Dynamic Positioning

It is dynamic positioning that Allows a semi-submersible the Ability to hover there over The well. It is a thirty-six inch tube, A casing, that extends down to allow The drill and bit to be rotated there; The drill then spudding in; the seafloor, dark, And giving way. It is a thick column Of drilling mud that keeps natural gas And oil beneath the seafloor while the well Is capped and it is a cement that Fills in the casing so the drill pipe stays Unmoving, stable, in this ever moving sea. It is a sort of drilling mud that is Then pumped through the drill pipe and out through The drill bit then up through the casing and Then back up to the oil rig in the space Between the drill pipe and the inner wall. It is a blowout preventer, a series of valves That seal off the excessive pressure should The wellhead kick then blowout. There are all These variables. Various valves. Pressures. Buoyancies. Mixes of cements. Currents. Claims. Humans. Bow spring. Top plug. Shoe track. Floatshoe. I could go on and on here calling the New muses of innovation, common Vocabulary, that covers over the Elaborate simplicity of this, This well, Macondo well, was drilled by Deepwater Horizon and it went through Five thousand feet, through the abyssal zones, The epipelagic with its sunlight The mesopelagic with its twilight The bathypelagic with its midnight Then where the sea meets floor, the deep ocean, A blowout preventer there with the fish, The darker fish, the large detritevars That feed on the drizzle of the moulted Exoskeletons, the carnivores, snipe eels Big lantern fish, and zooplankton, corals. This well then went on reaching for the oil Another thirteen thousand feet. When it hits The pay zone, down through it, down deeper, deep. This well, Macondo well, was exploratory. This story then begins with other wells, But I will tell the story of This Well: In April twenty ten, the setting south And east of Louisiana's long coast. It begins with a round of tests, some done And some avoided. An environmental Impact and blowout plan declared to be Not necessary. Drilling easy. Then On April twenty, bled off five barrels Of fluid, reduced drill pressure. No flow. At noon, a drill pipe goes in hole so as To begin mud displacement. Seawater Then pumped in to displace mud. Kill line Not bled. It goes on like this. Partial lab Results, a circulation pressure that Did not yet match the modeling results And yet cement job pumped. Fluid returns Observed. Bottom plug ruptured. Still the Cement is pumped so it bumps top wiper plug At twelve thirty. Then two pressure tests. The drill pipe run in hole to eight thousand And three hundred and sixty seven feet. So mud displacement starts, the seawater Is pumped, then the spacer, then the fresh Water. The kill line opened and pressure then Decreased. Drill pipe pressure increased. The kill line shut in. Mud offloading done. It goes on. Drill pipe pressure. Kill line open. Then drill pipe pressure high again. Then sea- Water is pumped. Kill line full. Kill line Opened, bled to mini trip tank. Flow Is stopped. Kill line monitored. It Is then open. No flow. Considered A good test. Blowout preventer open- Ed, seawater then pumped down the drill Pipe to displace the mud and spacer from The riser. It is nine o'clock. The flow Out from the well increased. Trip tank then Emptied. Then fluids discharged overboard. Pumps Restarted. Drill pipe pressure on constant Increase. It goes on like this. Pump number Two started. Pressure spike. Then pumps two, three, And four are shut down. Pump one still online. Then pumps three, four restarted. Pressure build- Ing, pump two. Pumps shut down. First pump three, four, Then one. Then drill pipe pressure fluctuates. Increases. Then decreases. Then again Increases. Then held briefly, then again Decreases. A repair begins. At some Moment hydrocarbons enter the bot- Tom of the well undetected and rise Inside the wellbore, growing quickly as They meet the lower pressure of the sur- Face, heavy drill mud, other fluids, sea- Water, all pushed by the rising and Expanding gases followed by more, By high pressure oil, gases, other flu- Ids, all there rising, swelling in The wellbore, all there, pushing from the Reservoir. It is almost at ten O'clock when mud begins its overflow- Ing of the line and then on the rig floor. It is almost at ten o'clock when mud Then shoots up through the derrick. It is almost At ten o'clock, diverter shut so that The gas and drilling fluid could be routed To the baffle plates, the poorboy degass- Er, then the lower annual prev- Enter is activated. The drill press- Ure, the volumes of gases, fluids, drill- Ing mud, seawater, then is steadily in- Creasing. And it begins again. Or be- Gins some more. First as mud. A mud that roar- Ing, rained. Then the gas as it discharge- Ing, hissing, the poorboy degasser fill- Ing. Next the first gas alarm then the oth- Ers. It was then almost close to ten o' Clock, still when next a roaring noise, a vib- Ration, engines began rapid increase- Ing as also the drill pipe pressure rap- Idly increasing as the rig then los- Ing power, shut down processes then fail- Ing. First explosion on five seconds aft- Er. Then explosion again, ten sec- Onds later. It was not yet ten O'clock when the mayday call was first made. The Deepwater Horizon gutted stem To stern. What happens next ends with eleven Dead. The rig tethered still to the deepwell. The shrapnel. The lightbulbs then popping. The Heat. Hot fireballs. The lifeboats smoke filled ovens. Some lifeboats left, not yet full. Those left Behind then jumped in to oil-covered, Still water and so swam away. Some died: Jason Anderson. Bubba Burkeen. Shane M. Roshto. Donald Clark. Wyatt Kemp. Karl Dale Kleppinger. Gordon Lewis Jones. Keith Blair Manuel. Dewey Revette. Adam Weise. Stephen Ray Curtis. I will not tell You their lives, their loves, their young children, their Relationship to oil. Our oil. The well Exploded. They then died. Some swam away. Some floated away in boats. Donald Vidrine, Curt Kuchta, Jimmy Wayne Harrell. I did Not die. I watched it then burn on a Flat screen. Anthony Brian Hayward, Steven L. Newman, David Lesar watched. And Susan Birnbaum too, watching.