1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: tex Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: I am an editor at how stuff works dot Com. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me, as he always does, is senior 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: writer and Jonathan Strickland. Next thing you know, Old Jed's 8 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: a millionaire. I see you are ready to talk about 9 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: black gold. Yes, Texas t the technology of oil drilling. 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: So first you get your shotgun, and then you go 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: hunting for some food, and up from the ground comes 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: a bubbling crude. You know, there are more efficient ways 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: to drill for oil than I don't know. That's pretty efficient. 14 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: You just have to be insanely lucky. No, that is 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: actually not the way one normally looks for oil or 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: drills for oil um and the process does involve quite 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: a bit of technology. Some of it is fairly simple 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,759 Speaker 1: tech when you look at it from you know, as 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: far as a sophistication standpoint. But without it we wouldn't 20 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,119 Speaker 1: be able to get to oil the way we do. 21 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: Our our society would be completely different. We certainly wouldn't 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: be podcasting right now. Too much of our technology is 23 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: based off of oil or is powered by stuff that 24 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: gets his power ultimately through oil. So um, and of 25 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: course it's been in the news a lot lately. And yeah, 26 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: as we've been reading through some of the articles on 27 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com, which I encourage you to 28 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: do so, especially since Jonathan put all that time into 29 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: updating some of those. Um, we we were looking at 30 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: the technology and thinking, you know, this is kind of 31 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: interesting as a topic that we haven't talked about. I mean, 32 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: is it's kind of off our normal and beaten path. 33 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: But yeah, some of it's pretty amazing how they've they 34 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: can find oil and then you know the fact that 35 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: they can even go down as far as they did 36 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: for the deep Water Horizon, well that was pretty phenomenal 37 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: create the well itself. Even though there are problems. We 38 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,239 Speaker 1: can talk about some of the equipment that they would 39 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: use yea, and we can talk about why why it 40 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: was not just the fact that you know, the blowout 41 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: was a huge problem with the deep Water Horizon, but 42 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: also why it's a problem that, uh, like, why couldn't 43 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: they fix that as opposed to being able to fix 44 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: it on in other situations. We'll get into that UM. 45 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: Once we get under pressure, do do UM. So starting off, 46 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: let's talk about how you would find oil before you 47 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: even start drilling UM. Now, in the olden days, way 48 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: back when people were first starting to drill for oil, 49 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,399 Speaker 1: you pretty much had to look around and really observe 50 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: the geographic features of the region you were in and 51 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: really needed the help of the geologists, someone who was 52 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: who was learned in the ways of things like rock formations, 53 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: just the kinds of rocks that were in the region, 54 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: because you need to look for specifics sort of rocks 55 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: and soil that would be indicative that there, at least 56 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: is the potential for oil to be present. Right, Well, 57 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: you still need geologists, Oh yeah, you don't. They're definitely 58 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: a very important part of finding oil. It's just that 59 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: now they have more tools at their disposal than just 60 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: their eyes. That's true, because they're using they basically look 61 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: for changes in the Earth's gravitational field that can indicate 62 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: that there's oil nearby. That's that's one of the methods. Yeah. Really, 63 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: what they're what they're trying to do is they're looking 64 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: for oil flows. Now, when I say looking. Obviously they 65 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: can't see the oil because it's it's underground or underwater, 66 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: well at least not in most cases. Yeah, if you 67 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: can see the oil, you really don't need your geologists there. 68 00:03:58,080 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: I mean, there are there are things like you know, 69 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: oil sands, when there's a lot more obvious that there 70 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: is oil present. But in those cases you can't, you know, 71 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: just slurp it up. There's a lot of work to 72 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: be done. And we're not we didn't really at least 73 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: I didn't prepare for that particular topic. But yeah, and 74 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: in those cases you can actually see that there is petroleum, 75 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: and I'm I would imagine, um, just a guess, you 76 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: could probably smell it too. Actually, they geologists might use sniffers, 77 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: which are electronic sensors that can detect the presence of oil, 78 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: so they could they could smell for it. They could 79 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: use the gravitational sensors that the PLTT was talking about. 80 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: They could also use uh magnetic sensors to detect changes 81 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: in the Earth's magnetic field, which would be the result 82 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: of oil flowing sometimes uh several thousand feet below the 83 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: surface of the Earth. And then one of the most 84 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: common ways is they create vibrations in the earth and 85 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: then listen for the It's kind of like an echo. 86 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: You're listening for the reflection of the vibration you've sent 87 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,919 Speaker 1: into the earth to detect what kind of rock is 88 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: beneath you. So you are essentially thumping the earth and 89 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: listening to hear what kind of thing. Yeah, you're It's 90 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: like when you pick up a melon and you thump 91 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,279 Speaker 1: it to see if it's right to eat, except in 92 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: this case, you're thumping the earth to see if there's 93 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: any oil down there. And uh. And when I say thumping, 94 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: sometimes literally they are thumping the earth, except they're doing 95 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: it with a massive truck, a thumber truck. A thumber truck. Yes, 96 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: I think I had one of those drive down my 97 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: street the other day. Yeah. I actually call them flower 98 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: and they tell me that he can call me flower 99 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: if he wants to. It's a thumber truck. Anyway, Thumper 100 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: was a rabbit, that's true. Well, I'll screw up my 101 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 1: own joke. That's okay. Somebody will write in ye and like, listen, 102 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: I'm a Bambi enthusiast, and let me tell you so. Anyway, 103 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:07,239 Speaker 1: the Thumber nice, the thumper truck has these big heavy 104 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: plates that they will raise and lower against the ground. 105 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: They hit the ground really hard, and then you have microphones, 106 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: very sensitive microphones set up around the area around the 107 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: region to detect the vibrations, and based upon the quality 108 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: of those vibrations, you can tell whether or not there's 109 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: oil flowing underneath the surface. Um. There's also they could 110 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: also use explosives to do the same thing. So you 111 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: could dig a hole and put some explosives in or 112 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: in the case of if you're if you're trying to 113 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,840 Speaker 1: search for oil in the water, you may throw explosives 114 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: over the side of the boat. Um. Not recommended. And 115 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: there are other ways to to get the same effect. Well, 116 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: there's the compressed air gun, yes, which is much safer. Yeah, 117 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: you can use a compressed air gun. You fire compressed 118 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: air at the ground and that creates the the vibration 119 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: you need to you know, then you listen to her 120 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: if there's the correct frequency that would indicate that there's 121 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: oil beneath the ground. Yeah. And actually, uh, I sort 122 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: of sort of misspoke when I said that we really 123 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: haven't talked about this kind of thing before. Because Boyle 124 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: has made a cameo appearance in another recent podcast, auto 125 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: tune because some of them, right, the audio technology that 126 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: they use, that's what ye. The founder of auto tune 127 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: originally was a geologist who worked on this kind of technology, yep, 128 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: And that that technology evolved and got used for the 129 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: sound correcting gizmo that we all know and a lot 130 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: of people don't love. Right. So, if you've listened to 131 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: auto tune, the news is version of double Rainbow, which 132 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: is phenomenal. By the way, you two are experiencing the 133 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: joy of the technology that can help you find oil 134 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 1: in a really twisted way. So but say they find oil, 135 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: all right, they found oil. Now now comes the point 136 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: where they have to start drilling down so they can 137 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: get to the oil. Uh. And drilling is a very 138 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: involved process. The first thing they have to do they 139 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,239 Speaker 1: have to, assuming that it's land based, clear the land 140 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: and they have to level it off so that they 141 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: can build an oil rig to to start drilling. Um, 142 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: they have to have water in the trilling process. Actually, 143 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: water is very important. They use water to mix with 144 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: dirt to create mud. They use the mud to help 145 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: pump or really to push the the the rock that 146 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: gets broken up as the drill is drilling down into 147 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: the earth. So uh, they essentially are pumping mud down 148 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: into the hole to help clear the rock out of 149 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,679 Speaker 1: the way as the drill drills down. Um, So you've 150 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: gotta have a water supply, So either you need water 151 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: in near buy or if there's not any water, you 152 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: need to drill the water well. But you have to 153 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:01,559 Speaker 1: have water to to two for this process. The water 154 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: based rigs don't have this problem. Now there's there's usually 155 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: quite a lot of water in the offshore drilling, yes, process, 156 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: but on land, the crew does need to dig a 157 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: reserve pit which they used to get rid of the 158 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: rock cuttings and some of the mud. Um. They line 159 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: it with plastic, you know, in an attempt to protect 160 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: the environment, you don't want anything leaching into the water 161 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: supply of the local area. And also if it's a 162 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: certain areas, certain protected areas, they aren't even allowed to 163 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: do the reserve pit. They have to actually truck all 164 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: the rock that they dig up offsite. But in most 165 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: cases they'll just they'll dig this reserve pit and that's 166 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: where they they're they're putting all the waste rock. Essentially, 167 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: they also need to build a seller. Yeah, apparently to 168 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: store the wine. That's exactly why they need to do that. 169 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: That's providing the foundation of where the rig's gonna go. Right. So, 170 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: once they've got the preparations out of the way, they 171 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,319 Speaker 1: start to put together the rig. They ship in all 172 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: the stuff and they start assembling it. The rigs power 173 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: supply is all well. Diesel engines provide the power. They 174 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: provide power to electrical generators, which in turn provide electrical 175 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: power to the mechanical systems on the rig, the rig itself. 176 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: Most people are familiar with the really tall tower that 177 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: you can see on oil rigs, the derrick. Um, you 178 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: might wonder why those towers are there. I mean, most 179 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: of the time we see like the old movies where 180 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: we'll see the oil shooting out the top of the 181 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 1: derek and you think, well, what's what the heck is 182 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: the purpose of that thing? Um, it's actually there so 183 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: that the oil workers can can assemble the pipe that 184 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: is needed to continue to drive the drill bit down 185 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: further and further into the hole. Because you know, as 186 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: you make progress, the drill bit goes further down. You 187 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: have to extend that that that pipe so the drill 188 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: bit can keep going down well. The tower is there 189 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: so that you can put another length of pipe on 190 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: the end, and these links of piper about thirty feet long. UM. 191 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: This is true both for the oil for the oil 192 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: for the land based and the water based oil drilling, 193 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: because they'll they'll have to and for the water based one, 194 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: actually the pipe has to be even longer because first 195 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: you have to get your drill bit all the way 196 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: down to the ground, so you have to get it 197 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: through all the water first, and then you have to 198 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: keep extending it. So the the the drill of course 199 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 1: is based off rotation. It's a big turntable that is 200 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: turned by and by the generators, the electric motors that 201 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: are powered by the generators rather and UH that turns 202 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: the the drill string UM and the drill bit which 203 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: is at the very bottom of it. There's a there's 204 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 1: a color above the drill bit. The color is a 205 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: thicker pipe that fits around the drill string and it 206 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: uh its purpose is to protect the d but it's 207 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: also to provide some pressure to push downwards so that 208 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,079 Speaker 1: the drill bid is constantly digging down, not just spinning 209 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: of anything happening there. And and they line the the 210 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: well that they're drilling with a big pipe right to 211 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: keep it from collapsing in on itself, because it wouldn't 212 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: do any good to drill a hole if it you know, 213 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,200 Speaker 1: if two feet down the hole starts to collapse in 214 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 1: on itself. So it's a it's a really involved process really, 215 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it takes a lot of manual labor to 216 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: get that going. And once the drill bid is is 217 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: dragging up the or knocking out rock, that's when they 218 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,560 Speaker 1: start pumping the mud down to bring the bits of 219 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:45,439 Speaker 1: rock up and they collect those off and they put 220 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: in the in the pit um right. That that is 221 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: another function of the casing the liner and that goes 222 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: around is that it does help them drilling mud to 223 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,719 Speaker 1: circulate while they are drilling and get you know, the 224 00:12:57,800 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: chips out and everything else that needs to come out 225 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: because uh, you know, the circulation system is responsible for 226 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: forgetting the mud um and and it's you know, it 227 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: helps move things in and out. It's very important that 228 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: they've got and it's man up of a number of 229 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: different pieces. Of course, it's got a pump in it 230 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: and hoses. Um. There is a specific line to get 231 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: the mud out of the hole. Um there's a shaker 232 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: that gets the rock cuttings out of the mud so 233 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: that I you know, they can recycle it because they 234 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: do that. Um, they do that actually in the get 235 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: this this is the technical term mud pit. Yes, the 236 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: mud pit. They also they also occasionally have to make 237 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: some new mud. Um. You know, eventually they just they 238 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: have to add more, especially once the holes getting deeper 239 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: and deeper. Um, the as they're digging down there. What 240 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: the goal here is to get to the point where 241 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: you you are just hitting the pocket of oil that's 242 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: underneath the surface. You know, you're not the Again that 243 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: image of the oil shooting up through the derek, that's 244 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,840 Speaker 1: what we call a blowback, and that's not a good 245 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: thing necessarily. It's actually very dangerous thing. Blowback or blow out, blowout, sorry, 246 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: blowout and yeah, there's you don't want those, that's bad. 247 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: The reason for those blowouts, by the way, is because 248 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: that oil is also mixed with natural gas, and both 249 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: the oil and the gas are under immense pressure because 250 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: you've got all this these layers of rock on top 251 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: of them. So when you drill a hole into the 252 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: pocket that has all the gas and oil in it, 253 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: then you've got a release from that pressure and the 254 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: blowout can be very dangerous. In fact, that's what happened 255 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: at deep water Horizons where there was a blowout which 256 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: ended up causing um extensive damage. It ended up eventually 257 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: sinking that rig and very tragically killed eleven of the 258 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: workers on board that rig um the explosion did. Uh. 259 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: And so you don't you don't want those blowouts, even 260 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: though they're big dramatic moments and movies, you don't want 261 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: to see that happen. Yeah. And in the movies they 262 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: make it look like it's a it's a lot of fun. 263 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: They strike oil and it comes gushing out the top 264 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: of the dereck and everybody you know, throws their hat 265 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: in the air and hollers and uh and does a 266 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: little prospect or dance. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's really the case. 267 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: That And and it's you know, extremely toxic. It's not 268 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: the kind of stuff that you want on your skin. 269 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: So so, and in the environment, the the they have 270 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: blowout prevent ers as they as they're digging. A blowout 271 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: preventer is a pretty simple design. It's really just a 272 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: clamp um. It's powered by very massive hydraulic system. Uh. 273 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: That is extremely powerful. That uh, and it's at the 274 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: very top of the well. It's the well cap where 275 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: where that where it connects to the drilling equipment. And 276 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: then that may seem like a misnomer because if you've 277 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: been watching the coverage of the deep Water Horizon thing, 278 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: you might say, no, no, the blow up preventers at 279 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: things sitting on the floor of the sea. You know 280 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: that's not No, that is at the top of the 281 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: well because the well goes down into the ground there. 282 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: So yes, it is at the top of the well. Yeah, 283 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: if it were on land, it would be right there 284 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: at the surface of the ground, just right red surface 285 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: level rather as opposed to underneath the water. But I mean, yeah, 286 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: that's the top of the well. So uh if in 287 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: the case of a blowout, what you normally would have happened, 288 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: either you would have a sensor that would indicate that 289 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: something bad is happening and it would automatically, uh activate 290 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: the blow up preventer, or you would use a manual 291 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: system like you would actually pull a lever, press a 292 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: button to activate it and the clamp closes in on 293 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: the casing and steals it off. Yeah, it's got a 294 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: hydraulic ram that just you know, slam shut and basically 295 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: is supposed to cut off that flow. Unfortunately, in the 296 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: case of the deep water horizon UM, the blow up 297 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: preventer malfunctioned and just never it never activated, so there 298 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: was no way to stop the the gas and oil 299 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: from from essentially erupting from this well. UM. So normally 300 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,359 Speaker 1: with the drilling process again, you wouldn't drill to that point. 301 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: You would drill to the point where you were detecting oil. 302 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: You know that it was clear that oil was present, 303 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: but you wouldn't keep going until it was just shooting 304 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: out at the top of the dairy. You would replace 305 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: the rig with an oil production uh system, So you 306 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: would actually deconstruct the rig and put in a new 307 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: system there to to tap and collect the oil and 308 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,920 Speaker 1: in a very controlled manner, because that you know, that's 309 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: going to be the least dangerous way of collecting the 310 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: oil UM. Right. You don't want to puncture the ground, 311 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: the part of the strata of rock um stratum of 312 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: rock that is holding the oil in until you're ready 313 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: to collect it, because otherwise you're going to lose a 314 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: lot of it or there will be a blowout. So 315 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: you want to have everything in place and ready to 316 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: go into you, you know, finally puncture that that rock 317 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: area and then you can the oil will come up 318 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: through the well. And the way the way they do 319 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: that is once they've got they've reached the well depth 320 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: that they need to get to, they actually puncture holes 321 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,239 Speaker 1: in the well casing at the very base of it 322 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: and uh and they use they seal it off first, 323 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: and then what they do is when they deconstruct the 324 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: rig and then move it out of the way they're 325 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: bringing up pump and the pumps are those things that 326 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: you see if you ever watch a movie set in 327 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: like Texas or whatever, and you see those big metal 328 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: things that are swiveling up and down, looks like giant 329 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 1: seesaw type things. Those are the pumps. And what the 330 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: pumps do is they have a rod that goes down 331 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:47,239 Speaker 1: into the well um that creates suction as it as 332 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: it moves up and down, and that's what allows them 333 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: to draw oil out of the well in a controlled 334 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: manner um. And uh It's occasionally the oil itself is 335 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: too heavy to pull up on its own, so what 336 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: they'll do is they'll drill a second hold down and 337 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:09,159 Speaker 1: they'll pump steam into that that oil pocket essentially so 338 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: that they can pull the oil up out of the hole. Okay, yeah, 339 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: now we talked to a little bit about deep water 340 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,679 Speaker 1: horizon already. Um oh, I'm sorry. Were you going to 341 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:25,160 Speaker 1: to add something else? I was gonna addum that the 342 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: device I don't I didn't remember you saying that. The 343 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: device that they used to puncture um the well and 344 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: put it into production is the perforating gun. Yes, and 345 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: they lower that down there. It's got a little explosive 346 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: charge and basically they perforate the casing and put a 347 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,760 Speaker 1: tube in there um and then use a packer to uh, 348 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: to form a seal around the outside of the tubing. 349 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: And then theoretically the well is complete, right right, the 350 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: tubing is is the only way in and out of 351 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 1: that well at that point. So and then they have 352 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: a Christmas tree. Yeah, they do. It's a that's that's 353 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: a structure with lots of valves on it. It's actually 354 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: called a Christmas tree. Pullette was not not being I 355 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,879 Speaker 1: wasn't he wasn't goofy. Well, he was a little a 356 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: little goofy, but not that goofy. Yeah, it's actually a 357 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: device with lots of valves at the top and uh, 358 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: it's it's cemented in and it's part of it. But anyway, 359 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: that's that's part of the control system to allow for 360 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: the controlled extraction of oil. And yeah, Christmas tree, So 361 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,719 Speaker 1: it's Christmas all year round on the oil rig in 362 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: some ways, I suppose. So. So yeah, going back to 363 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: the deep water horizon issues, so that these are if 364 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,679 Speaker 1: you're out in deep water, they're really only two major 365 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: ways that you can um you can drill for oil. 366 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: One is to use a drill ship, which is pretty 367 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: much what sounds like. It's a big boat that happens 368 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: to have a hole in the center of it. Somebody 369 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: is going right in that it's a big ship. Okay, 370 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: here's the definition of ship versus boat. There is no 371 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: clear delineation. There's that You could say that a boat 372 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: is small enough to fit on a ship, and a 373 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: ship is big enough to hold a boat, but that 374 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: is not That's like what's a mountain versus a hill. Well, 375 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: a hill is smaller than a mountain. That is not 376 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: a good enough definition. All squares are rectangles, but not 377 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: all rectangles are squares. So this boat has a hole 378 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: in it, and uh right in and the drill extends 379 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 1: down through the hole and that's where they pump the 380 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: water and mud or whatever and down into it's it's 381 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: it's just like the land based one, except you're on 382 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: a boat, on a ship at sea and uh. But 383 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: otherwise you would have an oil rig on the top 384 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: with a derrick and everything to extend the pipe down 385 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: to the sea floor bed and then further down as 386 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: you drill down into the well. Uh. The other option 387 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: is a semi submersible MODU, which is a mobile offshore 388 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: drilling unit. Um. That's what deep Water Horizon was. It 389 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: was a semi submersible and uh that those float on 390 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: these big pontoons. They float out. They actually have a 391 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: power system where you can pilot them out to the 392 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: proper spot in the ocean and then you use you 393 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: usually use anchors, several anchors to keep you in one 394 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: specific spot on the ocean, and you use a very 395 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: sophisticated This is actually where sophisticated technology comes to play. 396 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:27,199 Speaker 1: There's a sophisticated computer system that measures the tension on 397 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: each line down to each anchor and then maintains the 398 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: proper tension to keep the semi submersible in place. You 399 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: know what that's called. Right, what's that anchor management? I'm 400 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: gonna need some of that in a second. Oh my gosh, 401 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: I think I just had an aneurysm. So anyway, Uh, yeah, 402 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: they might be up to a dozen anchors to keep 403 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: these things in place. And then again you have a 404 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 1: derrick on top of this this uh, this semi submersible vehicle, 405 00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: and you drill down. Now, if you're in shallower water, 406 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,360 Speaker 1: you have a couple of other options. Um, there's a 407 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,159 Speaker 1: kind of modu called a jack up jacket. What you 408 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: do is it's again a semi submersible, kind of barge submersible. 409 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: Is it? It floats on top, doesn't it. Well, I 410 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: mean it can have pontoons as well, but most of 411 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: them are on barges, so yeah, most of them do 412 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: just float on the surface. Well, you would float it 413 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 1: out to the right location. And again this is where 414 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: you're in shallow ish water, like up to around five 415 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: ft which is still you know, it's pretty deep, but 416 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: shallow when you compare to deep water drilling. Um, when 417 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: you get to where you want to go, you actually 418 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: it can extend legs down from the barge to the 419 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: sea floor, so you you create a tripod essentially a stand. Um, 420 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: I think there's only three legs. Sometimes I guess there 421 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 1: could be four. But you once you hit the cea floor, 422 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: you then keep continue extending the legs, which raises the 423 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: barge out of the water. And you keep doing that 424 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: to you get to the proper height. And of course 425 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: you may have to extend one leg more than the 426 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:05,439 Speaker 1: other two because it's at a slightly different height on 427 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: the sea floor. But um, you do this so that 428 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,439 Speaker 1: the reason why you go above the waves, so that 429 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: the motion of the ocean doesn't interfere with your drilling activities. 430 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna be singing rock lobster all day long. Thanks. Yeah, well, 431 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 1: there are a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia. Um. And 432 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:28,360 Speaker 1: then the other method is just a submersible mobile offshore 433 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: drilling unit. And this this these are not used that often, 434 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: but um, it's a it's a barge that actually sinks 435 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: kind of. It goes down to the sea floor and 436 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: then uh, the steel posts on the barge extend up 437 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: and then you build your drilling platform on the posts. 438 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:50,920 Speaker 1: So you've got a barge sitting at the bottom of 439 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: the ocean. Uh. And when I say bottom of the ocean, 440 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,479 Speaker 1: I'm talking like feet so it's not that deep, right, 441 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,719 Speaker 1: comparatively speaking. Um. And then you got the posts on 442 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 1: the bargees deck and you build the rig on top 443 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: of the posts. So again the rig is is suspended 444 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: above the waterline. Now, the reason why one of the 445 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: reasons there are many reasons why the deepwater horizon issue 446 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: this is the oil spill in the Gulf in case 447 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: you weren't aware that that was what the name of 448 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:25,920 Speaker 1: the actual semi submersible was. Um. There are many reasons 449 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: why this problem is very difficult to handle, and chief 450 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: among them is just that it is at an incredible depth. 451 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 1: I mean that we're talking that the the well head 452 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: itself is so far below the surface of the ocean. 453 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: It's very difficult to get there. Right. We don't really 454 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: understand that much about the ocean at this depth. Because 455 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: it's there, we have very limited means of getting down 456 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,159 Speaker 1: there and exploring the pressure of the water at that 457 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: point is pretty intense. So there are very few vehicles 458 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 1: that we have of that can safely navigate that that depth. UM. 459 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,439 Speaker 1: It's not like divers can just hop in and you know, 460 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: go down and work with it by hand. For people 461 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: just getting a look at it was was pretty complicated, 462 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: especially considering that you know the explosion and fire where 463 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: that you have to get that under control first. UM. 464 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: So really the depth is the major point. Another problem 465 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: is just that it's it is really hard to estimate 466 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: exactly how bad the problem is. UM. The earliest accounts 467 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: had it just being a few thousand barrels of oil 468 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: a day, which when I say just a few thousand 469 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: barrel of oils forty two gallons of oil, it's a 470 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: lot of oil. But the worst case scenario documents suggested 471 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: that it could be as bad as a hundred thousand 472 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: barrels of oil a day. So clearly this is a 473 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,360 Speaker 1: this could be an enormous issue UM. And as we're 474 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: recording this podcast, they're there are high hopes that the 475 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: the replacement well is going to cap it UH to 476 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: the point where where we can actually address the issue 477 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: more thoroughly. We'll have to wait and see if it works, 478 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:14,640 Speaker 1: but we're hoping because the other UM predictions for this 479 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: said that the earliest we would be able to really 480 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 1: address the problem would be August, and it's it's July 481 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: of two thousand and ten as we record this, so um, 482 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 1: considering that the initial event happened back in April, that's 483 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: that's bad news. That's a lot of oil. Who they 484 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: are BP is still working on drilling relief wells as 485 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,439 Speaker 1: we speak. And although you might believe that they are 486 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: there to relieve pressure, they're actually not. From what I 487 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: understand from listening to uh an account on npr UM. Basically, 488 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: what they're going to do is try to intercept the 489 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: well itself, the original well, and shut it down from inside. 490 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: So that's the point, and the thing is at this depth, 491 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: as you were saying earlier, Nathan Um, it's it's very complicated. 492 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 1: They want to make sure that they're they're moving slowly 493 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: because they want to make sure that they don't do 494 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: additional damage and hurt their chances of getting it taken 495 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: care of sooner, which I think was a source of 496 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:15,919 Speaker 1: frustration for a lot of people because they wanted it 497 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: done and taking care of sooner rather than later. But 498 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,719 Speaker 1: they said, look, we've got to take the time. So 499 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,719 Speaker 1: it's it's it's very challenging to drill these wells and 500 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: make them work properly, and when accidents happen like this, Um, 501 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: mistakes happen. The thing is fixing them is not a 502 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: simple task either, and relies on quite a bit of 503 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: technology to make it work. So I think we both 504 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: found it, you know, kind of fascinating, the technology that 505 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: they used to make it work at all. Yeah, it's 506 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: it's a fascinating and sobering Oh, definitely subjects at any rate. Uh, 507 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: but you know, the idea behind it is still pretty simple, 508 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: drilling a hole down until you get but they things 509 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: that you need to make that work in a safe 510 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: and controlled way are pretty impressive in practice. Yeah, it 511 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: turns out we're complicated that you would originally imagine. Well, 512 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: that was a good discussion about oil drilling, um and 513 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: not not too terribly depressing. So good on us while 514 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: we were just trying to take it from the middle ground, 515 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: the technical aspect, this is how you do it. Now 516 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: they told you how to do it. Here's the disclaimer. No, 517 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: no one's gonna come up a well reg I mean, 518 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: who could. We're going to get an email someone's gonna 519 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: be I struck gold. Hey, now let Gold Texas team. 520 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: So we could talk about that in the future too. 521 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: The minerals and getting that out. I don't know that 522 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: sounds like stuff from the science left to me. That 523 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: sounds science like that, physics, numbers and stuff, physics and geology. 524 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: They can take that. 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