[justa-hairyape]

From what I read on the Oil Drum, they could convert the second Relief Well into a Production well. It has a better casing run then the Exploratory Macondo Well. The first Relief Well is probably just too close to the Wild Well bore now. If Relief Well 1 cements the Macondo Well, then the second RW one could be a Production Well, but we need to first determine how they lost the original Exploratory Well. That will take congressional hearings, lawsuits and quite a few years. Time to open up ANWAR and do shallow water wells. Can you just imagine how Chavez would handle a Blow Out like this ? Oil Leak ? What Oil Leak ? Arrest that man.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Chavez would have just had them seal the well. And if the early testing here by BP is any indication, sealing the well while you drilled a new relief well might well have worked.

It was too much of a risk for BP and the Obama administration — but sometimes when you take risks you get rewarded.