I read some informed speculation today that the well pipe is actually cracked and/or eroding and on the verge of collapsing- this is below the level of the sea floor where it would be completely inaccessible. This goes some way to explaining why the previous junk shot and top kill attempts didn’t work and have been completely abandoned. All these procedures increase the internal pressure, increasing the risk of catastrophic failure.
If the well pipe fails down near the bottom, we are pretty much fcuked until the oil field drains itself. The resulting spill would make this current situation look like a pool party, and oil would end up all around the globe. If all this is correct, the only hope is that the relief well hits its mark before the pipe goes. I think it’s fairly clear that there is more going on than what we’re being told. This might also explain why they were so keen to get the money from BP up front in escrow. The current scale of this, even if it goes on for another couple months, is nowhere near big enough to threaten the viability of BP as a going concern. If the well collapses though…