Plan for relief well aimed at stopping Gulf oil spill has no specifics.

Read this story and you realize there is still no shortage of bad news:

Plan for relief well aimed at stopping Gulf oil spill has no specifics

In the chaotic days after the oil rig explosion, BP engineers and federal regulators desperate to plug the blown-out well scrambled to complete plans for a pair of deepwater relief wells that represent the best chance to end the disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

...the plan ultimately approved by the government offers virtually no details outlining the relief well effort or what dangers might lurk in the depths as the company drills 18,000 feet below the surface -- the equivalent of 16 Eiffel Towers. Experts say the relief effort could be exposed to the same risks that caused the original well to blow out in catastrophic fashion, while potentially creating a worse spill if engineers were to accidentally damage the existing well or tear a hole in the undersea oil reservoir.

...

BP officials put together relief well plans on the fly in the days after the explosion. BP submitted a relief well plan six days after the blowout. It began drilling the well on May 2 -- 12 days after the explosion. The British oil giant also started drilling a second relief well on May 16 under pressure from the White House.

To get permits for the relief wells, the company used similar wording from earlier papers and submitted them to the federal Minerals Management Service. The plans lacked specifics about how it planned to drill the wells or how long it would take.

But the company underscored the danger of such hasty planning when it noted that a mishap could lead to another blowout that could leak more oil into the ocean. The permits also discuss a worst-case scenario that would involve inadvertently puncturing the reservoir.

Those "underscored" risks look pretty bad too.

Good gawd.

Makes this thread not so crazy, huh?

WAITING FOR THE BIG ONE: A connection between Deepwater, Earthquakes, and other Deep-Well Drilling?




[edit on 15-6-2010 by loam]

Sounds like BP really don't have any fullproof measures in place to deal with this sort of situation.

Scary times and every day that goes by we are hearing of more doom and gloom concerning this leak.

I'm sorry to sound negative but I really fear the worst with any efforts to stop this.

g

[edit on 15-6-2010 by grantbeed]

reply to post by grantbeed


It becomes clearer every day that the crisis is nearly beyond us.

The 'cures' are almost worse than the disease.

This is a 'going for broke' situation.

No wonder everyone is acting so odd.

It looks like all of our chips are in at this point.

Let's hope for the best.

[edit on 15-6-2010 by loam]

reply to post by loam

This is a 'going for broke' situation

I agree. The worrying thing is, if these relief wells don't work, then what happens next?

I foresee that if these tried and tested methods fail, they could resort to less tested methods which could end up causing much more of a catastrophe than we have just now.

No matter what happens, the effects of this have not even nearly hit home yet. Over time there could be some very lifechanging effects from this.

It's very sad.

In theory if the company has struck an inexhaustable source as has been claimed, we have no choice but to try everything we can possibly think of to stop this extinction event...(Call in the Russians! The Iranians! The Canadians for petes sake! anyone with oil expertise in deep sea holes.)
My only reservation, each attempt seems more desperate than the last....with conditions worsening , not imporoving in the forseable future.
Though i think it is still reasonably safe to inhabit the gulf coast, there may easily be hazards we wont recognise for years to come...
What does the methane and benzene or benzine turn into?
Will it all come down as rain over time?
If so how bad could the concentrations get?will water souces be drinkable?
How about pockets of methane or other gasses being concentrated in certain areas(as in low lying or other....)
Could such pockets of gas incapacatate one or even kill?
Certainly exposure over long periods could build up deposits of harmfull chemicals in human tissue could it not?

reply to post by stirling

My only reservation, each attempt seems more desperate than the last....with conditions worsening , not imporoving in the forseable future

I think the same thing. It's really worrying. I'm hoping that MSM are just scaremongering a bit and the real Oil guys know what their doing....

Maybe i'm just dreaming...

reply to post by grantbeed


The only problem I have with the "scaremongering" characterization is that for most of this crisis there hasn't been sufficient access to information to scaremonger with...

Each day turns up the heat just a little bit as the information begins to trickle out to the public.