Since 2007, the foreclosure crisis, which has claimed nearly four million homes, has played out very differently across the U.S. After the robo-signing scandal of late 2010, lenders, flush with defaulted mortgage notes, delayed their processing of foreclosures, most notably in judicial states, where filings circulate through a court system.
If hydrates remain a problem, the smaller size will be easier for BP to circulate antifreeze-like methanol through the system, keeping the hydrates from forming.