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Dan · Joined: Dec 31, 1969 Posts: 282 Location: USA

The necessary condition is 70,000 PSI at the intake end 18,000 feet down.

Combine that pressure with natural gas and we have a major problem, as NG is condensed to a liquid at that pressure and temperature.

Wikipedia:
Liquefied natural gas
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Not to be confused with Natural gas processing or Liquefied petroleum gas.
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Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport.

Liquefied natural gas takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Hazards include flammability, freezing and asphyxia.
A typical LNG process. The gas is first extracted and transported to a processing plant where it is purified by removing any condensates such as water, oil, mud, as well as other gases like CO2 and H2S and some times solids as mercury. The gas is then cooled down in stages until it is liquefied. LNG is finally stored in storage tanks and can be loaded and shipped.

The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure (maximum transport pressure set at around 25 kPa/3.6 psi) by cooling it to approximately −162 °C (−260 °F).
Wikipedia:
Liquefied natural gas
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Not to be confused with Natural gas processing or Liquefied petroleum gas.
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport.

Liquefied natural gas takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Hazards include flammability, freezing and asphyxia.
A typical LNG process. The gas is first extracted and transported to a processing plant where it is purified by removing any condensates such as water, oil, mud, as well as other gases like CO2 and H2S and some times solids as mercury. The gas is then cooled down in stages until it is liquefied. LNG is finally stored in storage tanks and can be loaded and shipped.

The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure (maximum transport pressure set at around 25 kPa/3.6 psi) by cooling it to approximately −162 °C (−260 °F).

The oil well pipe intake end diameter is 7" = 12.25 square inches of intake feeding up to a 18" dia. at the sea floor = 81 square inches out. An increase factor of five in volume. The condensed natural gas begins to expand, starting to explosively gassify, increasing the pressure and speed of the oil and gas mixture up through the pipe, abrading all weak point and the casing. Once it gets outside the casing the oil/LNG pushes up through the sea floor. Now the LNG has an even bigger area to expand into, creating a 'suction effect", increasing throughput from oil/LNG field below.

At the intake, a vortex will develop as the oil and LNG are sucked into the intake end creating a larger and larger pocket for the rest of the oil field to flow faster into. This vortex will erode the intake pipe casing both inside and out, and start climbing up the outer part of casing. Once it gets between outer casing wall and the rock, it will eat its way to the sea floor with amazing speed.

Doing an explosion will almost certainly make things worse.

The LNG wants to explosively decompress and we have provided the means.

How fast can we do the relief wells? BP is already going as fast as it can. August is cutting it fine I suspect.

Anybody got any disagreements with the physics?