Drilling relief wells to stop Gulf oil leak poses challenges

[highplainsdem]

Source: Times-Picayune

Drilling relief wells to stop Gulf oil leak poses challenges
By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune
May 30, 2010, 10:07PM

-snip-

"The only problem is really finding it, " Rensink said of the original well. "You're trying to intersect the well bore, which is about a foot wide, with another well bore, which is about a foot wide. The probability of finding it the first time ... is probably pretty low."

-snip-

As BP tries to meet the original well, it will need to have plenty of mud on hand, because when the drill actually connects, the mud from the relief well will have a tendency to get sucked into the lower pressure of the original well, and drillers could lose control of the relief well.

-snip-

Last August, the Thai company PTT Exploration and Production Co. was drilling the Montara well in 260 feet of water in the Timor Sea off of Australia when it well blew up and began leaking oil into the ocean.

It took 10 weeks and five tries for the drilling rig brought in to drill the relief well to hit its target about 8,600 feet below the sea floor. On the last try, there was another rig explosion, which burned for two days.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/challenges_involved_in_drillin.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Indeed a problem

You only need to do the maths to see how easy it is to miss it. I'd read else where that the hole is actually only 7" wide where they need to hit it.

[joanmj]

2. Shit!

Anyone's guess on how many tries it'll take?

[sasquuatch55]

9. Poke and Hope operation.

nt

[Kali]

3. seems to be a good argument for doing 3 or 4 tries at the same time

[bdamomma]

4. what total negligence, they can drill holes for oil, but no current

technology put into place for catastrophes like this, damn.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. Why don't the have these wells in place, if not actually connected, when the build the original?

They could have saved themselves a lot of hassle. Instead they were shortsighted, greedy and stupid.

[customerserviceguy]

6. I'd have to say that it would be very expensive

But I can also see where it may well become required. It will make deep sea drilling uneconomical at current world oil prices. However, I don't see the present prices holding for very long.

[wordpix]

8. the expense of a relief well pales compared to paying for Gulf Coast damage

[drm604]

7. I've been skeptical from the beginning of the blind faith put into "relief wells".

Everything I've read and heard assumes that the absolute worst case is that it will continue to gusher until a relief well reaches it. What if that doesn't work?

They keep saying that relief wells are the proven answer, but they also keep saying that this is a new situation and that they've never had to operate under these circumstances before.

What it relief wells don't work? Is there a plan C? :-(