Drilling relief wells to stop Gulf oil leak poses challenges

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Source: Times-Picayune

Drilling relief wells to stop Gulf oil leak poses challenges
By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune
May 30, 2010, 10:07PM

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"The only problem is really finding it, " Rensink said of the original well. "You're trying to intersect the well bore, which is about a foot wide, with another well bore, which is about a foot wide. The probability of finding it the first time ... is probably pretty low."

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As BP tries to meet the original well, it will need to have plenty of mud on hand, because when the drill actually connects, the mud from the relief well will have a tendency to get sucked into the lower pressure of the original well, and drillers could lose control of the relief well.

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Last August, the Thai company PTT Exploration and Production Co. was drilling the Montara well in 260 feet of water in the Timor Sea off of Australia when it well blew up and began leaking oil into the ocean.

It took 10 weeks and five tries for the drilling rig brought in to drill the relief well to hit its target about 8,600 feet below the sea floor. On the last try, there was another rig explosion, which burned for two days.

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Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/challenges_involved_in_drillin.html