Now let's pray it's accurate and that it holds until the well is plugged.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38255728/ns/di...gulf/?GT1=43001

Has anyone read or know about the long term likelihood of actually capping a well. When they talked about the relief wells originally, I thought they were going to be used to begin taking oil back from this source. I heard yesterday that they are only to be used to inject mud and concrete to seal the well. Given the concerns about pressure forcing this cap to blow a hole in other parts of the system is there likelihood that over time this thing basically ruptures itself into and empties into the gulf?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38305004/ns/di..._gulf?GT1=43001

I have a baaaaad feeling about this.

me too, that extreme pressure on that pipe may blow it in another place, then they are fooked!

Well this is just a temporary solution until the relief well is in place. So it doesn't need to hold for long.

i know, hopefully they can complete it before anything goes wrong.

I didn't think that there was any plan for a relief well. Just two wells drilled with the intent to intercept the existing well and inject mud and cement to plug this well. Not having a well to relieve the pressure and exhume more oil is what worries me.

5-10 years from now i have a feeling this will go down as one of the biggest scams in history....whos involved will be the surprise, i assume.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100...-command-center

An excerpt from the link below:

He said that the procedure could speed the process of sealing the well and that the digging of a relief well, which has been seen as the ultimate solution and could be completed by August, might be needed only to confirm that the technique had worked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/us/20oil...q=BP&st=cse

I am beginning to wonder if ambiguous quotes and poorly written articles are intentional. This is a larger excerpt of the story

Kent Wells, a senior vice president for BP, said the company was studying the possibility of a “static kill,” in which heavy mud would be pumped into the recently capped well. Also known as bullheading, the procedure would force the oil and gas back down into the reservoir.

“The static kill does give us a new option,” he said at a briefing in Houston. A decision to proceed could be made in several days, Mr. Wells said.

He said that the procedure could speed the process of sealing the well and that the digging of a relief well, which has been seen as the ultimate solution and could be completed by August, might be needed only to confirm that the technique had worked.

.....so does this mean that the primary plan is Static Kill and that the relief well confirms whether it worked? Then what happens to the relief well?

I think they are digging the relief well regardless. The static kill is now possible because the well is capped temporarily. If that doesn't work the relief well will do it. If the static kill works the relief well is a confirmation of that. BP can no longer afford any mistakes here.

thats for sure....but brings me back to the original question about the long term likelihood of the success of plugging a well that still holds pressure. I assume that the physics of these things is that the hole bored gives the escape route for pressurized oil below the bedrock (or whatever they call that layer of the earth). unless the well is emptied to the point of the pressure of the ocean holding the oil down it will continue to have pressure. Will the pressure remain constant? does it dissipate over time by spewing a bit of methane? does it increase for some reason? and most importantly, does filling the bore with mud and concrete really be a permanent cork?

No expert on this so I can't really answer. But I think you get small methane releases, similar to what they picked up last week right after the cap was on. They first thought that was related to this well but both the Government and BP confirm it wasn't.