Please, add your best idea. Here's mine.
Since theyve cut the riser off, no more Top Kill attempts can be made, sooo..


I'd use explosives to crush the casing in on itself & slow the flow, until I could close it off completely. Here's how.
It would be best to get below the bottom of the surface casing, but I have no clue how deep that is or what kind of formation its landed on, so, W/O knowing how many strings of casing are hanging there, the diameters, etc, Ill just drop an outline of the idea.
Most folks are aware of the hydraulic hammer efect, sometimes old pipes will rattle if a valve is shut too quickly, so, imagine the casing from the well bottom, up to the BOP is just 6 inches, flowing at 800,000 gallons/day. Now, if someone shut that off at the top too quick, the hammer of that column of fluid, moving so fast, would surely rupture the casing, so, it needs to be pinched off carefully.

How about this.
Build 2 Big Tubes, one for each side of the well. Each tube has a window cut in it, covered for the trip down that will be removed after the explosives are in place. Build guides into the tube, to orient the explosives carrier. The carrier needs to be very strong & hold a shaped charge so that when the charges are set off, it doesnt destroy the carrier. The blast needed to collapse the pipe may not be as big as some might think. Ive played with det cord & wrapped some around some 2 & 3/8ths pipe. A few wraps will create a squeezed spot.
Anyway, a series of small blasts, over a length of the pipe, no one blast to actually slam it shut, just use explosives like a hammer & slowly drive the pipe closed. Have to pull the explosives carrier out & reload, maybe, or make it long enough to have enough explosives so it could slowly crimp it in places & finally slam one shut of nearly shut. I believe if it cant be used to stop it, it would sure slow it down.
It would be nice to know how the well is actually done & the strengths of the different strings of casing, depths, etc.



I suppose it would be possible to go so far as to build a pair of explosives carriers to set down there that actually had metal projectiles to strike the casing & literally hammer it , slowly closing it off..

Or, Heck yea,, Inside a carrier,  A few pieces of drill collar laid sideways & a wedge to drop in behind them, driving them in on the casing,

I can envision several ways to try it. I wish I had a mechanical engineer & the specifics of the well & some Big Stuff to mock it up with & see if its feasible.

If thats true, then the pressure has changed since they drilled it. & I guess thats possible, considering the free flow thats happened & the resultant erosion of the formation.
They could still Slow it down some.. even if it cant safely be closed.

The first containment/collection dome was fine.  They just had to heat it up to melt the methane hydrate crystals that were clogging it.  I would think that if they can weld stuff underwater, they could clamp on electric heaters or something.

Once the pressure has bled down, the well can be clogged with a slurry of portland cement and BP executives.

I think reason the flow rate estimate keeps increasing is that they deliberately downplayed it at first, and continue to report the minimum plausible rate, but as the Louisiana coast gets sapped with oil, that plausible rate is going higher and higher.  The waves and wind patterns aren't helping either.  

They are doing good by drilling relief wells to drop the pressure as fast as possible, however much gas and oil needs to be bled off.  I know the engineering and management work required for even one of those platforms is epic.  There will be spills now and again, and the environment and company will recover (see Exxon/Valdez).

Armchair engineering aside (and I am sure we are ignorant of something that would make our ideas unworkable) all we can do is wish them luck in their containment and cleanup efforts, and continue to save oil by using small engine motorbikes.  

[quote author=627D7B7C61665767576F7D713A080 link=1276263114/0#7 date=1276272299]I think reason the flow rate estimate keeps increasing is that they deliberately downplayed it at first.



Are you suggesting that BP might fib to us about the amount of oil they are spilling?
That would be pretty close to dishonest wouldn't it.

I figure when I get to Hawaii, I will have about 6 months to enjoy the beach before the oil gets there.

Phelonius

Okay, I called BP. 281-366-5511 & they sent me a form in the email.



Brief Description of Technology (200 words or less)
This is a solution for the: SpillSource

Large pipes positioned opposite each other, with either shaped charges or large rollers( short pieces of drill collar) & a wedge to lift or drive down, creating a crushing force, like blind rams in a BOP.The wedge that drives the roller can be small enough Diameter to pull up & past the roller, once the roller has made its dent in the casing. Its easier to pull than piledrive. The roller needs to roll up the casing as it presses deeper into it.  If pressure is too great for the casing to take if its closed, then choke it down. Cant slam it shut, because of the hydraulic hammer of that column of fluid.

If I knew the depth of the surface casing & the number/size of the strings of casing & the formation hardness the surface casing is landed in it would help.

I realize this isnt a completely fleshed out idea. May need to lock the pipes down by running something thru them & under the flange on the BOP, so they dont pull out instead of crimping the casing.


If Surface is set shallow & in soft stuff, then maybe this could be pounded down below the surface casing,

Thank you for your consideration. I hope this helps.  

 Materials Required (50 words or less)

Large casing or steel culvert pipes, some drill collars to set the pipes in the sea bed, drill collars can be used to build the wedges & rollers.

 Equipment Required (50 words or less)

Large steel pipe & drill collars, IDK if wireline equipment would be needed to get things oriented correctly or if ROV's can do it.Need a rig or a barge w/ a derrick. Wont need to pump or rotate so a barge should be fine as long as it can pull hard enough.

 Expertise Required – including description and numbers (100 words or less)

Need engineers to determine crush force required & smallest choke the casing can take w/o rupture due to current formation pressure.  



No, they dont want it too long.
Now, I wait for them to look at it & evaluate it.

That makes sense Justin, I believe it.  Sometime around 1989-1990 I worked an internship at Mobil, easily the best summer job I ever had, helping the geologists map out formations likely to contain large pockets of oil and gas.  I guess the geologist can tell you about the silt and other erosion-prone material, but then it is on the Mech.Es and well control experts to stem the flow.  I am sure there is a "situation room" full of the best and brightest well experts on the case, just as there is a team of the most PR-savvy weasels trying to minimize the damage to BP's reputation.

This whole, "Give us your ideas" campaign, smells more like a PR move to trivialize the problem, than a serious endeavor to get a solution...
They have the money, brains, experience, and equipment...
And they seem to know,... that there are some bells that can't be un-rung...
I don't know how to stop it,... but I know how to stop it from happening again.... ...