BREAKING - NYTimes : Latest Attempt by BP to Plug Oil Leak in Gulf of Mexico Fails

[KansasVoter]

If you check the gusher cam now it looks like pure oil at a higher rate than ever

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HOUSTON — BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

BP made a third attempt at what is termed the “junk shot” Friday night, a procedure that involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well. The maneuver is complementary to the heavily scrutinized effort known as a “top kill,”which began four days ago and involves pumping heavy mud into the well to counteract the push of the escaping oil. If the well is sealed, the company plans to then fill it with cement.

The technician working on the project said Saturday pumping has again been halted and a review of the data so far is under way.

“Right now, I would not be optimistic,” the technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the effort. But he added, that if another attempt at the junk shot were to succeed, “that would turn things around.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30spill.html

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

1. Dupe

and why is this in this category?

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. And in 'Presidency" to boot.

[KansasVoter]

7. Wow, where was the president yesterday? Are you drunk?

[ProSense]

2. Breaking: "The technician said..."

“I won’t say progress was zero, but I don’t know if we can round up enough mud to make it work,” said another technician on the project. “Everyone is disappointed at this time.”

The technician also said that there were disagreements among engineers about why efforts had been unsuccessful so far, but that those disagreements were based on a lack of a clear understanding of what was happening inside the pipes on the sea floor.

How is a story breaking with anonymous sources and no official confirmation?

[harkadog]

20. What would you have said about Watergate?

Lots of anonymous sources and no official confirmation.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. I do agree that this is no time to be "optimistic" n/t

[LeftyAndProud60]

4. nuke it. This is going on too long. NT

[Zynx]

9. I'm inclined to agree at this point.

[doublethink]

6. ............

[gristy]

8. Not a leak

It's a blown, gushing, out-of-control well. This business of the MSM calling it a "leak" just drives me crazy.

[DrToast]

10. It was never going to work. *

[golfguru]

11. Why don't BP or others drill more wells nearby

to relieve pressure from the gusher?

I know this will take time but when pressure drops from extraction of oil,
there is 100% chance of the gusher dieing.

[KansasVoter]

12. I think the relief well will fix the problem. But three months away!

[tranche]

15. Are you talking about drilling relieve wells? They started those weeks ago.

[golfguru]

16. Yes! n/t

[Kablooie]

18. That has always been the permanent plan. The efforts now are to temporarily decrease the flow.

[donco]

13. All BP is doing

is stalling and feeding us bullshit while they drill the relief well.

[dtotire]

14. Tragic n/m

[Kablooie]

17. The longer it goes, the more it eats away at the metal creating larger openings.

I hear the next step it to try to replace a valve at the top of the Blow Out Preventer.

It entails removing the damaged one that is there now but between the time the old one is off and the new one is installed it opens up a huge flow of oil.

And of course we have to hope they will be able to get the new one on.

If the top valve is replaced it can be connected to a riser pipe and the flow pressure will be decreased because much of the oil can be pumped up to a tanker.

If they can't decrease the flow pressure it will eat away the BOP until the flow is completely unhindered and becomes much stronger than now.

[obxhead]

19. My understanding

The latest I have heard is that there are 2 options in the works. One was installing a second BOP on top of the current one and shutting it down or at least turning it down. The other was cutting off the BOP and installing yet a 3rd 'hat' on the freshly cut pipe.

or in other words, a continuation of the same failing ideas while they do the only thing thats going to work, drilling relief wells to lower the pressure enough to actually be able to do something with this well.

ugh.

[Kablooie]

21. The 3rd hat is probably what I was describing.

[obxhead]

22. Either way, I think it's all just a dog and pony show for the camera.

The only thing that's going to work is relieving pressure is my guess. I won't be a bit surprised when the final number of relief wells tops 6 to get the pressure low enough to stop it either.