Official Government Response
The BBC records the official US response to BP’s success in putting the tube in place: US says BP move to curb oil leak ‘no solution’
… a joint statement by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said the latest technique was “not a solution to the problem and it is not yet clear how successful it may be”.
It added: “We will not rest until BP permanently seals the well head, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole.”
There is standard military shorthand for that sort of statement: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over!
As a professionally suspicious person for years, I wonder if BP’s legal case may be altered if this is a “proven well”, rather than an “exploratory well”? Is there some advantage gained by BP on its balance sheet? Everything they have done is designed to capture a significant amount of oil in a tanker on the surface, not to stop the flow.
The manifold that will be used to inject the “junk” to plug the BOP was in place from the beginning and I would assume that the “kill mud” to pump into the well on the follow up is readily available, as is the cement to seal it. So what has been the point of these containment structures and the tube? They cut the pipe and installed a plug to block the third leak, so why not move down the pipe and take care of the second leak the same way?
There has to be a reason for why they are doing things this way.
