Topic: Relief Wells

Driller Doug, a correspondent working on the relief well ships, reports that industry experts fear the new containment cap may cause a leak thousands of feet below the seafloor. If the well's casing integrity fails, the result could be an unstoppable "volcano" of oil. While BP is testing the pressure of the well, drilling on the primary relief well has been temporarily halted to monitor the capping stack's performance.

The theory of abiotic oil—the idea that oil is a regenerative mineral process rather than a fossil fuel—is proposed as the reason for the Gulf spill's intensity. Citing pastor Lindsey Williams, the hosts suggest BP drilled into a high-pressure "motherlode" with volcanic properties that they cannot contain. The relief wells are characterized as an attempt to capture this massive resource rather than simply stopping the leak.