Posted on 06/23/2010 10:04:03 AM PDT by The Conservative Monster
By next week the number will be in the hundreds of thousands. And the earth will be at a million degrees, and the entire gulf floor will be collapsing while enough oil is discharged to raise the sea level by 100 feet.
Some speculate as much as 100,000 psi — far too much for current technology to contain. The shutoff vales and safety measures were built for only 1,000 psi.
This is from Petrolium World. The source is at:
http://www.petroleumworld.com/sf10062001.htm
Your right, though. It really seems like a low pressure.
“Funny how the containment vessel will ‘clog’ with methane hydrate crystals, but the well itself won’t.”
The crystals form upon depressurization.
Same principle behind an airconditioner coil
From a more recent thread:
Allen said the small sub bumped into the venting system connected to the containment cap. That sent gas rising through the plumbing that sends warm water down to the cap to prevent solid crystals — known as hydrates — from forming in the cap.
Great minds and all that! :)
Like I said - I was just quoting a source from yesterday. The pressure of the seawater above wouldn’t really impact it. It’s the pressure differential between the two sides of the valve. Even so - it seems awfully low considering that they already suspected that they would be dealing with pressures as high as 100,000 psi.
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