BP AMOCO: TOP KILL Has “FAILED” – Details And What’s The Next Step?

Crisis Management: BP AMOCO attempts to save the Gulf of Mexico coastline

Source: NYTimes.com

THRALL WORLD loathes dipping into the gutter to talk about oil or politics as it just seems to filthy up everyone and everything in sight. But it’s hard to ignore the chaos in the Gulf of Mexico..

At a time when every political pundit, anonymous blogger, and social network drama queen are offering their “Expert Analysis and Solutions” on the current situation; we here at THRALL WORLD just want to see the oil leak stopped. Here’s the latest:

In another serious setback in the effort to stem the flow of oil gushing from a well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico, BP engineers said Saturday that the “top kill” technique had failed and, after consultation with government officials, they had decided to move on to another strategy.

A technician who has been working on the project to stem the oil leak said Saturday that neither the top kill nor the “junk shot” came close to succeeding because the pressure of oil and gas escaping from the well was simply too powerful to overcome. He added that engineers never had a complete enough understanding of the inner workings of drill pipe casing or blowout preventer mechanisms to make the efforts work.

The new strategy is to smoothly cut the riser from which the oil is leaking and then place a cap over it. Pipes attached to the cap would take the oil to a storage boat on the surface.

Though a first effort at a containment dome failed, Mr. Suttles said BP had learned from that experience and now believed that this cap, which is custom fitted to the riser, would be more successful.

Read more HERE.

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Hold That Thought: “TOP KILL” NOT Working As Planned – BP Stops Then Restarts Procedure – Here’s Why

Photo of underwater BP oil leak

Source: NYTimes.com

BP officials, who along with government officials created the impression early in the day that the strategy was working, disclosed later that they had stopped pumping the night before when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid was escaping along with the oil.

Read more HERE.

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“TOP KILL” Procedure May Have Succeeded In Stopping BP AMOCO Underwater Oil Well Leak

Photo of underwater BP oil leak

Source: LATimes.com

Early report on success of “top kill” procedure to stop the BP AMOCO underwater oil leak:

Engineers have stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government’s top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.

The “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting.

Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.

Read more HERE.

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