[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
United States News Title: Official: Seep Found Near BP's Blown Out Oil Well + Some Oil Spill Events From Sunday, July 18, 2010 By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER (AP) – 1 hour ago NEW ORLEANS — A federal official said Sunday that scientists are concerned about a seep and possible methane seen near BP's busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Both could be signs there are leaks in the well that's been capped off for three days. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not yet been made. The official is familiar with the spill oversight but would not clarify what is seeping near the well. The official said BP is not complying with the government's demand for more monitoring. BP spokesman Mark Salt declined to comment on the allegation, but said "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this." Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen will make the final decisions on the next step. The official said Allen would issue a letter to BP shortly allowing testing to proceed in 24-hour increments, but also requiring more analysis of the seep and the possible observation of methane over the well. If Allen doesn't get the response he wants, the testing could stop, the official said. The custom-built cap that finally cut off the oil flowing from BP's broken well three days ago was holding steady Sunday. A BP official said the company hoped to leave the cap in place until crews can permanently kill the leak. That differs from the plan the federal government laid out a day earlier, in which millions more gallons of oil could be released before the cap is connected to tankers at the surface and oil is sent to be collected through a mile of pipes. Federal officials wary of making the well unstable have said that plan would relieve pressure on the cap and may be the safer option, but it would mean three days of oil flowing into the Gulf before the collection begins. A summary of events Sunday, July 18, Day 89 of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since then, oil poured into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well until BP managed to stanch the leak on Thursday - at least temporarily - with a massive, deep-sea cap. GIANT STOPPER BP hopes to keep using its giant stopper to block oil from reaching the Gulf of Mexico until it plugs the blown-out well permanently, the company said. "No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer. The cap lets BP shut in the oil, which would be important if a hurricane were to hit the Gulf and force ships to leave the area. SURFACE COLLECTION? Retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen outlined a different plan Saturday, saying that after the test was complete, the cap would be hooked up through nearly a mile of pipes to ships that will collect the oil. But that would mean oil would have to be released back into the Gulf for three days to release pressure from the well, Suttles said. The oil giant hopes to instead keep the oil shut in until its permanent measure is completed, although Suttles said BP was taking it day by day. It wasn't immediately clear if the plan had changed, or if BP and the government disagreed about the next move. Allen will make the ultimate decision. TRIAL RUN Both Allen and BP have said they don't know how long the trial run - initially set to end Saturday - will continue. Allen has extended it to Sunday afternoon, and could extend it again. Pressure in the well cap continues to rise, and scientists are still monitoring for any signs of a leak, but the news still seems to be good, Suttles said. The oil giant is hoping to keep evaluating even after the extended monitoring period it was given by the government, which expires Sunday afternoon. BEDROCK Scientists still aren't sure whether the shut-in is causing oil to leak into the bedrock surrounding the well, which could make the seabed unstable. That's why pumping the oil up to four ships on the surface and containing it there may be a safer option. But to do that, millions of gallons of oil could spew into the water when the cap is initially reopened, an image both BP and the federal government would like to avoid. RELIEF WELLS BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well's casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. Then the job of jamming it with mud and cement could take a few days or a few weeks. DISSIPATING Even though it has been only days since the oil was turned off, the naked eye could spot improvements on the water. The crude appeared to be dissipating quickly on the surface of the Gulf around the Deepwater Horizon site. Members of a Coast Guard crew that flew over the wellhead Saturday said far less oil was visible than a day earlier. Only a colorful sheen and a few long streams of rust-colored, weathered oil were apparent in an area covered weeks earlier by huge patches of black crude. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 8.
#4. To: Brian S (#0)
The official is familiar with the spill oversight but would not clarify what is seeping near the well. They're making this up as they go. Millions want to know (and more tomorrow;} why the gov't hasn't seized bp assets and replaced the Command/Control of this farce.
Is it true BP doesn't want anyone to know the actual amount of oil and methane the well was actually spewing? And that's why they are twiddling their thumbs while trying to seal the well to get it from public scrutiny and public memory.
After today there can be no other possibility. bp's in contempt of the US Gov't's point man USCG Allen. "And that's why they are twiddling their thumbs while trying to seal the well to get it from public scrutiny and public memory." The Latest is that they can't open the well back up because it's against the Law to put oil in the GoM. I'm not kidding.
#9. To: mcgowanjm (#8)
I'm not so sure about this Adm. (retired) Allen guy. He might be in on the fix.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|