How many relief wells are they working on right now? As I recall,

[rzemanfl]

BP stopped one so they could cannibalize its blow out protector for one of their many schemes to stop the oily geyser of death. Since that idea got fubar when the fancy saw stuck, have they put it back?

[FarCenter]

1. 2

The halt on the second was temporary.

[rzemanfl]

2. Thank you. Is that information from BP or from a reliable

source?

[FarCenter]

3. Here's a quote from Miami Herald on the 5th

BP started drilling its first relief well May 2. It has reached 12,090 feet and is expected to reach the blown-out well in early August. The second was started May 16, has reached 8,576 feet and is expected to reach the well in mid-August.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/05/1665858/relief-wells-usually-stop-spill.html#ixzz0q7s1qAII

My recollection is that the second well was halted temporarily in case the drill ship needed to be moved over the blowout well in order to assist with one of the contingency operations that involved stacking added blowout preventer on top of the leaking ones. But that is no longer in the cards -- hasn't been for a few days. Therefore, the drilling of the second relief well has resumed.

But I admit that I didn't go down and check.

Only BP, Transocean and the Coast Guard would know for sure.

[edgineered]

4. in agreement with rzemanfl

that question has been on my mind for days, and i spend much time reading what the reliable DU bloggers put up. i do not recall reading anything about restarting. i did read that the first 1,000 feet are through mud, making for fast progress. lets subtract that. the drilling effort is either stopped or they are using larger bore drills whose progress is slow.
the smaller diameter allows for faster interception, however, the smaller bore will not relieve enough pressure. ixtoc required 5.
they will not stop bs'ing us.

the reference for the drills progress was in the Miami Herald - hardly a good source!

[Statistical]

5. relief wells don't reliieve pressure that is a misnomer.

The relief well is used to force mud into primary well and kill it.

When relief well hits main well it will have 6 miles of pipe (5 miles of earth + 1 mile of water) behind the drill bit.

6 miles of mud weighs an utterly staggering amount of generates downward pressure far beyond the 10,000 psi of oil in main well.

Instead of a "top kill" it is essentially a bottom kill.

[edgineered]

6. tx