President Barack Obama Message Board

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Politics : President Barack Obama

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To: stockman_scott who wrote (76987)	6/1/2010 10:59:59 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) of 149317

ROCKMAN on April 29, 2010 - 9:25am Don't need to go to such extremes tex. Drilling a relief well and hitting a target less than 2' wide a couple of miles below the surface might sound impossible but it can be done routinely. It takes time, of course. But such "geosteering" of the dril pipe is one of my jobs. The technology to do so is quit amazing to say the least. The relief well will cut the original hole and pump down "kill fluid" to stop the oil flow. But it could take a couple of months...or more. In the meantime all they can really do is recover the surface pollution as best as possible. Comments can no longer be added to this story. paal myrtvedt on April 29, 2010 - 9:49am Rock- what is the likelihood of hitting the out-blowing well-duct at first attempt ? Are they/you shooting continuous seismics during this operation to verify that the relief well string is aiming correctly towards the failing well? Comments can no longer be added to this story. ROCKMAN on April 29, 2010 - 10:46am Always get close the first time paal but seldom hit it square on. No seismic...not nearly accurate enough. I can steer a drill bit to hit a coffee can first try 5 miles away. But the trick is knowing exactly where the coffee can is. But there are down hole electronic devices right behind the dril bit that can detect the metal casing in the blow out well. Then make minor adjustments to hit the casing. Once you hit the casing they'll have to pull out of the hole and change over to a metal cutting mill bit. That's when it gets a litle dangerous. They'll have very heavy mud in the releif well that should flow into the blow out hole and kill the well. Should work that way but not always easy. theoildrum.com paal myrtvedt on April 29, 2010 - 11:18am Interesting and thanks for reply. I would (in my head that is) assume the blowout well is a so called known target with coordinates and all (?), and since you can hit 'the 5-mile-can' it should obviously be possible to hit somewhere on the rising casing. Comments can no longer be added to this story. ROCKMAN on April 29, 2010 - 12:31pm paal -- Yes...very well known coordinates for the well bore. As the hole is drilled they actually survey its location every 100' or so (and sometimes continuosly) with equipment that's essentially like down hole GPS. Accuracy varies but they probably know withing 10' or so where the casing is right now. Get that close and the electronic tool behind the drill bit can guide you the rest of the way.

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