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I am wondering why they can't shove some epanding foam down the hole and let it expand or and inflatable bladder down a pipe and expand the bladder with water to plug the hole and then seal it with cement. Of course I am no engieneer and I do not know how those thigs would work that deep, but it sounds like a better than idea than just hoping a box or tophat can stop the leak.
It is because of the suspected location of the actual leak. Several thousand feet down, the production casing is ruptured. This means that the oil can flow up between the production casing and the outer casing. Normally a blow out will travel between the drill string and the production casing, which is easier to catch in the annular of the BOP. Complicating things further is the fact that there was still 8000+ feet of drill string in the well, with no drill bit on the end. This makes it essentially an open pipe at the bottom. Since the shear rams on the BOP did not completely sever the drill string and close, there is also oil coming out of the drill string. Very very difficult situation here.
I was wondering why they can't service the BOP's seals, refill it's hydraulics and then activate it. I mean the damn thing tried to close, it just couldn't because of a leak. I'm no engineer but it seems to me that a hydraulic leak on a piece of equipment should be faster/better/cheaper than plugging the well.
The annular seal that was damaged during drilling is not something you can go in and service while the BOP is in it's current state. Also, the shear rams that were supposed to cut the drill string and then seal failed, apparently because they tried to sever the pipe at one of the joints (which it is not designed to do).
Alternatively, BOPs are designed to stack on top of each other. Can't they attach another BOP unit to this stack and flip the switch?
The concern with this here is that nobody knows what the runaway flow has done to further weaken the BOP. If another were stacked on top and then closed, the extreme pressures that would build up inside of the original BOP could make it fail completely, making the leak astronomically worse. In an even worse case scenario, since there is little confidence in the cement job, the entire production casing could get blown out of the well (along with both BOP's), and now you have a GIANT hole spewing a unrestricted flow from the reservoir.
LMRP cap has potential, but after they cut off the damaged riser, getting it on there will be like trying to attach a slip fitting onto a firehose while it is blasting full force. This will not fully end until the relief wells are complete and the runaway well is cemented at the reservoir ceiling.