Here's the correct answer:
Initially, the natural pressure from the subsurface petroleum reservoir is sufficient to push fluids and gas to the surface. Eventually, however, this pressure declines, and the use of a pump or injections of gas, oil or water are required to bring the *petroleum to the surface. By adding water or gas to the reservoir, engineers are able to increase reservoir pressure, causing the petroleum to rise again. In some cases, compressed air or steam is sent down a well to heat the remaining petroleum, which also increases pressure.
HowStuffWorks "Striking Oil"
***
The well will loose pressure and slow to a crawl.
If it contains 3x the Valdez, all of that oil will not reach the surface.
Note the word "eventually" in Jerry's explanation? (Don't miss "if" either!) Another,
just as accurate, use of the word "eventually" might be, "Eventually our Sun will burn out and all life on the Earth will die." Now, should we start saying our prayers in anticipation of meeting our maker solely because our Sun will "eventually" die? It might help to know how long "eventually" might mean when talking about how long our Sun has left, ya think? Our Sun is estimated by some to be expected to last for another 5 billion years. Well, that certainly puts that use of "eventually" in a proper context. Doncha think?
So, how long might "eventually" mean re: how long the oil might continue to spew from the ocean floor polluting our environment?
Instead of talking about day dreams, as if they are facts, let's use some facts shall we?
Deepwater Horizon was finishing work on an exploration well named Macondo, in an area called Mississippi Canyon Block 252. After weeks of drilling, the rig had pushed a bit down over 18,000 feet, into an oil-bearing zone. The Transocean and BP personnel were installing casing in the well. BP was going to seal things up, and then go off and figure out how to produce the oil -- another step entirely in the oil biz.
The Macondo Block 252 reservoir may hold as much as 100 million barrels. That's not as large as other recent oil strikes in the Gulf, but BP management was still pleased. Success is success --
certainly in the risky, deep-water oil environment. The front office of BP Exploration was preparing a press release to announce a "commercial" oil discovery.
Transocean Deepwater Horizon Explosion-A Discussion of What Actually Happened? - Drilling Ahead
There are possibly 100 million barrels of oil under the ocean floor spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Wow! Mind you that's 100 million "barrels" of oil, not "gallons"! So far, it's spewed about 4 million gallons. That's 4 million gals / 42 gals/barrel = 95,238 barrels of oil in the water. So, there are still approx. 100,000,000 - 95,238 = 99,904,762 barrels still under the ocean that could possibly pump out into the ocean. Or 99,904,762 * 42 = 419,600,004 gallons!!!
To be fair, one thing Jerry said is actually true, that every drop of oil that's under the ocean will not be pumped out. But, out of the 99,904,762 barrels of oil that might still be in the ground, how much can we expect to spill?
The most optimistic estimates say that it will likely take at least 90 days to cap the well and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Even if we accept the official (and by most accounts low) BP and government spill-rate estimate of 5,000 barrels a day, that's nearly 19 million gallons of oil spilling into the gulf over the next three months. If the rate turns out to be closer to 25,000 barrels a day, the underwater well would pump 94.5 million gallons of oil into the gulf by late July--more than eight times as much as the Exxon Valdez spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.
Straight Talk: How Much Oil is Really Spilling Into the Gulf of Mexico?
So, unless BP comes up with an engineering miracle,
there is a very real chance that this spill will far exceed the Exxon Valdez accident, which spilled "only" 11 million gallons.
That's today's lesson on the real meaning of "eventual" and why it's important to put its use in proper and accurate context. Spinning words, on such a serious issue, to make a purely partisan political point is... well... sad.