Fucking Great... BP Leak - If 'Top Hat' Doesn't Work, They're Gonna Try 'Junk Shot' !!!

[WillyT]

I heard them talking about this before... sending chunks of rubber and golfballs and all sorts of crap down into the hole... but it has a MAJOR risk...

<snip>

'Junk shot'

While the containment box is meant merely to corral the oil, BP is still searching for a solution to stop the flow of oil from the well. On Monday, the company said it was considering conducting a "junk shot," or pumping debris into the blow out preventer to clog the leak. In that scenario a variety of different-sized materials, including pieces of tire and golf balls, would be pumped down the choke and kill lines and into the blowout preventer to push the oil back into the reservoir. Choke and kill lines are used to control the amount and pressure of drilling mud in the wellbore, so that surges of oil and natural gas can be kept under control. The shot of materials would be followed by a heavy fluid and cement to permanently seal the well.

The inherent risk in the junk shot plan is that oil will gush out of the well unchecked.

"It's a more risky option because when they do that they will open up the well and the full flow will be coming out at that point," Nagarajaiah said. "It's a more difficult task to pull off."

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president in exploration and production, said the company did not make the junk shot its first attempt to stop the leak because it needed to gather more diagnostic data on the process and assess its risk. But he said Monday that the chance that the junk shot would make the situation worse was "really, really remote." The end of next week, however, is the soonest that BP might attempt the maneuver.

<snip>

Link: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/smaller_oil_containment_vessel.html

:wtf:

:banghead:

[sakabatou]

1. So... damned if you do, damned if you don't?

[havocmom]

2. Is BP using some drunken frat party for its think tank?

Big Oil is doing shit it has no plans to fix when it blows up.

[WillyT]

5. Truly High-Tech Shit Huh ???

Maybe they should contract out to Trojan Condoms?

The other day somebody was commenting on how drilling at these levels is "cutting edge" technology, akin to landing a man on the moon.

Claptrap!

:wtf:

:argh:

[havocmom]

7. so, what is BP paying for old golf balls and tire parts these days?

DU might need a fundraiser idea.

[SpiralHawk]

31. This Junk Shot 'idea' has the peculiar ring of Republicon Family Values

all over it.

[Democrats_win]

3. LOL! You do know that if they had done the job right in the first place....

...there would be no leak and BP would be making billions selling us the oil. If they just had a big fat invisible finger of the market to put into the pipe and save the world as in the Hans Christian Andersen story.

[marmar]

4. How long before they ask Sonny Perdue to fly over and lead a Pray to Stop the Oil session?

nt

[tekisui]

6. The most frightening idea, IMO, is cutting the pipe.

They are considering it, which would fully open the leak. Magnitudes worse.

[suffragette]

18. Maybe they need to try a hair plug

When I've had long hair, it clogs the pipes darn effectively.

[AllentownJake]

8. They have no idea how to stop this except two solutions

1) A nuclear bomb

2) A rig that will take 90 days to be in place to stop the leak.

What you are seeing now, is a PR excercise to make the sheeple believe they are trying to stop it.

[havocmom]

10. I don't quite grasp how the nuke bomb thing works to stop a leak

Really, not being a smart ass, but how would that work?

Will execs at BP at least have to pay for the damned bomb?

[AllentownJake]

12. I'm not sure exactly how it works either

But evidently the Russian have done it before and it worked.

If it was up to me, the execs at BP would have to hand detonate the bomb.

[havocmom]

16. Maybe I'm just tired, but it sounds like the ultimate Whack A Mole game

gotta leak? Nuke it! Oops, a leak somewhere else now... :nuke:

I am just paranoid enough about the Military Industrial Complex to wonder who makes $$ on nuking Big Oil's big mistakes.

And with full disclosure that I have not been drinking, I got this weird image of junk shot resulting in golf balls blowing out of a volcano in Iceland.

I need rest. Been a tough day.

Havocdad suggested they plug the hole with BP execs' bonuses and such.

[AllentownJake]

17. Meh

They fucked up bigtime here and the full resources of the federal government and media are at their disposal to cover it up.

[pipi_k]

33. I wondered that myself, then thought that maybe

the blast would be big enough to dislodge the pipe, and then lots of rock and sediment would then collapse upon itself into the hole, plugging it up...


That's what I would think, anyway...

:shrug:

[Xenotime]

28. I think BP is bailing on the hope of locking it down and secretly moving out.

[suffragette]

9. The "junk shot" sounds like a huge crapshoot

and scary as hell.

[tekisui]

14. "Ball shot" didn't have the same ring.

[The Damned]

29. Next up: Cumshot!

[havocmom]

11. Can't Chuck Norris just kick the thing closed?

[WillyT]

13. We'd Have To Put Him 5,000 Feet Underwater To Find Out...

I'm in...

:rofl:

:evilgrin:

[havocmom]

15. Mebbe we could get Hannity to cover it live?

;)

[piedmont]

26. No, we'd have to put 5,000 ft of water on him. nt

[Monk06]

19. What could possibly go wrong with that idea .......

[AnArmyVeteran]

20. You would have thought they would have done these studies BEFORE drilling???????

What kind of dunces run that damned company? Studies AFTER an oil spill disaster? It's obvious they didn't put a second of time into safety or the possibility of a massive oil leak one mile down. And these bozos make billions a year in profit? They are complete idiots...

[ultracase24]

21. Kind of like shooting a nerf gun into a full blast firehose

:eyes:

These are ideas of very nervous and desperate liars at BP. They know how bad it is and are not about to say anything. I think its funny reading the "news" articles that do their best to try and minimize, confuse and obsfucate how bad it is.

[CLANG]

22. "the chance that the junk shot would make the situation worse was "really, really remote."

That, to me, is an acknowledgment that it can't get any worse PERIOD.

[tomm2thumbs]

23. I'm still wondering why they haven't tried fresh water or liquid nitrogen injection

either

a. a massive pump of freshwater into the lower line, as freshwater freezes at a different temperature than salt water, and would expand as well, potentially locking up the oil flow. Given that their dome-box supposedly 'froze up' when simply placed over the flowing line, I'm thinking they might be able to blast near-freezing water into the pipe where they planned to blast trash in, and it would quickly jam up the flow

or

b. liquid nitrogen - although I know at that level of the ocean, thing are under tremendous pressure, submersibles prove pressured gases can be taken down in tanks. Why not inject an amount of liquid nitrogen into the flow at the same point they wanted to 'shoot trash in' as it seems they would quickly lock up the flow long enough for a natural-freeze like what occurred in their dome-box to take place. And once the flow is stopped, I'm guessing momentum would halt long enough to deal with the pipe, to seal it off in good measure permanently

throwing it out there - I'm sure the scientists working on this are proposing using aerogels and expanding foams and all kinds of techno-magic that we all have no idea about

[Ex Lurker]

27. I think the most likely consequence of enough liquid nitrogen to have any effect at all.

would be to make the metal of the blowout protector so brittle it would shatter. then you'd have a totally uncontrolled well.

[tomm2thumbs]

35. i've seen those

roses shatter on youtube - you are probably right. nothing would be worse than a shattered pipe

[stuball111]

24. Fact is, they never have "plans"...

I worked the oil patch for years, and never saw any. Sure, they have safety plans, like, "If this thing blows, run like hell up wind!"
But as far as something like this? It's not in the "budget". They are like a bunch of kids poking sticks at beehives. The "Plan" is, we'll figure it out if something goes wrong.

[BrightKnight]

25. It is cheaper to operate to failure and deal with it after

the fact. That appears to have been their plan with the 200k gallons Alaska tundra leak and the Texas City refinery explosion. Big investments in lobbying have apparently consistently eliminated the need for any corporate accountability.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/237651

[havocmom]

32. Well, that is true, IF the bad planners would ever have to assume full $$ responsibility

But, alas...

Nobody changes bad behavior unless they are made uncomfortable about it.

Slaps-on-the-wrist fines and limits on liabilities do not cost as much as the profits to be made while killing workers, other industries, environments. Just a cost of doing business as usually, and ALWAYS passed on to others anyway.

Havocdad says until the top execs have to fill that damned hole with the obscene money they make, they will NEVER adjust their methods of business. He also would like to see the execs stuffed in the hole too, but then, he is a hard nose ;)

[chillspike]

30. THIS is the industry that claimed...

...the drilling process was safer and they can't even cap a well?

[AngryOldDem]

34. Dog hair is included in that too.

Local news had a piece about how groomers are gathering the clippings for shipping off to the Gulf.