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Oil spill: Relief wells move in on BP Macondo well to stop the Gulf oil leak (Images from BP)
The most important turning point in the Gulf oil spill crisis is now approaching like a long awaited Christmas present. According to oil industry expert Bob Cavnar, the first of two relief wells aimed at stopping the Deepwater Horizon gusher "is about 20 feet away, laterally." It has another 900 feet of depth to go, before reaching the target area near the bottom of the well.
BP has reported that the relief well drilling was ahead of schedule, but have not adjusted their target date of mid-August.
The pictures below visualize the progress of the relief wells and how they will attempt to penetrate the damaged wellsite that has been gushing since the Deepwater Horizon fell after an explosion on April 20, 2010.
Bloomberg reports, "BP maintains a “high degree of confidence” in its relief wells, which are intended to intercept the leaking Macondo well and plug it with cement."
BP's back-up plan if the relief wells fail, is to send more collected oil to other platforms in the Gulf and used the Macondo well for production. If that sounds to you like a lack of incentive for BP to plug the leak, you're not alone.
Catching more oil in lieu of plugging the leak does not address the long-term problems of the stress and deterioriation of the BOP, which is now leaning over "10 to 12 degrees," according to Admiral Than Allan. Complicating matters is an ‘unofficial’ claim that there is a casing failure at approximately 1,000 feet below the blowout preventer.
While everyone is hopeful that the relief wells will be sucessful, geologist, Chris Landau told Petroleum World that “BP has drilled into a deep-core oil volcano that cannot be stopped, regardless of the horizontal drills the company claims will stop the oil plume in August.” Seismic studies done in 2003 also showed huge pockets of methane gas under volcanic pressures that are beyond the technology of human control, Landau claimed.
We will all find out who was right - 900 feet from now.
While the relief wells remain under constructon, BP has illustrated their plan for additional containment of the oil spill below.
The chart below is BP's reported schedule for oil captured from June 2 through June 26, 2010
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