The objective was to perform a theoretical and experimental investigation into the collection of oil from a blowing wellhead.
Complete. In 1979, the Brown and Root 'Steel Sombrero' subsea collection device was placed over the blowing Ixtoc I well in Campeche Bay, Mexico. Subsequent experiments on collectors were performed in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology laboratory at 1:20 scale. Confirmatory field experiments were performed at 1:4 scale, in the Navy underwater acoustic test facility at Bugg Spring, Florida. Results determined conditions for collecting various percentages of oil. One design, the 'double collector', was configured for excess gas choking the collector making it inefficient. The new configuration uses two concentric collectors and separate risers. As the center collector becomes gas choked, the excess gas spills outward into the outer collector, lifting the blowing oil through it. Test results indicate collection efficiencies of over 90% using the double collector positioned twenty feet above the wellhead. Additional parts of this study include bubble plume dynamics (partially supported by the industry), and methods for suspending a collection system from a large tanker. See Project No. 85. A documentary film is available.