What is it now? 85 days with three States shore-lands ruined for years.
Lets pray it works.

85 days of a crisus that wasn't allowed to go to waste.....including the political interferance with slick lickers.....

If this works Obama is going to be pissed. He wanted to milk this for a while longer. Now he'll get no credit for the fix or the cleanup either. In fact he'll be seen as the one who blocked all efforts to do a coordinated cleanup months ago.

Will we see a quote from the White House that they "told" BP to do this. Scratch that, "ORDERED" BP to do this or they would "kick their ass"

Just waiting to see how Obama tries to claim credit if it works, because this has come out of the blue, so to speak. Nobody has been reporting this until a day or so ago but clearly they have been working on it for some time.

A word of caution. This may not be over yet. If the new collection assembly seals properly they will be able to choke the well back.

This will increase the pressure within the wellbore.

Depending on the production numbers and the pressure they record at different choke points a calculation will be made regarding the potential SICP (shut in casing pressure).

If that value exceeds the burst pressure of the larger uphole casing they will not shut it in.

Syncro

It took BP 85 days to figure out how to significantly reduce the leak? What a bunch of incompetents.

I'm looking at video now from about 150 ft above the well head where there are two holes in that riser with oil still pouring out.

The site I'm looking at is http://bp.isevil.org (I didn't name it but it does have videos from all the submersibles).

This isn't over yet.

Things must be getting better, the "0" is on vacation again isn't he?

gord:
"... In fact he'll be seen as the one who blocked all efforts to do a coordinated cleanup months ago. "

Because he did.

But why isn't he wearing it now?

Rhetorical question, I know....

Wow!Once the celebrity scrotum licking soirees & daily stategic golf games are out of the way,things happens fast.Mother earth will heal her wounds,the absolute corrupt media will blame mcchimpybushhitler and the most useless president ever will bask in the BS spin.

With this bunch - i'll believe it when i see it 101%

"Daddy have you plugged your cakehole yet?"

"It took BP 85 days to figure out how to significantly reduce the leak? What a bunch of incompetents."

I beg to differ. I have been impressed with the speed with which they have executed numerous leak stoppage attempts. Given the difficulty of the task (huge depths, damaged riser, prolific flows, etc) it should be seen as an accomplishment of great competence to stop or contain the leak in this short time frame.

Syncro has it. The new cap must be linked to a line to the surface to perhaps a tanker. The basic problemo is not just sealing the casing but also the hole it sits in. Back to the cementing again.....
In principle this is a gusher....1 mile deep....if they tap the gusher off into a surface tanker gradually the artesian pressure of the well/deposit will decline making many things much easier.
That cap weighs 110 tons for good reason. Shear weight must hold down that well casing in the hole. Basically overloading the KING KONG of hydraulic jacks.

gord
[......If this works Obama is going to be pissed. He wanted to milk this for a while longer. Now he'll get no credit for the fix or the cleanup either. In fact he'll be seen as the one who blocked all efforts to do a coordinated cleanup months ago......]

Not just Obamugabbe.....
The EPA, the Coast Guard....
Meanwhile the Gulf rigs are heading to places like Eygpt......each one taking perhaps 1000 support jobs with it not to return for 5-10 years.

Rite on Woodporter.

I put this feat half way up there technologically with putting men on the moon with slide rules.

Watch Obama take credit for it. 3 - 2 - 1....

The critical part of this whole thing is the integrity of the casing. If the lower wellbore is so compromised as to provide communication betwixt production zones the kill is gonna be hard.

Syncro

"I beg to differ. I have been impressed with the speed with which they have executed numerous leak stoppage attempts."

"I put this feat half way up there technologically with putting men on the moon with slide rules."

Delusions.

http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_safina_the_oil_spill_s_unseen_culprits_victims.html

BTJ

I call bullshit.

Syncro

if they can get another set of BOPs on top of this and get some tubing in the hole then they can go for a proper bottom kill. from the pictures this looks like this will do it. A temporary breach of casing integrity might be okay if they can kill the bottom followed by cement. anyway BP(Amoco) has all the expertise in the world at their disposal , all without BamBams help . by the way I like that new moniker for BP Barack Petroleum , goes with Government Motors. and the new wind generator company , Kenyan Flim Fan company.

Cal2

Yep.

Syncro

"I have been impressed with the speed with which they have executed numerous leak stoppage attempts."

Good for you, obviously some people are more easily impressed than others.

http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_safina_the_oil_spill_s_unseen_culprits_victims.html

Delusional AGW alarmist, hence zero credibility.

John Galt,

Gee, I didn't know that there was such engineering expertise hanging around SDA. Why aren't you out there somewhere, contributing your esteemed capability to society instead of parking your ass in front of a computer?

Deepwater drilling to TDs in the 4,000 to 9,000 meter range is indeed comparable in technological difficulty and WOW factor to the moon landings. When the blowout happened, the first thing to cross my mind was Apollo 13. The big difference is that, while people worldwide held their breaths and/or prayed for a happy income for the astronauts, we now have a host of environmentalists and petro-haters drooling happily at the failure of "evil technology".

John Galt, oil field engineer.

Ok, probably not.

http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_safina_the_oil_spill_s_unseen_culprits_victims.html

I also have a degree in fishing.
-
-

Anyway...

If I close the end of a water hose at full pressure,
the other two holes in the line still keep squirting water/oil at 10X the original pressure.

"Houston,
We still have a problem"

sounds like the makings of free energy or a perpertual motion machine.

'If I close the end of a water hose at full pressure,
the other two holes in the line still keep squirting water/oil at 10X the original pressure.'

how about , it comes out of smaller holes and 10 times the velocity. I could but some flow equations or conservation of energy and momementum in here but why bother.

I know little if anything about drilling for oil at deep depths. I do know some physics that does apply here. When the rig went down after the fire it broke the pipe that went to the shaft and the valves at the bottom. Anyone with half a brain can tell you that a bent pipe will break with an uneven cut. To get a secure fitting you need a clean cut with which to attach to.

I also know that it takes time to do things quickly. You do not manufacture and test a top hat overnight. We were told by BP that they would have the problem fixed by August. I believed them then and I believe them now. They seem to be on track.

If you look at the Ixtoc spill you will see that it spewed for 260 days and the damage to the shoreline and the gulf was minimized because Mexico accepted help from other countries immediately. Obama - peace be upon him - on the other hand, delayed and obstructed foreign help even to this day to maximize the damage.

Why aren't the pantheists screaming at the real problem or do they adore the idol with the teleprompter more?

I don't understand why they want to kill this well. The US needs the oil. Why don't they stuff a smaller pipe down the ruptured one and keep taking all the oil they can???

Going on 3 months, and obama continues to polish the oval office chair with his @ss, that is,when he's not jetsetting on vacation or attending some celebrity singalong.

His reaction and conduct in the wake of this mess in the gulf has been less than competent, it is contemptible. But, one wonders what more you'd expect from a know-nothing who's never so much managed a lemonade stand in his life, and disgustingly uses this crisis to further his leftwing cap/trade agenda.

America, you better wake up in November.

mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm

Not to sound too cynical (and to echo Dennis Miller) but: meh.

Eighty-five days on and the latest capping of this "massive environmental disaster" is lucky to get passing mention on Regis and Kelly in PEI.

Not too hard to pick out the people who have never had real outside jobs.

Paper shufflers are a dime a dozen.

Has the cap & trade legislation passed yet?....No?...Then this 'crisis' is not over by far.

Even if BP caps the well successfully this week, there is still lots of oil floating about and this is when the MSM will be fully let loose...Remember, the MSM has been kept away from the gulf, under Federal orders for weeks now...The disaster had become a bottom of the hour news anecdote. All this of course was to minimize hurting Barry's administration and not exposing how the left, including in large part the Hollywood elites for which their total absence of political critisism and total lack of help via charity fundraisers is ultra sickening and dripping of hypocrisy to the extreme.

If BP stops the leak this week, you will see more dead birds and turtles and dirty beaches and endless environmental analysis which will make "An Inconvenient Truth" look conservative and non alarmist in comparaison.
Watch for "This beach and it's ecosystems have been irrepairibly damaged forever"..."We must find a way to ween our addiction to oil"..."We don't understand why most Americans still disagree with President Obama's push for renewable energy alternatives"...

It ain't over, It's just beginning.
Now that FIFA is over watch for the CBC to set up a desk right at the gulf of Mexico.

Syncro, appreciate your input, but a question I've had is why couldn't BP come up with a long hose, whether it be plastic/rubber/steel/spandex (in simplistic thinking), and 'direct' and contain the flow to either a tanker heck to a collection point near shore?

Meaning use the natural flow (upwards) against itself.

BTW, the long hose/pipe would be a stop gap measure till the alternative well is dug

They have been producing the well through the kill and choke lines located on the lower part of the bop stack.

Some good pics and a schematic below.

http://markimoore.com/deepwater-horizon-use-of-blow-out-preventer-bop-stack-up/

Syncro