SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
A Final Fix to Gulf Oil Leak May Be at Hand
from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)
For more than three months, the world has waited for a permanent fix to the BP oil leak. It may not have to wait much longer. As early as Sunday evening, the oil giant will take the first steps in a weeks-long process that, though highly complex, has a simple idea at its core: to cram a leaky hole full of cement.
It's the preferred, time-tested method for taming a wild well, and it is absolutely necessary, experts say. Even though no oil has flowed into the Gulf of Mexico since a sealing cap was installed over the gusher July 15, they say it will take a cement job to shut the well for good.
... The first step of the "static kill" operation will involve sending dense, specially formulated drilling mud, weighing 13 pounds per gallon--about 1.5 times the weight of a gallon of seawater--from ships down a mile-long drill pipe and eventually into the well through a valve. This will reestablish control over the high-pressure oil and gas that was lost by the operators of the Deepwater Horizon on April 20 ...
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