Bottom Kill

The latest briefing by National Incident Commander Thad Allen was held at the White House today. With respect to the upcoming "bottom kill" attempt, Cmdr. Allen told the gathered press that relief well being drilled by the Development Driller III now is at a distance of 11,641 feet below the seafloor and is continuing the delicate ranging and directional drilling required to intersect the Macondo well casing.

As Cmdr Allen described it:

"... they’re going through a series of operations which we call ranging. They’re into their fourth cycle of this. In ranging, they withdraw the drill pipe and put down an electrical cable and actually try and sense the magnetic field around the wellbore. They are within around 15 feet of the wellbore at this point. They will continue down 700, 800 more feet, slowly close into the wellbore, and when they know they’ve got it exactly in range, know exactly where the drill pipe is in relation to the wellbore, then they will attempt to move in and drill through the wellbore and then the casing as well. At that point they’ll be in a position to be able to try the bottom kill or to be able to insert the mud, and hopefully after that, put a cement plug in that will kill the well."

He also annouced that the backup relief well being dug by the Development Driller II is 6,720 feet below the seafloor and is continuing to make progress.

Click image for full-sized diagram