Author: Greg GossGreg Goss Date: Jun 8, 2010 07:10
"D.F. Manno" mail.com> wrote:
>IANAGeologist, nor have I ever studied geology. I fear that these
>questions will have obvious answers, but that's never stopped me before.
>So...
>
>Why is the oil gushing from the well? Where is the pressure that's
>forcing it through the broken well coming from? The mile of seawater
>above? The rock formation in which the oil is located? Something else?
>
>Also, is there any chance the flow will stop on its own (either due to a
>lessening of pressure or some other factor short of the specific deposit
>running dry? (Yes, I know we don't want to wait for a miracle to happen,
>I'm just curious.)
Ignore the mile of seawater. That just makes it awkward to work with.
The same seawater is pressing on the deposit and the wellhead, so we
can cancel it out.
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