I am the president of a 100+ year old engineering firm, who has contracts with the 2 largest gas exploration/production companies in the world...I am a PE in mechanical & electrical engineering with 20+ years experience
my partner in a company we started to treat frac waste water is considered a legend in the drilling business, he drilled the shaft to get the que creek miners out...he said the only reason the well is not plugged is financial...
it would 'scrap' the well and the associated investment...
the casing could take the pressure...easily...the thrust plates/blocking are moot, if the flow is restrained by the pipe/lugs...
they are hoping to salvage it
the $$$ is NOT inconsequential (15k bbls/day) at $75/bbl >1 mil$/day...
btw, $$$ is the whole reason they drill, and cutting corners to save money is the whole reason this happened...Obama had nothing to do with it...
it was pure unadulterated greed, and BP will pay...
they can stop it, they choose not to...
it took 50 days to capture it? why so long?
why did they say it was leaking 1k/day when it is closer to 30k? some say as hih as 100k/day...
becasue they are fined on a bbl basis...
if you mean 'conspiracy' as in a corporation will lie, cheat and steal to profit, even if at the expense of 1000's of Gulf coast residents and the enviornment, yes, I believe it is a 'conspiracy' in the criminal sense of the word...
perhaps that is why the Justice Dept. is involved...
it is a crime, as defined by law, and as by humanity...
I'm not making this up!
This was all carefully explained by Admiral Allen in his press briefing of June 9 in answer to a question. He made it quite clear attempts to close the pipe are clearly off the table, other than closing it from below by the relief well.
The reasons for this were clearly posted by professional oil engineers, on Oil Drum after the failure of top kill and the information leaned.
When specialized ships arrive from the North Sea, the pipes in the BOP will be reconnected but the flow reversed to capture more oil.
Anchors will be placed in the sea bed. A new riser cap will be placed which will be attached to those anchors, and this will prevent cap judder which is impeding efforts to increase flow currently.
A flexible riser will be placed on the new cap.
This plan should be able to capture most of the flow if all goes according to plan. This can be done without the risk of making things a lot worse.
Obviously you believe in conspiracy theories. The sale of the oil is insignificant to the cost to BP of the continuing leak. If they could stop it safely they would.