(becasue it cased in from top to bottom)
If they were still in the drilling process there would X
amount of open hole from the bottom of the last casing that
had been set to the bottom of the hole. This well had been finished and they had run casing from top to bottom.
(Basically 1 big long piece of steel pipe.) There is no open formation to cave in and bridge the well over. There is the rare possibility the casing could collapse. But that is highly unlikely. I hope this answers your question.
“There is the rare possibility the casing could collapse.”
On another thread about suggested solutions there is talk of using a nuke in an adjacent well to “collapse” the casing downhole. The Russians have done that successfully in the past.
That should be considered an option to use the “relief well” hole for that purpose if (when!?) the relief well(s) don’t work. Of course they’ll probably drill a 12-inch hole for the relief well, and find out later that the smallest nuke package that could work needs 18-inches.