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Shell Oil ex-CEO: Oil well might "NEVER STOP"; Suggests whole casing system is deteriorating
MSNBC vie You Tube ^ | June 23, 2010

Posted on 06/26/2010 3:56:44 AM PDT by GonzoII

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To: Former Proud Canadian

Yea, I’m aware of the concept. But consider that even though you might fuse the rock around the well bore; it could also create more fissures further out thus creating more avenues for oil to escape.

Some of the reports I’ve read have suggested that even the drilling mud has fractured the rock, meaning it is fragile in some places.

Look, I’m all for stopping this well, but let’s not make things worse than they already are.


101 posted on 06/26/2010 7:17:55 AM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: All
If anything on this thread....

I am getting history information and am enjoying the discussion back and forth between opposite viewpoints, without the f bomb thrown.

This is why I love FreeRepublic.

102 posted on 06/26/2010 7:27:12 AM PDT by WakeUpAndVote (God save the Gulf, no one else will or can.)
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To: AFreeBird

“So your idea is to create more cracks in the rock and give the oil more avenues to escape?”

The nukers are hell-bent on making a horrible disaster a super-horrible disaster.


103 posted on 06/26/2010 7:29:49 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: nikos1121
If they could get it in the hole they would have already used what is called a tension packer to seal it. It's made of hardened steel and rubber seals. You lower it into the hole, turn it to release what looks like teeth on a pipe wrench. These teeth then bite into the inside of the pipe to hold it in place while you pull up on it causing the rubber seals to expand and press against the inside of the pipe sealing it. The pressure from the bottom side will help to push up on the packer and keep the seal.

They can't get it in the hole. There is already another pipe inside the hole, not to mention the fact the pressure keeps them from sticking anything inside the hole. Think of trying to stick a broom straw into a pressure washer tip.

104 posted on 06/26/2010 7:30:08 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: driftdiver

The Russian nuke worked because the explosion compressed layers that were plastic (like clay or something) rather than crumbly/brittle like rock. The compression pinched off the well hole. Personally I think they got lucky though.


105 posted on 06/26/2010 7:31:18 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: netmilsmom; Mr. Wright
The quatrain referred to is I-29 of The Centuries:
  Quand le poisson terrestre et aquatique
  Par forte vague au gravier sera mis,
  Sa forme étrange suave et horrifique,
  Par mer aux murs bien tôt les ennemis.

The translation presented above seems to begin to unravel in line three. It is difficult to interpret suave as 'oily'; it derives from Latin suavis meaning 'sweet' or 'pleasant'. I suppose in some contexts it might imply 'oil', but it is a stretch.

Also, to interpret mer as 'seawater' is a bit of a stretch, but possible. 'Steadily' and 'climb' simply do not appear in the OF text.

106 posted on 06/26/2010 7:34:12 AM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise)
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To: Bon mots
Again, nobody knows if it will work...

Which is exactly why we should do it. I'm sure no EPA, OSHA or union rules would be violated here.

But now, with all this talk of seriously using the nuclear option, you got me thinking of possible Doomsday Scenarios.

Lets pretend that the real reason why there is so much pressure behind this oil, is because we have gotten remarkably close to a volcanic done between the oil pool the earth's inner core. And the seabed is sort of like a dam of earth and water between all of that evil and the environment we inhabit. So we cook off this nuclear warhead, but somehow, as in all government operations, the thing goes FUBAR and someone forgets to dial in "Plug The Damn Hole" on our deap-sea submersible W80 and instead it defaults to full power "Blow up the Astroid" mode, you know the one, where instead of using fusion or fission, it kicks into matter/anit-matter mode.

So instead of there just being a leaking pipe, we discover the original drilling was akin to boring a hole into the already fragile and questionably stable Three Gorges Dam. So punching in yet another hole further weakening our dam, we compound our foolishness by cooking off a nuke. The dam breaks and oil comes gushing out from a crater left behind the weakened wall of seabed. The seabed now collapses into the void made by the escaping oil. Water now pours in by the millions of gallons replacing what was once highly pressurized oil and methane.

The dramatic shift in the environment (including that nuclear blast) has caused the volcanic seam to crack open further and into the place where the oil once was. Now as the water displaces the oil it meets up with the magma and rapidly converts to steam. Steam as you know takes more room than liquid. Now we have endless water being poured on an open seam to the boundless heat of the earth's inner core, the compounding explosions of power of water vaporizing we have the ecological equivalent of a matter/anti-matter chain reaction.

The sea floor, rather than caving in, is blown outwards by the force of a million hurricanes. The methane ignites and creates a fireball visible from deep space burning up most of the world's oxygen and the sea water not yet converted to steam creates the mother of all tsunamis that knocks down homes in Kansas City.

We then cut to a scene, a thousand years from now as a weather beaten man and woman clothed only in tattered animals skins stare out into an ANWAR like desert wondering how they might tell their children many generations off about the Second Global Flood.

Royalties for the movie rights can be sent to underwrite the operating costs of Free Republic

107 posted on 06/26/2010 7:34:21 AM PDT by The Theophilus
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To: dangus
Notice something else?

He talked about the degrading casing at the bottom of the hole as to why they might not be able to seal it, but didn't mention the procedure called a washover that could be used to pull the entire “degrading” string out of the hole.

Cleaver huh?

108 posted on 06/26/2010 7:38:47 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: MinuteGal

Ooops! Forgot to give you the ping; see my #106 ... and thanks for the heads up.


109 posted on 06/26/2010 7:40:57 AM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise)
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To: cajungirl

“Nukes are not dangerous?”

Now I think I`ve finally heard everything.


110 posted on 06/26/2010 7:43:23 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: netmilsmom

I would say, we better get skimming. This is an opportunity waiting if the Unions would get out of the way. Put in an “executive order” that any oil recovered is the property of the skimmer and innovation takes over.***********

This is what I have been telling friends. It would be like a gold rush! The stuff would never get to the shoreline..


111 posted on 06/26/2010 7:45:21 AM PDT by US_MilitaryRules (Where is our military?)
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To: Notary Sojac

“To the “nuke it” posters here:”

I`m thanking God the nukers are`nt in charge.


112 posted on 06/26/2010 7:45:52 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: nikos1121

What are they doing actually, crossing through the existing well hole?


Yes that’s the goal. When they intersect the existing bore they will pump mud down to that point and let it begin to come back up the orginal bore towards the surface. They’ll keep increasing the weight of the mud until they reach a point that the length of the mud in the bore plus its weight will stop the flow. Then they can place the cement plug in.

Remember the mud was holding this well until they took it out and replaced it with sea water when they were trying to complete the final process after the first cementing job. That is when the well blew.


113 posted on 06/26/2010 8:02:39 AM PDT by deport
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To: netmilsmom
Put in an “executive order” that any oil recovered is the property of the skimmer and innovation takes over. <<

Exactly.....at $70 a barrel every Tom Dick and Harry with an industrial shopvac will be fighting for the best “fishing spots”

114 posted on 06/26/2010 8:13:46 AM PDT by M-cubed
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To: nikos1121

Click the following link for a schematic of the operation and estimated depth/location of the relief wells.

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAGING/local_assets/downloads_pdfs/ReliefWellDiagram06202010.pdf


115 posted on 06/26/2010 8:14:05 AM PDT by deport
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To: cajungirl

Cancer does not necessarily run in families, as it were, though some types are linked to family history. Exposure to toxins is a potential explanation, but you would need a much larger sample size than your family. It’s just that just because something has not been prevalent in your family in the past does not mean it never will. As new generations form, your bloodline becomes more and more complex.

I wasn’t even making a comment on the oil situation. I see no reason why the relief well won’t work, so I highly doubt the nuclear option will ever even be used. Relief wells are the known solution and it was started almost immediately. The other attempts were never really expected to work but they were comparatively cheap and worth the risk.


116 posted on 06/26/2010 8:18:51 AM PDT by flintsilver7 (Honest reporting hasn't caught on in the United States.)
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To: chessplayer

Just when i think I have heard it all. Something else comes along.

Like “Obama is a patriot”


117 posted on 06/26/2010 8:34:08 AM PDT by cajungirl
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To: rickmichaels
If so, God help us. <<

He just may be! He works in mysterious ways,,,

When presented with a bowl of lemons....Make Lemon-aide!!

118 posted on 06/26/2010 8:43:24 AM PDT by M-cubed
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To: Former Proud Canadian
Have you ever seen a Russian oilfield. Anyone who would do things their way is a criminal or crazy.
119 posted on 06/26/2010 8:49:43 AM PDT by HoustonCurmudgeon ("I'll try to be NICER, if you will try to be SMARTER!" ~ MNJohnnie, FReeper)
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To: GonzoII
John is now CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy. He came to be President of Shell Oil (that's Shell USA) not Royal Dutch Shell from Human Resources. He knows as much about drilling as I do about flying, perhaps less.
120 posted on 06/26/2010 8:52:21 AM PDT by HoustonCurmudgeon ("I'll try to be NICER, if you will try to be SMARTER!" ~ MNJohnnie, FReeper)
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