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Gulf Oil Leak Plugged?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the no-harm-done-right dept.

RobHart writes "The LA Times is reporting that the Gulf oil leak appears to have been plugged by the 'top kill.' 'Thad Allen, who is coordinating the government response, says the well still has low pressure, but cement will be used to cap the well permanently as soon as the pressure hits zero.'"

5 of 611 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Too early by Dishevel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because there was a chance that it could make the situation worse. They were trying things first that if they went wrong would not make the problem worse.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  2. Re:Too early by bratloaf · · Score: 5, Informative

    They were working on this from the start, as well as the "top hat" that will probably not be needed now. They had at least 3 different methods working in parallel. This one took this long because it was unbelievably complicated and had never been tried at anything even close to this depth. This (the actual stoppage) is an amazing success for the many 100's of skilled engineers that have been working around the clock on it for weeks. (Mostly not BP people BTW)

  3. Re:glad to see this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm looking forward to seeing BP get raked over the coals. Bastards. The way they attempted to cover up how bad the spill is is really disgusting. See http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html

  4. Engineers/Geologists on the Status of Top Kill by Gooseygoose · · Score: 5, Informative
    Pretty good stuff over at The Oil Drum on this...they just said they have two unconfirmed reports that cementing will start within hours on their twitter feed- http://twitter.com/theoildrum

    latest "live" thread with great insights in the comments: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6515

    Relevant links to top kill procedure (scroll to comments in each, they're very good.)

    Deepwater Oil Spill - Permissions and Concerns about Top Kill http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6513

    Deep Water Spill - Waiting for Top Kill (more updated tech) http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6509

    The Gulf Deepwater Oil Spill - the Top Kill Attempt (the technical aspect of what just happened) http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6505

    The Gulf Deepwater Oil Spill, barriers, flow rates, and top kill http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6501

    Hope you find this informative...

  5. Not so fast there... by TrisexualPuppy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was told by one of my old girlfriends who works for Schlumberger (she has her own sources) that this isn't a permanent fix. They are doing a top fill because it is faster than waiting for the relief well to do a bottom fill. This top fill is likely a temporary measure, and they are still going to have to drill a relief well to intercept the main well which is going to take time.

    We can only pray that once they cap this, it sticks till they can get the relief well fully drilled.