re: Oil Spill and Offshore Fishing (Latest Developments)

Here are some questions for the pros on here that come from bits and pieces picked up on other blogs/message boards.

one theory is that the BOP failed because a heavy piece of downhole equipment got stuck in the BOP and that thicker-than-pipe piece could not be pinched. what could be down there?

another theory is that the BOP failed because, when the superfast gas bubble started running out of the hole and into the riser, that it was carrying sand and/or cement that sand-blasted or eroded the "elastometers" on the BOP, thereby rendering a complete seal ineffective.

I believe that haliburton has stated that they had cemented the formation 20 hours prior to the explosion, but they had not yet set the cement plug to temporarily abandon the well.

there is a report that BP needed to remove some kind of expensive, synthetic mud in the riser for another job and that this mud was then exchanged for seawater. the guy on the radio interview did say that a workboat was on location offloading mud through a hose and that boat was later involved in rescue operations. is it customary to put seawater in the riser when there are still downhole operations to be conducted?

without any mud weight above the BOP, what precations are taken to bleed off gas at the BOP before the BOP is re-opened?

there has also been mention that the Horizon was going to move off location to its next job very soon and that a completion rig was ready and waiting to move on location. does that affect abandonment operations any?

could you give us the basic steps, in sequence, of what is needed to temporarily abandon a well?

BTW, thanks for your insight, guys.