Imagine a garden hose with a high pressure nozzle turned on full blast buried in three feet of mud shooting straight up. Even if you parked a D8 dozer on it , it would continue to leak.
I sent this suggestion to the Deepwater Horizon response suggestion box
" because the geology will not hold the pressure making efforts to plug the leak futile. Can the flow be diverted to the surface by means of a topping cone over the leak with an attached vessel with sufficient ballast to overcome the thrust pressure. Once the flow is diverted to the surface via an increasingly larger diameter pipe system to relieve pressure, the product, mud, hazardous gases, seawater, could be separated and loaded onto tankers and barges or to atmosphere "
I believe you described the next planned step.
Speaking of leaks..how bout shooting some sort double port catheter in the oil drain with an attached inflatable balloon until a better solution can be had...you can control the pressure needed to secure the thing to the back end of the oil drain by adding water or air to the balloon through one port and the other port allows forward passage of fluid (oil in this case) into a container or bag that can be emptied when full.
Ask any doctor or nurse how this works. Yes..I'm talking about a giant catheter like the ones used for bladder leaks, made of possibly an inflatable weather balloon with attached flexible dual port pipe hose to get a temporary controlled release.
If the surface at the back end of the busted oil drain is too rough for a balloon, secure the catheter with a giant spring toggle like they use to secure screws to the back of drywall.
I'm sure the NAVY guys will come up with something to stop this.
It's all Mississippi Delta mud.
Regarding diverting to the surface with a toping cone. I thought this is what they already tried when the methane at that depth froze up and clogged the pipe to the surface. The problem is that there is just not enough data on working at these depths. Also they drilled another 3 miles to reach the oil, and I would be surprised if all 3 miles was just muck.
Huh? How come oil isn't gushing out of holes all over the Gulf then?