BP: What reason do we have to believe the second hole won't blow?

[darxus]

Since I heard that BP's long term solution to the oil leak, which was going to take until August, involve drilling a second hole, I've wanted to know:

What reason is there to believe the second hole won't blow?


(Also, why don't they put an upside down funnel over the hole, with a valve at the top, and anchor it with cables?)

Comments

[kragar00.livejournal.com]

What reason is there to believe the second hole won't blow?

Because a lot of things went wrong with the first one, all at the same time. Theoretically, the new blow out preventer will have all hydrolic rams working (the old one had 1 ram that leaked fluid, so it didn't work, and another 1 was a dummy 'test part' that was never intended to work. That's 2 out of 4 rams that never fired).

Assuming that they actually seal the well, that means that there won't be any rapidly expanding gas to rupture things, since the gas will all stay a mile below the surface where it's at roughly the same pressure.

How many off-shore oil rigs are there? And how long have they been in use? Have you ever heard of this kind of thing happening before? No, because there are a lot of safeguards in place. They all have to fail at the same time. And since it hasn't happened before (at least not on this scale or depth) no one knows how to handle it.

(Also, why don't they put an upside down funnel over the hole, with a valve at the top, and anchor it with cables?)

Greed. They created a box (4 story building) that was intended to be dropped over the well. It was designed to sink into the mud of the ocean floor half way to prevent any leakage. But the nozzle at the top, where they were hoping to still collect oil, got clogged. I think if they decided to plug the well for good, it would be easier to stop the flow of oil. But most options they've tried so far aren't designed to stop the oil, just to allow it to be collected.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's somewhat comforting. I'd still prefer to hear that they've tested it in a simulated environment above ground a dozen times first.

Yeah, I got the impression that they were trying more to collect the oil than to stop the leak. That's fucked up. And I don't even see why they care so much about collecting oil from this hole. Why don't they just drill another once this is fixed?

[underwatercolor.livejournal.com]

I'm sure some people still want to collect oil. However, I'm not convinced it'd be easier to fully stop the leak, given pressure stuff.