I saw David Axlerod on television this morning saying they have some outside group working on this and the government is telling BP what to do. This problem while complicated is much simpler than it is being treated. Basic petroleum engineering can easily give a solution and the mechanical design is likely not nearly as complicated as what has been done. I would very much appriciate a reply to this e-mail as I have comments to many places and have not had any replies.

BP tied lines into the seafloor BOP's of the well blowing out in the Gulf well over 2 weeks ago. One would think that the first thing they would have done is flow the well up that piping to gather information needed to determine what would be necessary to stop the flow out the top of the Bop's. They could have gotten a very good idea of flow rate uu this, pipe the flowing pressure at the BOP's, and the flow rate out the top of the BOP's. A multiple flow rate test would have given information that would allowed the design of all equipment needed to produce the well as well as shut off the riser that was leaking the oil into the Gulf. I have wondered from the first why this was not done. The top kill attempt and the cutting of the riser upstream of the bend right at the top of the BOP's would have been avoided. None of the things that have been done to this point would have been necessary to stop the flow.

I expect that next week the production will be increased and they will go in and some how cap off the old riser connection. Everybody will pat one another on the back and we will never hear the real story. I just hope everything will be reviewed and some plans made to bvetter handle the next blow out. I do not think BP tried to cut any corners to save money. They had some problems which are going to occur and a lot of bad decisions were made which led to the blowout. When they moved back on the well and tied back into the BOP's they continued to make many bad decisions. The world is far to dependent oil for us not to learn from this disaster and plan how to avoid furture one and to handle those that occur. Our way of life is dependent on it. People say the way of life of the people in south louisana will be changed by this disaster and it will but they will come back and make it. If we start running out of oil faster than alternative energy sources are developed everyone in the world way of life will be changed and many in the poorer parts of the world will not live to make a comeback.

There is no one working on the well who does not have good intentions about stopping the leak, but they have made so many mistakes and taken the wrong approaches and know the potential litigation they face they just can't tell the whole story out right. It would appear that they had the capability to flow the well thru the so called direct connection before the top kill was ever attempted. I don't have any idea why this was not done. I believe they are flowing the well thru this connection now and are limited by the production vessels. These vessels are apparently being replaced with larger vessels next week and the production rate will be increased. This is the only thing that makes any sense. They talk about the direct connection being in place by mid June, when it has been in place every since they tied into the BOP's. They say it has a flow capacity now of 5000 bbl per day and will be increased to 8000 bbl per day(June 7th technical briefing) and they lead us to believe that it is not producing at present and that all the oil presently being produced is from thier cap connection. Why has no one been asking about the connection they are now calling the direct connection.

BPshould have flow tested the well, first thing after tieing into the BOP's with the pipe that they are now calling thier direct connection. They could have gathered information on flow rates and pressure that would have allowed them to estimate thier needs and abilities much better. They would have probbally have elimated the top kill attempt and may have seen that they could simply flow the well through the piping that they are now calling the direct connection and plug off the riser pipe with a packer using slips and rotation to expand packing element. If this could have been done the flow into the gulf could have been stopped with in a few days. They are now saying the direct connection which had to be in place to attempt the top kill will be in place by mid June. They are also saying it has the capability now of flowing 5000 bbl per day. Why is it not flowing now? or is it? Is the production out of the direct connection being attributed to th cap they installed. Is the 5000 bbl per day production limit of the direct connection simply the capacity of the surface production equipment? Why has no one asked BP about this? The questions go on and on.