The part that amazes me most is that the oil is squirting out at all. I mean, the water pressure at that depth is like four tons per square inch. And yet the oil is gushing out like a landbound spindletop, months after the well was drilled and weeks after it broke. Apparently, there's so much oil down there at at 3000 fathoms, all you have to do is jam a pipe in the ground, and you can't stop the oil from coming out. I can see why it's so attractive.
yeah. depending on the way they produced it, though, that will end sooner rather than later. I'm guessing they drilled several laterals and offshoots, making a warren of holes in the ground. Needless to say, this increases the rate at which the oil comes out, but it drastically shortens the lifespan of the well.
They may also have fractured the reservoir, which has the same effect, but worse; in addition to making the oil come quicker, it makes the surrounding formation really difficult to drill through (because it is all broken up); this could have big nasty effects on the relief wells.
With the relief well, what they'll do is drill into the original wellbore, then seal it off with high density mud to keep the oil from shooting out anymore. After they get the original well sealed, they might go in and make the relief well a production well, but it'll always be pretty malfed up.
The technical challenges of oil production are very neat. It is a horrid horrid industry though, and I wouldn't recommend anyone getting into it if they want to keep their soul clean.
