I think they are prepping, or beginning to cap the well

[dave29]

Watching one of the other cams from the live feeds, it looked like a cement type substance started to fill a large containing area

[tekisui]

1. Now, now. Are you an expert or just speculating?

[Bluebear]

2. Quiet! Unless you are an oil expert!

:sarcasm:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8426690

[HughMoran]

4. 100%

snark

[tkmorris]

6. Fucking A ditty bag it's snark

Someone else called this place "Scold Underground" earlier. Very appropriate IMHO.

[tnlefty]

8. I thought it was an engineer or expert...

boy has my spouse had some salty things to say about engineers over the years.

[gristy]

3. maybe, but that's a lot of pressure that the concrete would have to pump against

The farther they can force the mud down the well (and that just takes time), the more the pressure will drop and the easier to get the concrete in.

[pipoman]

5. Did you see them install the giant plug first?

[Dappleganger]

7. .

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[tnlefty]

9. !

:spank:

[flamingdem]

10. +1

[Born_A_Truman]

11. Oh my EYES!

Scrub! Scrub!

[flamingdem]

12. They call this part "Top Kappy"

If you're old enough to remember that..

[flamingdem]

13. Here is some REAL GEEK INPUT on what we are seeing

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6513

Excerpt:
UPDATE 8: Well it may be my old eyes, but I think that the flow from the leaks is definitely less than it was, leading me to suggest that the well is now full of mud, and they are reducing the flow to see if the well behaves. (8:47 pm) I haven't been watching for a little while however, but did have these other thoughts before I got distracted. (It's called dinner, if I recall).

The leaks at the tops of the riser do appear to be getting bigger. However they look like crack leaks, which seem to get longer preferentially to wider, with less overall increase in flow. I would expect, since BP has more than enough pump capacity, that they will just increase the flow to balance any increase in leakage. They can monitor this through the pressure gages, and so can set the flow rate to give a certain progress down the well, or well pressure. I suspect they are more concerned about well pressure, and will just keep that at a steady value until they are sure that they have filled the well. (Probably indicated by a change in pressure levels as they start to try injecting mud into the formation rather than pushing the oil and gas back. The mud will coat the walls and make it more difficult to inject and thus they should see a pressure increase). (8:47 pm)

UPDATE 8.5: Oh, and if you were wondering why you can't see the camera feeds any longer. Oil and gas are lighter than water and float off upwards, mud is heavier and so the plume is dispersing and settling back downwards, around the well. Good job we have pressure gages. (9:07 pm)

UPDATE 9: Well the picture is clear again (wonder if they used an ROV backwash to remove the mud?) and I have looked at an earlier picture of the leak flows, relative to the current picture and I still think, from the lowering of the points at which the flows bulge out, that the jets aren't at as high a pressure as earlier. This could, however, be because the cameras have moved, or changed lenses, but the pictures do have several common features. And the heights of the plumes from both side jets are significantly shorter.

[HughMoran]

14. Thanks!

That seems to back up what I have been perceiving as well.