Question.....when Top Kill was in progress were they able to push enough mud in....

[yourout]

so that the majority of the discharge from riser was mud and not oil?

If so...there should as many tankers of mud being lined up as humanly possible and around the clock pumping should commence until the relief wells are complete.

And I could care less if it bankrupts BP if there is mud coming out of the riser instead of oil.

[Junkdrawer]

1. The "mud" is drilling fluid and it is toxic - heavy metals. n/t

[yourout]

3. I wonder if they could use an inert compound to accomplish this?

[Junkdrawer]

For a while. But the pressures would probably have blown something....

over an extended period of time.

[gmoney]

2. from what I hear, this "mud" is no bargain, either

it's not just dirt mixed with water--it's some sort of by-product that can be toxic and hazardous in its own right.

[Brother Buzz]

4. From one authority that I trust; they really didn't know how much mud went down the wellhead

because they had no reliable way of measuring it.

[Feron]

5. From my understanding...

most of the mud was flowing out and very little was actually going down. That's why a junk shot was attempted and that too failed. Both did not stop the oil from flowing up.

It'd be a waste of time and mud to continue. Mud is also abrasive and would erode what is left of the BOP and other components.

They could have increased the pressure, but the damaged BOP may not have been able to handle it.

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