Just before he went off to Kuwait, I asked John Wakeham, the energy secretary, about the support, or lack of it, for the 'noise tool' being developed by John Harper at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Full development of the tool, more exactly a directional acoustic surveying instrument, was held up when the university failed to obtain the requisite funding. Had the 'noise tool' been fully developed, it could well have helped in the drilling of relief wells to deal with the fires in Kuwait's oilfields.
Wakeham agrees, although he adds that 'current plans for controlling the burning wells are concentrating on surface methods rather than this type of relief well drilling'. On a brighter note, he adds that a company involved in drilling tools which supported the first stage of the project 'still retains an interest in developing such a tool'.
The energy secretary has asked his Offshore Supplies Office to ...
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