Afermath: Oilwell Blowout
Posted: 2006-03-28 08:10pm
as some of you are aware, I work in the oilfield. The company I work for was on a job near Gueydon, Louisianna, going back into the hole to drill after coming up for a new drillhead....when the well started coming in.
Those not in the oil field won't know what that means,basically, the pressure in the geological formation the hole was being drilled through became greater thanthe drilling fluid was "balanced" up hold back. This causedeverything to rush along the path ofleast resistence....or up the hole.
When you see a blowout on TV, they show oil shooting up out of the hole, and everyone cheering....this isn't the case. A well coming in like that is dangerous, deadly, and destructive. the Drillpipe in the hole flies up and out, like small missles, nearly 600 lbs of metal with each 30' section of drillpipe...
The gas and fluids which come out of the hole are explosive, and easily ignited, just the raw heat coming from that depth is enough to ignite, flames shoot up several hundred feet at times, an continue burning as long as there's "fuel" coming out of the hole for them to burn. The heat isunimaginable, enough to turn a 180' drilling rig into molten slag....
Luckily, at this site, everyone was able to evac in time. No one was lost, just things...and things can be replaced. When the fires finally where killed off,one of the company's salesmen went and took pictures....as you can see, even with the fire 3 days gone, smoke was still rising from much of the site..
Sightss like this, is part of the reason I'm getting out of this business as soon as I can, and opening my game shop. No one was hurt this time, but who knows about next time. Funny thing was, I went to that job site for a few days about a month or two ago to releive one of our guys.
Those not in the oil field won't know what that means,basically, the pressure in the geological formation the hole was being drilled through became greater thanthe drilling fluid was "balanced" up hold back. This causedeverything to rush along the path ofleast resistence....or up the hole.
When you see a blowout on TV, they show oil shooting up out of the hole, and everyone cheering....this isn't the case. A well coming in like that is dangerous, deadly, and destructive. the Drillpipe in the hole flies up and out, like small missles, nearly 600 lbs of metal with each 30' section of drillpipe...
The gas and fluids which come out of the hole are explosive, and easily ignited, just the raw heat coming from that depth is enough to ignite, flames shoot up several hundred feet at times, an continue burning as long as there's "fuel" coming out of the hole for them to burn. The heat isunimaginable, enough to turn a 180' drilling rig into molten slag....
Luckily, at this site, everyone was able to evac in time. No one was lost, just things...and things can be replaced. When the fires finally where killed off,one of the company's salesmen went and took pictures....as you can see, even with the fire 3 days gone, smoke was still rising from much of the site..
Sightss like this, is part of the reason I'm getting out of this business as soon as I can, and opening my game shop. No one was hurt this time, but who knows about next time. Funny thing was, I went to that job site for a few days about a month or two ago to releive one of our guys.
WHOA 