On May 30, the Times Picayune ran a story that discusses the challenges with relief wells. If you recall, BP and government officials have uniformly stated that a relief well is the only long-term fix for the oil spewing into the Gulf.

Dave Rensink is president-elect of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He described the drilling of a relief well like this: "The only problem is really finding it. You're trying to intersect the well bore, which is about a foot wide, with another well bore, which is about a foot wide. The probability of finding it the first time ... is probably pretty low."

How low you ask? The world's worst well blowout and oil spill occurred in Mexico's Bay of Campeche in 150 feet of water. It took 10 months to get the relief well in place, only after unsuccessfully trying all the things BP has thus far tried - containment dome, junk shot and top kill.

We have heard time and again that it will take 3 months to complete a relief well. This is the same thing they said about the Mexico blow out. So, don't be surprised if we find the well in the Gulf spewing oil into next Spring.

You can find the article on www.nola.com. It is entitled "Drilling relief wells to stop Gulf oil leak poses challenges."