Boy am I confused now! The BP plan clearly states they intend to immediately shut in the well after the addition of the short stack BOP above the flex joint. Either the reservoir pressure has dropped sufficiently to not breach casing, or they are nuts. What have we missed on this thread? I don’t think any of us were comfortable with shutting in this well with no hydrostatic help from mud given the casing/liner design.
- At present this plan moves to shut in the well directly following the installation of the capping stack and the cessation of collection from the Q4000. Attachment A illustrates the range of possible timings for shutting in the well. Details for the shut-in procedure are being finalized in a meeting today, July 9th 2010, with the DOE, DOI, Federal Scientific Technical team and Secretary Chu who will be in attendance. The detailed procedures will be finalized and submitted to Unified Area Command for approval following this meeting.
From Bob Dudley Plan http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/Ltr_to_Admiral_Allen_with_attachments_09_07_10.770167.pdf