[ale] BP knew of problems 11 months before the rig blew

[Jim Philips]

Our faith in our own know-how is certainly taking a beating in this episode.
We know how to unleash forces that we don't know how to control (and destroy
a lot of things we don't know how to replace). People keep comparing this to
Katrina. But I think it's more like Chernobyl. We are likely to have a
long-term dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html?
>
> Time to start pumping the well head full of execs yet?
>
> Does anyone know of a single component compound that reacts with mixed
> organics to make a solid? Drilling mud is a lubricant. They need to pump in
> a fast-setting glue. However, since the article talks about the screw ups in
> the valve and the cement well casing I'm concerned that with the well
> pressure a plugged head will only force a leak (or blowout) near the head in
> the sea floor. The cement casing is supposed to act as a reinforcement but
> there are reports that the material used was substandard (thanks
> Haliburton!) and poorly installed.
>
> Maybe since the riser pipe is still attached to the head they can beat on
> it with the "top cap" box and crimp it down to cut the flow. Who knows.
> Maybe a slow crimping cutoff of the flow will not shock the casing and allow
> a temporary blockage with the sub-floor fracturing of the crappy casing they
> are worried about.
>
>
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