BP Oil Spill
May 29, 2010I have a question. I don’t know much about geology, or the planet I live on. But how much oil is down there? Is it a finite reservoir, or linked to other sources? If we can’t stop this leak- how much is down there? What is worst case scenario from this?
I should know this. Will read – any suggestions for reading welcome.
(found your blog via someone linking to the budget article, and it was so well written I went reading back)
It’s a finite reservoir. There are lots of pockets of oil that aren’t all linked together, so it won’t drain the entire field. However it’s a very large reservoir: one that BP expected to push oil up to the rig for years, so left unattended it would leak for years.
There’s a cap on the well but the pressure is huge enough that they can’t just close it, the pressure would blow it right off again. So now it’s a question of capturing it all in pipes and taking it away.
Thank you very much. I sat and thought about how little I know about this- that I have started reading- and the reading is fairly astounding. I was worried about the oil leak- but my god, we should not be drilling that deep. Not if this is the limit of our capabilities.