Last night, the failed BOP that had allowed BP’s Macondo well to flow uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days earlier this year was recovered after a risky US government-ordered replacement procedure was completed.
The massive structure was slowly recovered throughout the day and into the night, stopping about 500 feet below the surface to flush it with methanol to melt methane hydrates on the inside. About 9 pm central time, it was lifted to the deck, where agents from the Department of Justice took control. It will be moved to a NASA facility to detailed analysis.
Here’s a video of the site sped up 8x so it is a little jerky. Appreciate how big the equipment and rigs are that drill oil and gas wells, especially in the offshore. The BOP is basically the size of a 5 story building and weighs almost half a million pounds.:
Original Article by Bob Cavnar. This article originally appeared on The Daily Hurricane.