Federal government: Relief well must go forward

Source: Washington Post

BP's blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is not yet plugged for good, and work on what's been touted as the permanent solution will need to continue, the federal government said Friday.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man for the spill response, said during a news conference crews must move forward drilling the relief well even though officials were still working out the best way to finish it.

"The relief well will be finished," he said. "We will kill the well."

BP had thought the mud and cement pumped in from above the leak may have essentially killed the well. But the relief well will allow engineers to pump in mud and cement from below, which is intended to permanently seal the well.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081300654.html

to use belt and braces on this issue.

They'd better be careful not to piss off BP.

To allow BP to use that half-assed cap as a final fix is just, well, half-assed.

Diane
Anishnabe in MI

Visit Molly the Barn Owl & her brood at:
http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox

If I understand correctly, the risk with the bottom-kill is that it could crack/rupture the cement already in place from the top-kill. This would possibly cause new leaks to form. I think it good that they are being cautious seeing as the original leak took so long to stop.

That will kill the well so it stays dead, though it may release some oil in the process (which would hopefully be captured by the cap up top.)

while the "gulf is dead" talk is likely hyperbole there still alot of cleanup left. The last thing we need is any more oil flowing.

In theory, the cement should have gone everywhere it needed to go - down the production pipe, and out through the annulus (the space around the pipe inside the well bore.

But we don't know that for certain, and seeing that the Macondo well blew its lid and spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf at least partially because the cement job was bad, it would be a good idea to go in with the relief well, and make damned sure this well stays dead.

I personally think the risks of finishing the job with the relief well bottom-kill are relatively low. Just IMHO.