we may never know for sure why it failed. the "junk shot" method BP tried may have damaged the BOP even more. so even when they get it back to the surface to inspect, it may be difficult to tell what was or wasn't damaged by the crap they tried pumping into it to stop the leak.
I think Sabanfan's idea about the wedding ring is an idea that has real merit...It could really work !!.
Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns - Yahoo! News We are sorry BP. It's not your fault now tons of methane will probably eliminate the oxygen in the gulf waters.
Just one more of the hundreds of reasons we will never see the Gulf back to it's pre spill condition in our lifetime. Sorry BP our great, great, great, great grandchildren are wishing they had a wonderful place to visit, swim, and fish in.
The pipe rams on the bop are designed to close around the pipe. This is what they would close first, and if their spacing wasn't right could have closed on a tool joint. They are not designed to close around the joint and would fail if they were. The shear rams are designed to cut through whatever is in the way and close the hole no matter what. They failed perhaps because of the junk/pressure coming through, but they shouldn't have; they are the ultimate oh s*** button and used only as a last resort (cause when it cuts that pipe you have 10000' of pipe in a hole with well control issues). We pressure test our rams, valves and the rest of the bop every two weeks at a minimum. As I said earlier, this will be a big issue for bp/mms going forward how this critical piece of equipment was allowed to be used in such a risky hole (deepwater exploation wells are about as far out there as you can get). Obviously it wasn't the reason the well blew out, something failed downhole and from what is being reported there were alot of shortcuts that contributed to it. But kicks happen every single day, avoidable and unavoidable ones; thats why the bop should work 100% of the time.
As much as he has irritated most of us with some of his comments, I understand him when he says was out of the loop with decisions on the well. I certainly don't expect him to be part of the decision making process on every project within BP. As for this decision to relieve him of day to day responsibility for managing the oil spill, that is a good idea I suppose. Although I am afraid he has not been too involved in that either. So I don't expect much positive change to come from this. (please show me otherwise, BP) What he really needs is a muzzle.
