Oil Industry Experts Believe Plugging The Gulf Oil Well Could Hurt More Than Help
Throughout the entire ordeal unleashed on the residents of the Gulf Coast since the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded, the main priority has been to, as President Obama put it, “plug the damn hole.” But now some geological experts believe that making an attempt to keep the oil from rushing to the surface may put so much pressure on the seafloor that the well may collapse into itself, making the situation worse than it is now.
On tonight’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann investigated comments left in an online geology expert forum, which read, in part:
“The well pipes below the sea floor are broken and leaking. The more they try and restrict the oil gushing out of the blowout preventer, the more it will transfer to the leaks below… what will happen is that the blowout preventer will literally tip over if they do not run supports to it as the currents push on it.”
In other words, the pressure from the oil pushing down on the well could crack the hole open wider. Olbermann invited oil industry expert and Huffington Post contributor Bob Cavnar on the program to interpret the comment and explain the counterintuitive logic that plugging the hole could do more harm than good. He agreed with the assessment: “the best option for BP right now is to keep the well flowing as much as they can. Any effort to close the well in or to restrict the flow I think could cause more damage down hole, and cause that flow around the well head earlier” to increase the amount of oil gusing out.
So the best hope the Gulf has, for now, are those two relief wells set to be ready in August. A bleak diagnosis, but it seems any further prodding could lead to an even larger disaster, according to these experts.
Video from tonight’s Countdown below:
