BP is doing everything that they can do to get this thing under control. We, as a community, certainly understand the pressures that are applied at those depths. Things that work at normal depths are not applicable when you’re at 5000 feet. Using generic concrete as was suggested would not help because as concrete sets it contracts. Add the pressure of 5000 feet to that and it would literally implode on itself. Then you add the other laws of physics concerning the pressure from the actual well and you’ve got yourself a huge mess. If you blow the wellhead then you could certainly allow it collapse on itself, but what if there’s another weak area somewhere down the hole? Maybe two, three, a dozen? Who knows for sure? They’ve already indicated that the annulars were breached by the gases on the BOP. We could go from what we have right now, which is a disaster, to something on a much larger scale.
In the past 31 years there has only been one other incident that is like this one. Unfortunately, the technology and response has not changed in that time. The only positive thing from this is that the response is quicker than in the 1979 blowout in Mexican waters.
I can tell you now that the top kill valve was made by a company that put it together in three days. They got the call on a Wednesday and it was sent to Oceaneering on Sunday. It was also pressure tested at 8000 feet. This was done by a company who had never built anything that large. People are moving and things are being done that have never been tried before.