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I wonder how can they guide the relive well(s) so precisely so that it meets the first blow-out well at some 5 miles under water level (3.5 miles under sea floor).
These pipes are only ~12-18" in diameter and they get smaller and smaller the deeper they go. How can they guide this thing with precision of several inches at that depth under ground?
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A client of a friend of mine was 14 miles away when the rig exploded and his rig was moved to drill one of the relief wells. He sent a link to the following that shows how all this is possible.
Relief Well
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I still think it's all a scam - BP is in it to save as much oil as possible to keep this "gold mine" going. They are playing up how they are gathering more and more oil from the well each day, but still not getting it all. There was a great NPR interview yesterday with a BP exec. NPR grilled him mercilessly, and he came across as a slick salesman, always ignoring the question and spewing propaganda - spinning the situation to make it look like BP is the good guy. He even evaded the question about the original oil flow estimates that BP staunchly stood by (5000 barrels a day) when others were saying closer to 50000.
I noticed that the idea of killing the well entirely didn't last long. Is it possible? Feasible? I don't know since I'm not an expert in the area of oil drilling. I must have missed that discussion. However, that would seem to be the best - to kill it so it does not spew forth any more oil. However, that would be a loss for BP, which they apparently don't want. It sickens me to hear them talk about how they are putting forth maximal effort to rectify the situation. Supposedly, if something like this were to happen, they were ready with equipment to prevent a catastrophe.
Obviously not.
Sorry about the rant. :mad:
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The rather brief article I read suggested that they use magnetism to get a bead on the casing of the blown well. As they get close, they remove the drill bit after every 10 feet of advance, insert a probe to get a reading, make adjustments and resume.
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BP will kill this specific well since they have no control over the flow, etc. But I am certain at some point in the future they will drill new wells into the same oil reservoir to recover the oil down there. But at least then they will be watched much closer on blow out prevention and other issues. As it is, they have little profit in letting this well continue, most of the oil is either escaping or being burned off. They are not getting much suitable to send to a refinery.
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An empirical response would be
"The same way Porcupines make love. Slowly and Carefully."
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If we can put a man on the moon.....
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kinna feels like an SNL sketch, I'm surprised they'd shoot with burning oil in the background,
But there are some young faces in that vid.
The only thing is, BeePee was so poorly prepared for a black swan the first time, I wonder if they're better prepared this time.
"Being wrong isn't a choice, but staying wrong is." - Mark Minervini
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Music is how we decorate time.”
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