BP Chief Doug Suttles Tells More Lies

 (They made fun of me in school for being a "Mama's Boy.")

When British Petroleum (BP) Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles - and other executives from BP - first spoke about the proposal for the latest capping device to be placed over the top of the gushing oil well head in the Gulf of Mexico, all they said was that the idea in mind was to saw the top portion of the riser pipe off before attaching the new cap.  Concerns were expressed about the need for a clean cut of the pipe in the interest of facilitating a snug fit for the cap; and that failure to produce a clean cut would result in a greater leakage of oil from out around the sides of the base of the newly installed cap.

But there was NOTHING initially stated by anyone from BP or elsewhere suggesting any so-called “VENTS” being implemented at the sides of the cap that would result in the subsequent leakage of oil.  But this is what Mr. Suttles is quoted as recently claiming when he was asked to describe why so much oil - in fact more oil than ever - is seen streaming from out around the sides of the newly installed cap.  In his effective words, he stated, “What you are seeing here is vents around the sides of the cap; and those vents will progressively be closed off to secure the flow of oil.”

 For one thing, Mr. Suttles is a bold-faced liar to no less a degree than British Petroleum and everyone else involved in this whole issue has been making up one lie after another and pointing fingers of blame at everyone else around them.  But there is an important and very simple observation in PHYSICS to show why the oil is VENTING from around the sides of the phony-baloney cap that has been placed over the top of the riser pipe, including why this situation could not have been prevented in the first place.

The simple analogy to make here is when you inadvertently shake up a bottle of soda or beer and then remove the cap too soon, only to have the pressurized and carbonated liquid foaming out the top of the bottle.  This problem has happened to most people at one time or another who drink enough bottles of soda and beer, including that many people will make failed attempts at applying hand pressure to the top of the bottle cap in an effort to stop the flow of liquid. 

By and large, though, this attempt will fail and the liquid will continue flowing out from the inside edges of the bottle cap to some degree until enough of the pressurized liquid has been released that it ends up creating a vacuum inside the bottle between the top of the remaining liquid and the underside of the bottle cap.  The typical solution that ends up occurring is where you find yourself running over to the sink and letting go of bottle cap to allow the liquid to spill out.

In simple physics’ terminology, this phenomenon is referred to as being “the path of least resistance,” in which any liquid will always follow that same path.  The path of least resistance in the case of the gushing oil well is that the amount of pressure being applied from the release of oil and gas is far greater than the amount of pressure being applied through use of the jury-rigged cap placed over the top of the riser pipe.

Another really stupid and retarded observation to make here is that if the new cap was going to work in the first place to choke off the flow of oil, then the last failed attempt of trying to force heavy mud down the riser pipe would also have worked.  The reason for the failed attempt at forcing mud down the pipe is the same reason why this cap is not working, which is due to the greater force of oil and gas escaping from the well. 

The central pressure of this particular oil well is estimated at being upwards of 170-thousand pounds per square inch (PSI); and in order for any form of capping or plugging device to actually work in overcoming the flow of oil and gas, then such device will need to create GREATER THAN 170-thousand pounds of pressure on a PER-INCH basis.

In order for Mr. Doug Suttles to be correct about the VENTING effect being closed off on any step-by-step basis, it would have to mean that pressure being applied to the top of the cap will eventually overcome the pressure of the well itself, but this WILL NEVER be accomplished simply by bringing some of the oil to the surface into a waiting cargo ship.  The apparent problem with the fact of transferring any amount of oil to the surface of the ocean that is LESS THAN the amount of oil and gas escaping from the well is that doing so is obviously not going to diminish the pressure at the source of the leak.

Neither Mr. Suttles nor anyone else has offered to explain HOW the pressure of the oil well is going to somehow eventually be overcome by a greater amount of pressure being applied to the new capping device.  This is because Mr. Suttles is telling more lies in a feeble effort to try and cover up all of his past lies; and he already knows pressurization of this new capping device is inherently DESIGNED TO FAIL just the same as trying to shove heavy mud and concrete down the riser pipe also failed.

Under these circumstances, the only way the pressure is going to become lessened is for the well itself to actually begin to RUN DRY over a period of time – maybe years or even decades from now – just the same as a bottle of soda pop releases all of its contained pressure. 

It is believed that the amount of natural gas under pressure in the well deposit is upwards of 10-thousand times greater than the amount of actual oil.  The well deposit is further believed to be either the first or second largest such deposit yet discovered on the earth at an estimated 25-thousand square miles, which is greater than the circumference of the earth itself at about 22-thousand miles.

The pressurization of the well deposit is not going to diminish anytime soon.  It could even take hundreds of years for the pressure to begin to dwindle down to any appreciable degree.  But by then, of course, there won’t be ANYONE around to tell the story one way or the other...