BP prepares for 'Top Kill' procedure to contain oil spill

nytimes.com

17 pointsmawhidby4 comments

Anybody know what the "heavy drilling fluids" are composed of?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drilling_fluid

I'm more interested in how exactly can the density/gravity work against pressure, as I assume this works. So, they will pump in the fluid into a gushing stream against it's own pressure...? Shouldn't that cement pump after it work really fast or something? I don't see how fluid itself can stop the pressure from gushing out everything, and possibly damaging the equipment further. Then again, I'm no expert on any of that.

I think most of the experts are just as clueless at this stage as most of the armchair oil tycoons so you're in good company there.

Let's hope not all of them are and that this will work or that they find something else that works real soon.

I appreciate the link, but the article describes a wide range of fluids for various purposes. I didn't read it super-carefully, but I don't think this purpose was mentioned.

I'm curious about what they plan to use tomorrow. And, like you, I'd really like to hear somebody describe the mechanism by which it would work.

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