different from the top kill they tried once before. it is different, because this time, there is a cap, if i can show you one of my crude renderings here on this draw/erase board. they have the cap on top of the ruptured well. that s the difference. before the top kill, there was no cap and so they re trying to force the heavy fluid and mud into the rupture well without any kind of containment. that s different this time around with the static kill. and bp just wrapped up a technical briefing just a few moments ago, randy, where they talked about a test that we haven t heard a whole lot about, called the injectivity test. what they re going to be doing is checking to see whether or not they can force the oil in the ruptured well back into the reservo reservoir. what they re going to do is start pumping in that mud right into that containment cap, down into the containment cap and into the ruptured well. and if that process goes well, they re going to be taking pressure readings durin
has been building under it. reporter: well, you know, this is sort of the difference between the static kill and the top kill. during the top kill there wasn t the containment cap on top. they were able to keep pressures monitored by the engineers watching this. with the cap in place, they will be able to pump the mud and cement through the blownout preventer and down into the well during this procedure. and as the procedure is going on, those engineers are going to be taking pressure readings minute by minute throughout the course of the night, throughout the next 24 to 48 hours, and they are hopeful that as they do this they are not going to see any burps, any leaks of glass gas or oil out of this well, out of this containment cap. if all goes according to plans, and the pressure readings stay intact, they are reasonably confident this is going to work. jim, thank you for watching that for us and explains that to
they tried so many things, the top kill, the top hat, the junk shot, you name it. why are they so confident this time it will do it? they re confident this time around, because they feel like unlike top kill, they ve got that cap in place so this cup at youred well is under control, they feel at the moment. and they have been taking pressure readings, so right now, the pressure read attention and i don t want to bore you with the details, but the pressure readings are such that they feel like this whole ruptured well is really under control at the moment. the weather, they also said, at this particular technical briefing also in good shape. unlike the other times where it was forcing material or forcing junk into a ruptured well, they ve got this containment cap. that s the big difference here, and because they ve got that containment cap there, they feel like they ve got a lot of the a lot of the you know, the physics on their side this time around. of course, we ll have to
exactly how this is working. reporter: well, i m an acosta, not a picasso, but i m doing my best down here. it helps to get your arms and your brain around what they re doing down here to look at it firsthand. what they are going to be doing over the next 24 to 48 hoyers, keeping in mind that these pressure readings continue to come back well, we are going to start seeing that heavy mud starting to pump down towards the containment cap, and it s going to go right into that containment cap on top of the ruptured well and down into the ruptured well and what we understand from admiral thad allen yesterday, if the pressure readings are good throughout that process, then the cement will come in and repeat that process and go right down into that well and start filling up that well with cement. this is all sort of a one/two punch. so if static kill goes well, the
the capped oil well with one question in mind. where is the leak? there are low pressure readings that suggest there might be one somewhere, even though scientists say that the gas bubbling up from the ocean floor and methane gas occurs naturally. there is a dramatic new development unfolding right now. a technique called static kill may be attempted to try to seal that well for good. it involves pumping heavy mud to force all of the oil and gas back down to the reservoir where it came from. earlier on american morning, arthur berman told us he doesn t see a downside to trying the procedure. you re not really introducing pressure. you re putting an additional fluid, which is heavier than the oil that is in the pipe, it s going to simnk to the bottom. because of the weight of the fluid, it s going to counter the