I don’t know if you’re reading the website The Oil Drum, and its commentary on the BP oil spill, but it’s a site that attracts a lot of knowledgeable industry workers and experts. You can learn a lot from it. I’m not competent to judge the validity of this rather apocalyptic, technical comment by Oil Drum reader dougr, but if he’s right about the real state of that damaged well, the situation is extremely bad. His view is that the well is broken below the ocean floor, which would likely mean that its stability is rapidly declining, and we could face a much worse situation, re: volume of oil release, before the relief well is completed.