[jackietree]

The one billion barrels in estimated reserves mentioned by Blitzer is similar to the number stated by Bush Energy Adviser Matthew Simmons during a June 15 interview with Bloomberg TV.

Simmons concluded BP’s ruptured well could flow for 25 to 30 years at a rate of 120,000 barrels a day.

120,000 barrels/day * 365 days/year * 25 years = 1.095 billion barrels.

[ballplayer]

This is Bull,we all know that Oil wells are all tapped out,no more oil to be gotten,Windmills are the Future

[raybbr]

Shouldn’t they be racing there with every available rig to start new holes?

[muir_redwoods]

Wow, it’s just too damned bad we don’t have an oilman in the Whitehouse.

[luvbach1]

I thought we were running out of oil but it seems this well is chock full of crude: “BP’s ruptured well could flow for 25 to 30 years at a rate of 120,000 barrels a day.” Probably many like it. We need oil. 0bummer’s vague proposal for replacing fossil fuels (with what?)is just another scheme that will waste billions we don’t have. Nuclear energy is the answer for many energy needs but the Demonrats, beholden to enviuronmental extremists, won’t touch it.

[moovova]

A billion barrels?

Oil for everyone, forever!

Thank God, we’re saved!

(I’m gonna buy that Hemi I’ve always wanted...)

[AlexW]

I think it was on Kook to Kook AM that they had some “expert”
suggesting many nightmare scenarios, including a HUGE gas bubble under the sea bed, as well as numerous fissures that
might open up, due to the relief well drilling, unleashing billions of barrels of oil that could flow for MANY years.

To say that this situation is under control may be quite premature.

[TSgt]

99 cent gasoline again!

[Diogenesis]

[ETL]

Seems to me it might be a good idea to have in the future a submersible like “ALVIN” or a robotic sub specially fitted for such situations standing by. This way they can have better control over the repair attempts.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Another danger?

Is there "a gas bubble 15-20 miles across 10+ feet high near BP's oil well head?"

If so can it rise to the surface? Would that destroy buoyancy for 15-20 miles around?

[Dem Guard]

I wonder if they aren't looking at this leak as being more complicated than it really is. Why the heck don't they just put a metal cone cover over this well head and just weigh it down (bury it) with large bags of crushed rock (cement) until it no longer leaks. If they end up building a little mountain over the thing so what?

[farlander]

It would stop gushing LOOONG before that. As soon as the pressure in the oil reservoir went below the pressure of the ocean above it would stop shooting oil out. Generally what we have here is the ‘primary extraction’ - ie, drill a hole and it flows by itself. The primary extraction is good for only 25-30% of the total reserves, in normal circumstances. Probably less here as I would assume it would have to overcome the water pressure above. Not to be minimizing the disaster, just trying to keep sensationalism in check.

[Starstruck]

That would supply the U.S. all their oil needs for two months.

[Wonder Warthog]

Wereley is as big a fraud as Simmons. The guy is a mechanical engineering professor with NO background of any sort in any aspect of petroleum engineering. His research is in MICROFLUIDICS, fer gawd’s sake. Which is about as far removed from the situation “downhole” as exists in science and still involves flowing liquids.

[Condor51]

*** 120,000 barrels/day * 365 days/year * 25 years = 1.095 billion barrels. ***

You forgot to factor in Leap Years.

[rbg81]

In the 60s, there was a sci-fi fick called “Crack in the World”. It was about an attempt to tap magma in the Earth’s core with a nuke. Except the nuke ended up causing a crack in the Earth’s crust that started to spread. It threatened to litteral cut the world in too. Scientists tried to stop the crack with a 2nd nuke, but it just caused it to reverse course. At the end of the film, the now oval shaped crack ended up resulting in the birth of another moon from magma within the Earth’s core.

With Obama “in charge”, look for a similar type disaster here.

[DTogo]

Why not lower an over-sized pipe/tube (~10 feet wide x 5000ft. long) over the wellhead and connect it to a large flat kevlar reinforced collection bag on the surface that tankers could tap into?

Deepwater Horizon II: a floating "lilly pad" (colostomy bag?) until a more permanent solution is found.

[PA-RIVER]

Two question for reporters who aren’t licking Obamas Azz:

1. Has Obama returned the 70,000 in campaign funds from BP, before they got the permit for this well?

2. Has Rahm Emanual paid BP for the apartment he received, rent free, before they got the permit for this well?

[Eddie01]

This from the guy who said yesterday, “it’s too early to judge this president, he’s only 18 months into the job”.

[hennie pennie]

I've seen a couple interviews with nuclear physicist Michio Kaku who emphatically stated that it is entirely possible that the current leak conditions last for many years.

I am curious as to whether the Deep Horizon oil spill is related to this article from last fall:

BP makes massive oil find in deep Gulf of Mexico ----------------------------------------------- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2331501/posts?page=1

The Times-Picayune |
September 02, 2009 |
Jen DeGregorio Posted on 09/03/2009 1:26:38 PM PDT by BBell

BP said Wednesday that it has drilled the world's deepest oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and found a giant pool of crude, a discovery that promises to make an indelible mark on the south Louisiana economy.

The Tiber Prospect is expected to rank among the largest petroleum discoveries in the United States, potentially producing half as much crude in a day as Alaska's famous North Slope oil field.

Louisiana energy circles were abuzz with news of the discovery Wednesday....