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To: thackney; valkyry1
Downhole explosions have been used in many wells to expand the oil flow.

Believing that this would stop the well is naive.

You're naive if you think it's impossible to permanently cap crimp demolish that well...rather than drilling relief wells to keep that well alive due to BPs millions invested in it.

At minimum I would like to see the idea discussed out in the open by experts

Link
For more than 100 years, explosives have been used to break the necks of runaway oil wells, snapping the long, narrow columns and sealing them shut with tons and tons of rock. Over the last several days, our 24-hour news cycle has pumped us full of excruciating details about the failed efforts to siphon, cap off, and ultimately recover the oil that is gushing into the Gulf. The latest nonsense and false hope, a mile-long pipe designed to divert some of the oil flow, is like putting a 4-inch straw into a 22-inch-diameter fire hose. It's a sordid attempt by BP at drinking its own milkshake. But the problem with this disaster response is that the ideas BP has brought to the table all seem to ignore the simplest solution: permanently destroying the well.

The ideas BP has brought to the table all seem to ignore the simplest solution: permanently destroying the well.

BP’s incentives are obvious. A deep-sea oil well costs hundreds of millions of dollars to drill, so the company prefers to bumble through never-before-tried recovery efforts than destroy its investment. Furthermore, BP is probably hedging its bets—if it loses this well, lawmakers will likely ban it from drilling there again. In other words, if BP loses the well, it loses both the enormous sunk costs of drilling it and the expected cash flow from all the remaining oil. Thus, even in the midst of this crisis, BP appears to be just as concerned with protecting its shareholders as with stopping this catastrophe.

Enough is enough. It’s time to destroy the well and put the matter to rest.

 


27 posted on 05/22/2010 7:49:23 AM PDT by dennisw (The falser the prophet the more mentally deranged the adherents)
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To: dennisw
Destroy the well, you destroy the means to control it. I do not know what you are using for sources, but I have worked as a geologist in the Oil industry for over 30 years. I have never worked for BP, nor do I have any financial interest in the company.

At issue is not saving the well, but controlling it for the purpose of plugging the well so that it will remain that way.

Wild-eyed calls for destruction of the wellbore whether by nuclear or conventional means all require drilling down beside the wellbore, which is what relief wells do.

Imagine keeping a six inch drill string in a 4 foot layer for two miles. It is done daily, and often the location of the layer is inferred from data as the well is being drilled.

How much easier it must be to hit a target where the survey data is known, relative position is known (within a few inches), and the geology is known.

The relief wells won't be wildcats.

Wells in the oil industry, even at the end of their life as oil wells, aren't "cap drimp demolished", they are plugged with cement plugs. Explosions are used to enable production, not stop it.

Maybe you need to go back and watch the Hellfighters--they used explosives to snuff out the flames by consuming oxygen (still a viable technique), but the well was controlled by installing valves on the wellhead.

The relief wells will permit the well to be plugged, and relief wells have been used before.

35 posted on 05/22/2010 8:13:21 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: dennisw

Yea ,...let’s widen the Hole...ROFL!


67 posted on 05/23/2010 2:34:08 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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