Are there any options to stop the oil spill?

[AzNick]

Your head in a bucket of sand?

Prayer?

Demolition charges?

[Oregone]

1. Yeah. Stopping it is easy

Stopping it and maintaining the oil well for further oil collection is a whole other ball game

[DURHAM D]

3. What is the easy way to stop it? nt

[Oregone]

5. Charges

[DURHAM D]

6. At what depth?

And what makes you certain it won't make the problem worse not better.

[Oregone]

7. Theyll still explode at 5000 feet underwater

[DURHAM D]

9. At the top of the well on the surface of the ocean bed? nt

[Oregone]

13. Ask the demolition experts who have done this to oil wells before underwater

[DURHAM D]

15. Aren't we in new territory here

with the amount of gas in this well?

[Oregone]

17. Isn't every situation in life unique in its own way?

This type of operation has been performed successfully more than once

[NNN0LHI]

2. Good news. Drilling a relief well will work. Its been done before

Bad news. Takes several months to do it.

Don

[DURHAM D]

4. Won't the "relief" well only be partial relief?

Given the size of the reserves seems like the main hole could continue to produce gas and oil for decades.

[NNN0LHI]

8. No, I think once they drill into the well thats leaking they are then able ...

... to install another hunk of pipe with a shut off valve so they can cap it later. But before they shut it off the pressure from the first well is so low that they can then pour concrete into it which will then seal that well forever. Then after the cement cures a little they can then shut off/cap the new well.

At least thats the way I understand it. Still a mess.

Don

[DURHAM D]

11. Will they be drilling into the old casing or will they be down below the casing

with the slant well?

[Statistical]

14. I don't think BP has given that much details yet.

[Vilis Veritas]

10. I think it is meant to plug the well, temporarily.

From what I've read, and I could be wrong, they plug the existing well. Then they can go back later after they install better protections and re-open the well.

[Statistical]

12. The relief well will be used to seal the main well.

They will use relief well to pump drilling mud into main well to stop flow (push oil back down the well under weight/pressure of drilling mud).

Once that is accomplished there are two route:
a) removed damaged BOP and riser stack. Install new ocean floor complex, release drilling mud and check for leaks.
b) (likely will only be used if a fails) use the relief well to flood main well with concrete (imagine a mile long concrete plug) to seal the well up tight.

It will work (eventually) it has been done hundreds of times in the past. The problems are:
1) It has never been done at 5000 ft
2) It will take 90 days (started 10 days ago) to drill.
2) It can require a 2nd or 3rd relief well (BP started 2nd relief well yesterday).

The idea that BP is allowing the spill in order to get oil is silly. Regardless of how they seal this well they are going to drill another well into this pocket. Actually they will drill a couple dozen wells into this pocket.

If it is as big as they are saying it is well it would take couple hundred years to exhaust the well via a single well (like drinking a swimming pool from 1 straw). So they will put in as many wells as economical.

[DURHAM D]

16. Thank you. Good information. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

18. You see they don't want to 'stop' the oil. They want to 'cap' the well and collect all the oil

coming out of the drilled hole. These are two different things.