Professor: Low pressure reading may suggest well has lost power
Okay, so I think I understand this. May not need help from the experts.
One possibility is the well may have deflated over time and isn’t as powerful as it once was. Like when you have to pee real bad and at first it all comes out fast and then slows down to drip.
The other is that the well is damaged below the surface and pressure is dropping because the oil is leaking from another point under the seafloor and “into the rock formation surrounding it” which sounds a little awful and hard to cap. Perhaps the relief well would stop that if it is at a lower point on the first well than the hypothetical breech. Not sure if that’s correct. I’m not an expert.
In reference to the depleted well, a man by the name of Don Van Nieuwenhuise and the title of Director of the Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston said…
I don’t think it’s a cause for immediate concern, because it could reflect a natural loss of oil in the resevoir. It’s amazing that it has held its strength for as long as it has.
Or in other words, “That thing sure spit out a lot erl didn’t it? Didn’t expect it would go THAT long.”