Efforts to place a new containment cap over the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well could effectively stop the disastrous spill as early as Monday, a US official said Friday. Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the government's spill response, said on day 81 of the disaster that an operation to swap in the new cap could begin Saturday and the entire process would take "about three to four days."
If successful, the new cap could capture all of the crude spilling into the Gulf and allow it to siphoned up to container vessels on the surface, in effect halting the devastating spill of crude into the sea that has imperiled fragile coastlines and wildlife across the Gulf Coast.
The days-long process of switching containment devices, however, could see the amount of oil spilling into the ocean temporarily increase by up to 15,000 barrels.
"There would be a multi-day period there when we're putting the containment cap on where there would be some exposure of hydrocarbons going into the environment," said Allen.
The operation is the latest attempt to contain the spill that was sparked by the April 20 explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
Current government estimates of the spill range from between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day, based on interpretation of a live video feed of the leak.
The new cap along with a connection to another processing ship -- the Helix Producer -- underway on Friday could boost the amount of captured oil by more than three-fold to 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day, according to Allen.
Getting the Helix online may "mitigate the gap" in switching containment caps, so that the full amount of crude does not spill into the sea, he added.
The White House has pushed for the new containment device because its superior seal is expected to capture the entire leak and is better equipped to deal with a hurricane threat in the storm-prone Gulf.
Crews have already seen clean-up and containment operations hampered by bad weather associated with Hurricane Alex, and with an active storm season predicted, officials are developing contingencies for future dramatic weather disturbances.
The new system will use "quick-disconnect couplings" allowing container ships to shut down operations and exit the area quickly in the face of a hurricane, Allen said.
An estimated two to four million barrels of oil have gushed into the Gulf waters since the spill began, and a permanent solution is not expected until one of two relief wells is completed.
The first is scheduled to be finished in mid-August, and while drilling is ahead of schedule, officials have cautioned that the final part of the process is the slowest and most difficult.
Allen said he expected the new containment cap would help shut down the leak via a relief well and could also allow officials to get an accurate measure of just how bad the leak is.
"Once the cap is on and we've completely sealed the wellhead, we will have internal pressure data that will actually tell us for the first time what the flow is," he said.
Oil has now washed up on beaches in all five Gulf states -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- forcing the closure of fishing grounds and threatening scores of coastal communities with financial ruin.
The spill prompted President Barack Obama's administration to order a moratorium on deepwater drilling, but the freeze was overturned by a federal court last month and an appeals court upheld that ruling on Thursday.
The motion was denied because the government failed to show "a likelihood of irreparable injury if the stay is not granted," the appeals panel judges wrote in a 2-1 ruling.
The government also "made no showing that there is any likelihood that drilling activities will be resumed pending appeal."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said he will soon issue a new order to block deepwater drilling regardless of how the court ruled and oil companies have not resumed drilling due to the legal uncertainties.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who had warned the freeze could cost his state 20,000 jobs, hailed the court's decision.
"We absolutely want drilling to be done safely and do not want another spill or one more drop of oil on our coast or in our water, but thousands of Louisianians should not have to lose their jobs because the federal government can't adequately do its job of ensuring drilling is done safely," he said.
