Okay, so it worked sometimes in the burning fields of Kuwait. Basically, the idea is to use the worthless Blow Out Preventers to jack into the hole and pump in ground up rubber. Heavy drilling mud is pumped in after that, then cement. R. L. Miller pointed me to the story here.

Other sources are here and here.

BOP’s have hydraulic hoses leading to them that operate the massive valves to shut in a well. They can, in some instances, apply a million pounds of pressure. The idea, as I understand it, is to use subs to reconfigure the control box tied into the BOP’s, jack into choke and kill lines on the BOP to pump in hole plugging stuff.

First in is rubber. Old shredded tires and mats and stuff from what I gather, then weighted drilling mud and then cement.

They say this was done successfully in the 1st Gulf War, to squelch fires in Kuwait. In the blistering sun. In the desert. On dry land.

Facing potentially the worst man-made ecological disaster on the planet, this pulling shit out of your ass, or winging it, is unacceptable. Stepping off of a ninety foot cliff and saying “woops” is not going to change what happens next. We need to realize that.