Suttles and other officials said that the “top kill” attempt to stop the flow did so — but only as long as they were pumping. When the pumping stopped, the oil resumed its escape.
Once you get the flow killed by pumping, you should start putting more viscous material in followed by concrete until you can’t pump it. You don’t stand back and admire your handiwork, particularly at those well-head pressures. These pressures can displace material unless it is bonds to the drill hole.
It seems to strengthen my opinion of BPs approach. They really don’t want to kill the well – they would have to write off the $Ms that they spent on drilling the hole. Instead, they want to put some sort of ‘cover’ that allows them to capture the oil. Their ‘new’ approach looks just like the previous ‘caps’ they tried, but with a different name: “lower marine riser package”.
Suttles said the lower marine riser package “should be able to capture most of the oil” that has fed what is now the largest oil spill in U.S. history, but he cautioned that the new cap will not provide a “tight mechanical seal.”
