The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has led one U. Oklahoma professor to propose ideas on how to stem the flow of oil, which may affect Oklahoma.
School of Petroleum Geological Engineering associate professor Samuel O. Osisanya has brainstormed and forwarded British Petroleum two ideas on how to help stop the leak in the Gulf.
Osisanya said he is working with another expert, Henry Crichlow, on the idea of pumping in sea water at the surface around the blow-out preventer so that the water and oil are competing for flow through the pipe outlet, thereby reducing the amount of oil on the surface.
“This is temporary, but will give them time to drill the two relief wells,” Osisanya
Another idea is to try to inject the same seawater first through a tubing to be inserted inside the leaking well, and then flow into it heavy mud, Osisanya said.
Osisanya is not the only one sending in ideas to BP, various experts have also been forwarding BP ideas on how to control and stop the oil leak, he said.
“Some of the ideas are short-term and temporary, and some are long-term and permanent,” Osisanya said.
Blowout is the biggest problem while drilling for oil or gas either on land or offshore or deepwater, and it gets more difficult to control in deepwater because of space limitation, he said.
Osisanya said what BP is doing right now to stop the leak is called brut force in the drilling business.
“This means BP is trying everything, hoping that one will work,” Osisanya said.
Osisanya said the BP oil leak will and has changed the oil industry in the United States with many people being affected in terms of job losses and stock losses.
“It’s effects are ripple effects,” he said.
Another change the US oil industry will face is stricter rules on offshore drilling and some new rules may even be developed for land operations as a result of the leak, Osisanya said.
“In the US, it takes a disaster like this before we do something,” he said. “This is not supposed to be the case.”
This leak also will affect Oklahoma. Devon, an Oklahoma-based natural gas and oil producer, owns about 25 percent of the oil field being developed by BP, Osisanya said.
The oil leak is impacting the aquatic life in the coastal regions, said David Sabatini, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science professor.
“This includes the obvious impacts on fish and bird life living in the water, as well as the effect of oil that reaches the shore and impacts life on the shore,” Sabatini said.
While the oil is does not readily mix with the water, components in the oil can dissolve in the water leading to further impacts, Sabatini said.
Robert C. Knox, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science academic director, said some of the components of oil that can dissolve into water, even at low concentrations, can be deadly to sea life.
“With all the millions of gallons of oil spilled, there will be hundreds of millions of gallons of water contaminated,” Knox said.
Knox said he does not think there is a viable technology for treating the contaminated seawater other than mother nature.
“Wind causes evaporation and microbes in the water can consume the hydrocarbons,” Knox said.
One of the primary ways to try and mitigate the problem is to break the oil up into smaller droplets so that degradation and other processes can more easily occur, Sabatini said.
In the news, the chemicals used to accomplish this are referred to as dispersants, Sabatini said.
Knox said he hopes the oil leak might have an indirect positive impact on Oklahoma’s environment.
“Surely, the politicians are going to look for better environmental regulations for the oil and gas industry,” he said.
Unfortunately, Oklahoma still spills a lot of oil, and oilfield brine and tighter regulations to reduce these spills would be beneficial, Knox said.