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[Nonsapient]

BP is drilling two relief wells.  it'll take several months (seabed is REALLY hard to drill accurately in, because it is so soft)  but that's about the only thing that is going to fix this.  Everything else is just a stopgap solution.


That is a project that would be really neat to be involved in;  drilling at that depth, trying to intersect an 8-3/4" hole? 
i wonder how they have their two tools hooked up.  I THINK Halliburton has some stuff that lets you triangulate based on magnetic interference at depth, (they were setting casing, so you should have some nice heavy pipe to sense) but I haven't found who is drilling the relief wells (Transocean is technically,  but someone else will be in charge of the directional drilling side).  It's a safe bet that Halliburton is involved though.

[Criptfeind]

Anyone know how long tell it hits the gulf stream?

[zchris13]

It has to get around florida first, so probably quite a while.  And your seawater will only taste mildly funny.  Not that you'd notice, it's seawater.

[Duke 2.0]

 I'm actually slightly want to see a hurricane pass through there, just to see what happens.

[Aqizzar]

I'm actually slightly want to see a hurricane pass through there, just to see what happens.

Oil all over the place, that's what.  It'll be raining black in Baton Rouge.

I'm too lazy and preoccupied to find a good link right now, but anyone interested in the hard politics behind this debacle should check out the Senate hearings today.  British Petroleum, Transocean, and our old friends Haliburton (because it wouldn't be a party without them) testifying that everything was someone else's fault, and that they were all totally in compliance with America's oceanic drilling laws, passed in 1978.  It be depressing if it weren't so hilarious.

As an update to my original list, Spill Cleanup Option 2 - Gentler On Hands turns out to be a bad idea.  The soap stuff is actually like a hundred times more poisonous to Florida coral and microbial life than the oil itself is.  Needless to say, BP already dumped like 500 gallons into the stew.  Uh oh.

[Grakelin]

In Soviet Russia, environment destroys you!

[Footkerchief]

In Soviet Russia, environment destroys you!

Germany learned this the hard way.

[userpay]

In Soviet Russia, environment destroys you!

Germany learned this the hard way.

So true.

[Urist Imiknorris]

As an update to my original list, Spill Cleanup Option 2 - Gentler On Hands turns out to be a bad idea.  The soap stuff is actually like a hundred times more poisonous to Florida coral and microbial life than the oil itself is.  Needless to say, BP already dumped like 500 gallons into the stew.  Uh oh.

Figures they'd try the solution that's worse than the problem first.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

As an update to my original list, Spill Cleanup Option 2 - Gentler On Hands turns out to be a bad idea.  The soap stuff is actually like a hundred times more poisonous to Florida coral and microbial life than the oil itself is.  Needless to say, BP already dumped like 500 gallons into the stew.  Uh oh.

Figures they'd try the solution that's worse than the problem first.

500 gallons ... is not much soap?

[Nonsapient]

I'm actually slightly want to see a hurricane pass through there, just to see what happens.

As an update to my original list, Spill Cleanup Option 2 - Gentler On Hands turns out to be a bad idea.  The soap stuff is actually like a hundred times more poisonous to Florida coral and microbial life than the oil itself is.  Needless to say, BP already dumped like 500 gallons into the stew.  Uh oh.

Can I get a link to that?  I'm curious what they're using. 

[de5me7]

Oil Geyser Option 2 - Pray For Peak Oil?
One option not commonly being discussed, which goes hand-in-hand with the 3+ month drilling project, is the possibility that the well will just run out of pressure and stop leaking.  There's only so much oil down there after all, and the water pressure is pretty high.  Why that hasn't happened yet, I don't know, but I guess it's squeezing the oil out like a pimple right now.  Anyway, twiddling our thumbs is always a good backup plan.

but peak oil is a myth, the most hansom politicians of my nation have assured me that only demand controls the amount of oil on earth.

my suggestion build a rig above but with a size smaller drill. Then instead of fitting a drill fit a plug and plug it down. Or drill some more holes and try to drain the oil as quickly as possible (in to barrels).

[Nonsapient]

Oil Geyser Option 2 - Pray For Peak Oil?
One option not commonly being discussed, which goes hand-in-hand with the 3+ month drilling project, is the possibility that the well will just run out of pressure and stop leaking.  There's only so much oil down there after all, and the water pressure is pretty high.  Why that hasn't happened yet, I don't know, but I guess it's squeezing the oil out like a pimple right now.  Anyway, twiddling our thumbs is always a good backup plan.

but peak oil is a myth, the most hansom politicians of my nation have assured me that only demand controls the amount of oil on earth.

my suggestion build a rig above but with a size smaller drill. Then instead of fitting a drill fit a plug and plug it down. Or drill some more holes and try to drain the oil as quickly as possible (in to barrels).

There's still pipe attached to it, is the problem. 

Drill pipe is shaped kind of like this---   D=====C     with the D and C being where the joints screw together.  (Each piece is about 32 feet long.)  This area is strengthened and thicker, because it has to withstand a lot of torque.  The Blowout Preventer everyone is talking about is really just a hydraulic shear;  it is a wedge that is supposed to cut through the pipe in a === thin section and close off the well.  Unfortunately, the BOP was engaged when the thicker section was in the way;  it just jammed instead, and allowewd a leak.
 

Drilling through pipe and such IS possible, it's just very hard.  The bit tries to travel in the direction of the softer material;  therefore, it'd keep skipping off of the BOP and the pipe and dig in anywhere else it could.  That's why they're doing a relief well instead;  it'd take much less time.

Also,  think of it like this:  pressure is a function of  the amount of mass above you.  If the water pressure is great, the pressure on the oil is GREATER, what with all that rock compressing it. 

[Aqizzar]

The part that amazes me most is that the oil is squirting out at all.  I mean, the water pressure at that depth is like four tons per square inch.  And yet the oil is gushing out like a landbound spindletop, months after the well was drilled and weeks after it broke.  Apparently, there's so much oil down there at at 3000 fathoms, all you have to do is jam a pipe in the ground, and you can't stop the oil from coming out.  I can see why it's so attractive.

As an update to my original list, Spill Cleanup Option 2 - Gentler On Hands turns out to be a bad idea.  The soap stuff is actually like a hundred times more poisonous to Florida coral and microbial life than the oil itself is.  Needless to say, BP already dumped like 500 gallons into the stew.  Uh oh.

Can I get a link to that?  I'm curious what they're using.

I might have gotten my specifics mixed around, but the point is the way the oil is being dispersed is worse for marine life than the oil slick was anyway.

[Grakelin]

Oil Geyser Option 2 - Pray For Peak Oil?
One option not commonly being discussed, which goes hand-in-hand with the 3+ month drilling project, is the possibility that the well will just run out of pressure and stop leaking.  There's only so much oil down there after all, and the water pressure is pretty high.  Why that hasn't happened yet, I don't know, but I guess it's squeezing the oil out like a pimple right now.  Anyway, twiddling our thumbs is always a good backup plan.

but peak oil is a myth, the most hansom politicians of my nation have assured me that only demand controls the amount of oil on earth.

So if we stop demandng it, the oil leak will end! EUREKA!