If both barrels fail there is the possibility of putting a new blowout preventer on top of the old one.
The goal of the hearings is to examine the design and performance of the drilling rig's blowout preventer, a mammoth set of valves that is the last line of defense against an oil spill.
On May 26th BP, the company responsible for the well that Deepwater Horizon had drilled, started to pump heavy drilling mud into the well's blowout preventer, a set of valves on the sea floor.
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Then there was the blowout preventer, a huge stack of valves on the sea floor.
The remote-controlled submarines are being used by BP in an attempt to activate the well's blowout preventer to choke the flow of oil.
As early as five hours before the explosion drillers noticed unexpected loss of fluid in the riser pipe, indicating leaks in a part of the blowout preventer.
The Interior Department granted the company permission to begin "certain limited preparatory activities" -- including work related to the installation of a blowout preventer -- on August 30.
With that leak sealed, the plan is to inject heavyweight "kill mud" into the lower part of the blowout preventer, followed by cement that will effectively entomb the well.
Attorneys for two of the Transocean employees, both of whom were involved in the maintenance of the blowout preventer, said they advised their clients to ignore the subpoenas because the hearings had been conducted poorly.
The judge also agreed to rule out punitive damages against Cameron International, the manufacturer of the blowout preventer on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig, which was rocked by an explosion and fire in 2010 that killed 11 workers and touched off the enormous spill.
And why that's important is a whole host of reasons, but particularly we want to judge the integrity for the use of the blowout preventer on the well either for a capping procedure now or in assistance in the capping procedure with the relief well.
Studies of the blowout preventer's two control pods suggest that a flattish battery and a dodgy valve meant that neither was in a fit state to close off the well automatically when they should have, which BP takes as evidence of poor maintenance by Transocean.
As a prelude to permanently shutting down the well, crews are trying to withdraw drill pipe hanging below the bottom of the blowout preventer and remove it from the well, so they can then remove the capping stack that's kept oil from leaking since July 15 and replace the old blowout preventer with a new one.
We in the industry have long had great confidence in the blow-out preventer as the ultimate failsafe piece of safety equipment.
Washington (CNN) -- The public may have seen the last video images of the failed blowout preventer from the BP oil well disaster, as authorities expressed possible security concerns.
CNN: Public may not see failed blowout preventer from BP oil well
At that depth, a key piece of equipment is the blowout preventer, which weighs up to 300 tons and caps the well, holding back ultrapressurized oil deep in the Earth.
At that depth, a key piece of equipment is the blowout preventer, which weighs up to 300 tons and caps the well, holding back ultrapressurized (15, 000 pounds per square inch) oil deep in the Earth.
Once the blowout preventer is replaced to mitigate the risk of pressure in the well, it will take about four days to drill through the relief well and intercept the main well, based on statements from Allen.
Bradford County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Skip Roupp was quoted as saying that there was a crack in the top part of the well, below the blowout preventer.
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The primary culprit behind the explosion appears to be the blowout preventer, a two-story-tall stack of valves on the seafloor that was built by Cameron in 2001 and designed to guillotine shut an out-of-control well.
The cap installed on the top of the well is basically a second blowout preventer.
Would a different type of culture have motivated BP to check that blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon rig?
Other companies involved included Transocean, the owner of the rig and responsible for the safety valve known as the blowout preventer, and Halliburton, who provided cementing services.
Removal of the device will need to be done carefully, because the blowout preventer may hold valuable forensic evidence as to why it failed on April 20, triggering the massive explosion.
Sources close to the investigation tell Forbes that Transocean engineers had last checked the blowout preventer 10 days before the rig explosion, and that BP believes the device suffered a leak of hydraulic pressure, preventing it from being able to shut the well.
The main culprits of the fiasco, of course, are BP, which operated the rig, TransOcean ( RIG), owner of the rig and Cameron International ( CAM), the company that manufactured the blowout preventer.
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