platform 26 Feb 2005
AS DELIVERED: ... This is a strong and impressive structure. Thunder Horse stands tall, designed to dig deep for the domestic energy America needs. It was created to protect the blue waters that it stands in -- no matter how great the storm.

The largest oil platform in the world, Thunder Horse is also one of the toughest and one of the most environmentally benign. My congratulations go to BP, Exxon Mobil, Kiewet Construction, and all of the thousands of men and women who worked on this project - and to those who will carry it forward into operation.

... Hurricane Ivan caused havoc when it crashed into Gulf shores last September. Ivan's Category 3 winds wrecked homes and businesses and left more than a million people without power. But Ivan was even stronger offshore. While flailing offshore production platforms, Ivan was a Category 4 storm. It had sustained winds near 140 miles an hour, wind gusts even stronger.

Many production platforms were damaged by the storm. Several large structures were lost to rogue waves or mudslides. Much work was disrupted. But it could have been far worse. Ivan could have caused an environmental catastrophe. Instead, the environmental damage was surprisingly small. Only some minor spillage occurred from broken pipelines and damaged platforms.

A catastrophe was averted for a reason. Wise minds foresaw storms like Ivan; calloused hands built tough platforms to withstand them; shut-off valves worked as designed. That wisdom, that workmanship, has gone into the construction of this platform. Thunder Horse will withstand the worst that winds and waves will throw against it.

[frankthetank]

ON another tropical weather forum, some posters were saying that by looking at the data near the rig, there is no way that Dennis could have done the damage. Whatever the case, this is going to hurt BP if they can't get it up again

[Leanan]

Well, if Ivan was no big deal, no wonder they didn't expect any problem with Dennis.

[DantesPeak]

They don;t seem to know what happened (from the TH website above):
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')oint Information Command Update on Thunder Horse Response Effort
Houston - The joint effort by BP, the US Coast Guard and US Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service continues today to respond to the Thunder Horse platform incident in Mississippi Canyon Block 778 approximately 150 miles southeast of New Orleans.

Pumping operations continue. Pumping began Tuesday, July 13 at approximately 4 p.m. (CST) and continued overnight. The platform remains stable. The response team is preparing to cover ballast inlets and instrumentation ports on the hull. Around-the-clock operations continue. The weather at the recovery site continues to cooperate

The safety of all response personnel remains the highest priority. There have been no reports of injuries to response personnel. US Coast Guard personnel from Marine Safety Office, Morgan City, Louisiana, remain on scene and continue to monitor operations and provide emergency spill response, if needed. To date, there have been no reports of environmental impacts in the area. MSO Morgan City representatives are also working in the Unified Command Center that has been established at the BP Crisis Center in Houston

US Coast Guard personnel continue to monitor and assist in all operations with BP, MMS and independent contractors. The Coast Guard cutter Pelican remains on scene to provide any needed search and rescue support and to enforce a one-mile safety zone around the recovery operations Personnel are working to understand the cause of the incident

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Personnel are working to understand the cause of the incident

[baldwincng]

I went to Florida on holiday and noticed that it can be windy. Maybe BP thought it was for a place with not much wind. Easy mistake to make for an international oil company with rigs in all sorts of places, some not a bit windy.

[oilfieldguy]

I still dont believe Dennis caused this. It was too far east to really impact the rig. On a side note, the Thunderhorse was originally named Crazy Horse, but the name was changed because the Indian Americans took offense as it was the name of one of their great leaders. Maybe its cursed now.

[Lora]

These days "Thunder Horse" is going by a few other monikers on financial discussion boards:
Thunder Donkey
Dunder Horse
Thunder Dud
Thunder Done
It's also now a "fully-submersible" instead of a "semi-submersible".

[oiless]

Looks to me like one of the pontoons took on water. Fix the damage, pump it out. I'd say their chances of recovering it are exellent, provided they get it done before another storm. If not it may capsize, and possibly sink.

[Leanan]

The news reports today are saying that the project will be delayed until they figure out why the computer-controlled ballast system failed.