Independant experts have declared the so called BOP is actually just a methanol injector and not a Blow Out Preventor as the press is reporting.

The so called Blow Out Preventor

Here’s why:

A Blow Out Preventor stops the drill stem from blowing out of the ground. Conversely a valve is used to control fluid flow just like a faucet.

Clearly something that sits ontop of the pipe and uses the pipe for support is not going to stop the pipe from coming out of the ground or seal the pipe at the kind of pressure that would cause it to blow out in the first place.

A typical Bore hole

The top of the bore hole is very big as the wells are very deep, and the piping is stacked on top of each other, pieces on top of pieces.. The top of the well is approx 1-2m in diameter down to 2/300m in depth until hard consolidated rock is reached.

According to the old rules (that were dismissed as unnecessary by BP management for the Macondo well) the first BOP was located near to the cosolidated rock 2/300m under ground with several hundred meters of concrete on top so they won’t move anywhere.

The BOP at the ocean floor should be automatically triggered if the pipeline starts to move upwards for any reason. It is effectively a huge huge slab of steel approximately the size of a house. It sits on top of the well head and when triggered clamps onto the pipe and closes the hole. The reason for this is If the pipe blows out it whips around like a firehose and the steel pipe will take out pretty much anything in its way.

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