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ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: Plug the damn hole!!! (5/28/2010 3:21:05 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: KYsissy
Brainiacsub, LUV this alias BTW. I don't know if people understand that there is no rulebook for this. This has never been attempted before and hopefully never needs to be again. This is right up there with the space program. people operating huge complex machines and making their best guess as to what to do next. I heard that this well was a much better producer than anticipated. Which would be have been good had it been capped as planned so they could move the rig. It really sucks now for obvious reasons.
From what I understand, they need more mud, ALOT more mud. they can stem the flow for a while but they need to throw so much crap at this pipe at one time and maintain the rate of jamming crap in this pipe long enough for the cement to set up. They run out of mud before they can begin pumping cement in. The mud is also a manufactured substance, how much of this can they locate and get to the site in the next few days? All this against the enormous pressure at 1 mile below the surface.
It's not a question of whether they have enough mud, it's a question of whether they can get enough of it into the hole fast enough to stop the flow before it gets flushed out by the outflowing oil.
I'm not sure how much they went out there with, but I do know it was several hundred thousand gallons. I'm just not sure how many hundreds of thousands. I know they're good for a few more days with what they have on hand, and if it hasn't worked by then it's not going to work anyway. I think they've got enough to see it through one way or the other, but it's a good question, and I'll try to find out for sure.
quote:
ORIGINAL: KYsissy
And what the hell do people think the government can do about this? Throw all available military personnel at the problem? They can't do squat either. The only ones who can are the oil companies. The equipment is so specialized and I would bet most of it is custom made to spec. And damn it, if the other oil companies ever want to have a prayer of drilling in the gulf they better send what they got to help out BP.
I don't think anyone could reasonably believe the feds could do a better job of stopping the leak, and I haven't seen anyone calling for that. I think what most people would like to see is a stronger federal government effort to mitigate the effect, such as facilitating the building of sand berms to protect coastal areas and organizing better cleanup procedures. Also, I'd like to see the Administration take a stronger approach to asserting their authority over BP. Once again, BP yanked them around yesterday by suspending the operation for 16 hours while telling the government that they were continuing to pump mud. If the government is really in charge of this operation, as Obama asserted, why isn't BP acting as though that's the case?
As for other oil companies chipping in, believe me - they are all on board, 110%. Much of the equipment that BP is using was bought, borrowed, or leased from other oil companies, and right now every oil company in the Gulf answers the phone on the first ring if the caller ID says "BP." BP has bought out the leases of several ships that were contracted to other companies for different projects, as well as literally boatloads of specialized equipment. The high pressure hose that they're using to pump the mud, for example - I've been told that BP has purchased the entire world supply of that hose, and I haven't heard of anyone refusing to cooperate. Every oil company in the Gulf of Mexico has pretty much put themselves at BP's disposal, as far as I know. This is one where they all know that if they don't hang together, they will surely hang separately.
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