A Slow Ramping Up of Oil Recovery thru the LMRP Cap

BP now claims to be collecting between one fourth and one half of the oil gushing from the riser stub -- at least that is the rate for the first 24 hours. As of this writing, oil is still pouring through the top vents and around the lower skirt of the LMRP cap.

NYTBP says that the LMRP cap is well-placed over the gushing riser stub at the Macondo oil well bore, and is now recovering roughly 1,000 6,000 [revised number after 24 hours] barrels per day. BP plans to slowly ramp up the volume of oil and gas recovered over the next few days.

A cap fitted over a ruptured Gulf of Mexico wellhead is capturing roughly 1,000 barrels of oil a day, a top US official said Friday. [The 6,000 barrel figure is a later revision . . . AF]
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the official in charge of the US government response to the spill, said the figure was a "rough total" of the amount being collected since remote-controlled submarines fitted the device late Thursday.
The current flow of oil gushing from the leak is estimated at between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels a day, so the amount is still small, Allen acknowledged Friday morning.
"Production is slowly moving up. It's around 1,000 barrels a day right now," said Allen. Workers are "slowly closing the vents and increasing the flow of oil." _AFP-Yahoo

More from BP's Kent Wells:

"Things are going as planned," said BP senior vice president Kent Wells. "We now have 12 hours of experience with this. It’s never been done at 5,000 feet before, but I am quite encouraged."

BP is slowly ramping up the volume of oil and gas going up four valves, which are like chimneys, on the lower marine riser package (LMRP) cap. The process allows the flow to go through as it’s ready to bring oil to the ship.

"Over next couple day we’ll continue to increase amount of oil and gas coming up," Wells said. _CBS

The reason for the caution in dealing with the upward flow of oil and gas, is that the combination is highly explosive and flammable. If BP is not careful to maintain complete control over the increasing volumes of oil and gas, another disaster could occur at the recovery ship, Enterprise.

Previously posted at Al Fin

The image below shows both the ongoing LMRP cap recovery operation, and the planned "top kill manifold" recovery method, to be initiated near the mid-point of June 2010.

CBS