It will be a feat of skill if BP can get its oil containments to work. An review of "Deepwater Blowouts" in 1999 by the U.S. Minerals Management Service said such an approach was "impractical." The Times article did not describe BP devices accurately. They are not "domes" but tall metal boxes with concrete weights.
WWL TV of New Orleans reports that the boxes are being built at Wild Well Control, an experienced well-control contractor, in Port Fourchon, LA. The bases measure 14 by 24 feet, they are 40 feet tall, and they weigh 98 tons. While that may seem massive, they must be suspended on tubing a mile long extending from the sea surface, so it is not at all clear how they can be kept upright and in place when there are strong underwater currents and surface winds. See
www.wwltv.com...
The containment boxes are the equivalent of anchoring a metal box the size of a half-gallon milk carton with a 50-pound concrete shoe and then angling it into a lake from a 100-foot long garden hose, trying to place it and hold it over a rock the size of a thimble. If BP manages this feat, it must then pump at least a hundred gallons a minute from each box, continuously separating oil from water, and keep that running until its relief wells plug the blowout.
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