Hopes high for cap on well, but testing delayed
Maitri or Clay or anyone else, I’m reading this article and, really, I am skimming the whole thing trying to get to the part about the relief wells, which I have been told over and over again is the “real solution.” So I find them at the bottom of the article and there is a paragraph that confounds me and I need some help with it.
Wells said work on the first relief well, expected to be completed in August, was delayed while officials prepare for the integrity test out of an abundance of caution. It is possible, though unlikely, that shutting in the well as part of the integrity test could cause the back side of the relief well to be blown out, Wells said.
I am supposing correctly that the relief well must be close enough to the first well (feet? inches?) so that the pressure applied by capping the wellhead would be enough to blow out the side of the well into the first relief well? And if so, then what happens?
The relief well must ultimately be almost coincident with the damaged well at the reservoir horizon, so that capping its wellhead will be enough to transfer flow to the second well (not blow out the side of the well into the relief well). My main concern is that the damaged well is capped well enough to stop flow from the reservoir into it.