The dispersant that they are using, Corexit, is reputedly the most toxic one available. So BP is deliberately poisoning the Gulf of Mexico in order to make sure that the oil is less visible. The oil is still there.
Robert Reich has been writing about why it may be necessary to take over BP for the short term. His blog is worth reading.
On a lighter note, the Daily Show is back and this was their lead item:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Spilling Fields | ||||
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And their second story:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Cenac - The Spilling Fields - Oil Leak Containment Ideas | ||||
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Well, here's the deal. There is one (1) proven way to stop a flowing gusher, and that is to bottom-kill it with a relief well. Top kills work if you can close in the well, but that cannot be done here because the integrity of the casing has been compromised and all that happens if you close off the top of the blowout preventer is that the oil flows up the *outside* of the casing instead.
ReplyDeleteSo basically, from BP's point of view, any attempt to stop the flow of oil other than the relief well is a waste of time and money. That said, I think BP is being short-sighted here in that they're not listening to anybody outside the industry (I just told you the industry accepted wisdom), but that explains why they've not been particularly eager to spend a lot of money trying to stop the flow of oil from the top -- from their point of view, it's just an exercise in expensive futility to make such an attempt.
Now, you might wonder, if a relief well to do a bottom kill is the only known way to stop a blowout where the casing has been compromised, why don't the oil companies drill relief wells simultaneously with drilling the main well? Remember, relief wells don't go all the way to the reservoir, so they can't blow out, and if you case them they aren't going to collapse. So drill it to deep enough to get enough column-inches of mud pressure to do a bottom kill on the main bore, but don't do the final leg to intersect the main bore (that should only take a few days to drill, most of which is spent dropping pipe with a new drill bit and MWD tool on the end, yes, it takes that long to drop pipe when you're drilling this deep), and then if something happens and the casing is compromised and the blowout preventer doesn't work, you have your GoToHell last resort in place already.
But wait, that'd cost money, so our regulators have been told they can't require this. Alrighty, then!
- Badtux the Oilfield Penguin