Professor: Low pressure reading may suggest well has lost power, not that it's leaking

The Times-Picayune ^ | Friday, July 16, 2010, 2:04 PM | Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

As a team of scientists works to interpret pressure readings inside the blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, a geologist who has been following the gusher said a pressure reading of lower than the 8,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch target that officials have said they are hoping for does not necessarily indicate bad news.

The 6,700 pound- per-square inch pressure reading logged inside the blown-out Macondo well this morning may suggest that the well has lost power over the almost three-month-long period it has flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not that the well is leaking somewhere beneath the sea floor, a geologist who has been following the gusher said.

The reservoir could have "deflated" since it began leaking April 20, reducing the amount of pressure it is capable of producing, said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, Director of the Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[omega4179]

Come on I read here the real leak is miles away and is a planet killer.

[Freddd]

In other words...they are hoping the readings mean something other than what they told us the readings would mean.

More deception.

[HushTX]

You know what else it could mean?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This would explain why there is another plume of oil and Obama won't let anybody get near it.

[BOBTHENAILER]

PANIC in the STREETS.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE

Ern, you should know not to post anything that indicates a less than catastrophic outcome to this DOOMSDAY WELL.

[DManA]

Are you #$%43 telling me they capped the $##@$#@$@#$ thing after all the %$%#$$##@$ oil got out?

[Current Occupant]

The thing I have never understood about this thing is that they say they plug the well or cap it. Does that mean they will just abandon it and leave all that oil there? Seems like they would want to get as much of as they could.

Guess I just don’t get it.

[Vendome]

Studies indicate and Experts say....

Blah, blah, blah.

F-ing liars through obfuscation, ommission and deception.

The damn thing is broke.

Like I told another poster 5 or 6 weeks ago, the casing likely fractured below the surface and was eroded by rock, sand and other debris through some 87 days of spewing detris.

In this day and age, if they are expecting a certain PSI it should be off by no more than 3+/-.

Otherwise the lofty experts at BP and the government should be hauled into court and charged with shear stupidity.

Instead, the reading is currently some 17-25% at variance with expectations?

There is a leak and the White House knows it, maybe. They are on vacation, again.

[NormsRevenge]

if true, then all the more reason to suck that sucker dry,, let the crude flow.. finish the other holes and milk it there too....

[UCANSEE2]

In other words...they are hoping the readings mean something other than what they told us the readings would mean.

Of course. They also must have their reasons to assume the pressure would not naturally decrease.

However, they may be wrong. This Professor may be correct.

The IMPORTANT point here is that THEY ARE ALL GUESSING.

No one KNOWS, no one has any way of PROVING it at this point, on either side of the question.

[VaRepublican]

so the well is holding back ONLY 6700 psi?

[Vendome]

The Horrors! PLEASE! NO!!!!

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[J Edgar]

... This would explain why there is another plume of oil and Obama won’t let anybody get near it. ...

Can you share the source of your information. I have heard this several times, but can’t find the news source. I would like to verify for myself. Thanks.

[oh8eleven]

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE
"Women and minorities hardest hit."

[csmusaret]

Speaking of news, has anyone heard what the “A Whale” is up to?. The last I heard was a couple of weeks ago. Any updates?

[HushTX]

My theory of what actually happened can be clearly seen at 0:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7ck5mcd1o

Jokes aside, who actually thinks is the last we'll hear of this mess?

And my wife, who works for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, mentioned that the President might have violated federal law in his handling of the oil spill. Apparently there is a provision in the Oil Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 that requires the federal government to handle any such crisis. It cannot be passed off to another party, even the owner of the rig. She is looking through to find the exact provision so I can post it, but given that she is an anti-Obama, conservative who works for an environmental agency I'm inclined to trust her judgment on these things.

That and I don't want to read the Act.

[Palladin]

Time to call Barack back to D>C> and put another “hex” on his vacations.

BOO-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-HA!

[tarheelswamprat]

Debbie Gibson has sure come a long way, hasn’t she?