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The Gulf's 'Zombie' well is not dead after all, ex-Admiral Thad Allen admitted in a press briefing today, brushing aside earlier official pronouncements that the well was "static," and optimistic spin that a relief well might never be needed.
Return Of The BP Zombie Well
Seeded on Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:44 PM EDT
Article Source: Fintan Dunne- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (12)
"We will kill the well," the national incident commander told journalists, while brandishing a wooden stake and wearing a string of powerful Haitian Ju-Ju beads. [/satire]
Allen denied comments that he, BP and the Obama scientific team are now as far up Sh!t Creek as they have ever been, because they applied a band-aid-like top kill and cement to the interior of the leaking oil pipe, when all signs pointed to oil flowing outside the pipe.
"Sh!t Creek?,"Allen replied when queried. "Not sure if we have any response teams operating there. But if we're not there now, you can rest assured we soon will be." [/satire]
- 4 votes
#1 - Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:46 PM EDTThat's simple logic from Breen, who clearly can understand the basics of how wells work. But there are now two versions of the truth:
Truth Version A - Thad Allen:
No appreciable pressure change, so the well's not flowing up the outside of the pipe. But we're going to do a relief well bottom kill anyway--just to be sure. Not because we have to. Just to be on the safe side. Purely precautionary.
Truth Version B - Tom Breen of AP:
Pressure rose, so the well must be flowing up the outside of the pipe. Now we've no choice but to do a relief well bottom kill. We have to. It's still flowing underground.
It must be BP's relentless lying during the whole of this sorry episode that inclines me to believe Tom Breen and not Thad Allen. That and the simple logic that an un-admitted pressure rise would be a proper reason for proceeding to do a necessary bottom kill.
- 4 votes
Someone did not tell AP reporter, Tom Breen that the spin was to be solidly optimistic today --despite the fact that the proceedings revealed the 'Static Kill' has left the Zombie well free to rise again.
Breen reported as follows for AP:
Officials had been testing the pressure beneath the cement plug currently in place. Steady pressure would indicate the presence of cement in the space between the inner piping and the outer casing, likely indicating a permanent seal.
But because pressure rose during the testing, the scientists concluded that space still needs to be plugged in.
[Link]
- 4 votes
#2 - Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:51 PM EDTI'd say that was no, BK, because this is a deepsea movie and we haven't heard them playing the theme from Jaws yet, but then you realize Jaws is probably dead, already a victim of the monster in this movie, and that's even more scary.
- 4 votes
#4 - Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:55 AM EDTBriwnys
"We will kill the well"
'Static Kill' has left the Zombie well free to rise again.
Jaws is probably dead, already a victim of the monster.
Now that would be a superb scary movie script.
To kill a zombie well, we need to drive a "cement" stake right into the heart of the monster.
- 3 votes
I was hoping more for The Abyss and those friendly life forms of water coming to the rescue from the oceanfloor. Unless they were also dispersed by the Corexit.
- 3 votes
BK Lim.....you say that the flow of the open crater which was the real blowout is now at a natural seap level. If you had to guess, what kind of flow rate would that be...in barrels? Your belief of a blownout well and open crater verifies what Matt Simmons was saying the whole time.
Now...Simmons believed the open well would flow at a high rate for quite some time. Do you not agree with his assessment? And lastly, do you believe there is still a great deal of oil at the lower levels of the Gulf, ready to wash ashore when the first strong hurricane comes into the region?
- 3 votes
#5 - Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:23 PM EDTready to wash ashore when the first strong hurricane comes into the region?
Steve
That question is a definite yes.Oil plumes have been confirmed by scientist,despite BP and NOAA's attempts to squelch the data.It has already been happenning on the beaches in several areas.
- 4 votes
Steve,
You have to watch the above movie "how to kill a zombie well". Now on a more serious note:
Yes Matt Simmons was right on many accounts but I cannot be sure on the amount of oil flowing out of this S20BC well. Just wondering if Matt had some insider's information. He could not have plucked these out from thin air so soon after the blowout. I understand he was a banker and not a geologist?
BP was hoping over time, the blown-out well could deplete itself. This was the real reason BP was playing footsie all this while. The only way to kill the zombie well is block the flow close to where the well entered the reservoir. Instead of channelling all resources into this objective, BP wanted to "pull wools over the world's eyes" while they had a free hand to do whatever they want. They were unsure of their chances of success (<50%). But they could not risk failing in full ROV view as it would mean the end of BP itself. In other countries where transparency and civil awareness are not as high as in the US, BP would have gotten its way. Since BP cannot change the physical realities, they switch to "movie style" smoke screen.
You must also remember that oil can become very viscous at low temp. Thus a lot of the heavy oil may not rise to the surface yet. As the flow get impeded on the open well over time, the oil will definitely find new pathways. Matt is also right on this one. So all the superficial "killing" of the zombie well from the top will only kill mother earth and not kill the flow of hot oil from the reservoir.
We are also not talking just the main reservoir. Rigel Well penetrated >170 ft of siltstone Gas bed. A lot of the gas is coming from this "previously thought to be uneconomic gas find". Gas is a lot more fluid than oil and it is the mixture of gas and formation water that is the potent corrosive factor in creating new pathways in the pervious zone in the vicinity of the salt dome or any vertical intrusive structure.
That is as best as I can explain it.
BK Lim
- 4 votes
Armed with a no-limit company credit card, he ordered supplies of champagne and caviar to be flown on company jets into the boomtown capital, Baku, to be consumed at the "sex parties". The hospitality continued in London, where prostitutes were hired on the BP credit card to entertain visiting Azerbaijanis. Mr Abrahams, an engineer by training, joined BP in 1991, just as the disintegration of the Soviet Union had triggered a "new gold rush" by oil multi-nationals seeking a share of the 200 billion barrels of oil reserves beneath the Caspian Sea. While employed by BP, Mr Abrahams says he was persuaded to work for MI6 by John Scarlett, now head of the service but then its head of station in Moscow. He says he was passing information to Scarlett in faxes and at one-to-one meetings in the Russian capital. He also claims that BP was working closely with MI6 at the highest levels to help it to win business in the region and influence the political complexion of governments. Mr Abrahams worked for BP's XFI unit - Exploring Frontiers International - which specialises in opening new markets in often unstable parts of the world.
we ain't got no chance................ BP is king, and Obama seems like the court jester right now.
- 3 votes
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