BP faces more risk as it battles to halt flow of oil
Source: Agencies |
May 31, 2010, Monday
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With BP declaring failure in its latest attempt to plug the uncontrolled gusher feeding the worst oil spill in United States history, the company is turning to yet another mix of risky undersea robot maneuvers and containment devices to keep crude from flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
Six weeks after the catastrophe began, oil giant BP is still casting about for at least a temporary fix to the spewing well underneath the Gulf that's fouling beaches, wildlife and marshland.
A relief well being drilled - which is supposed to be a better long-term solution - won't be complete for at least two months.
That would be in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins tomorrow.
American President Barack Obama said it was "as enraging as it is heartbreaking" that the most ambitious bid yet for a temporary solution failed.
BP said on Saturday that the procedure known as the "top kill" failed after engineers tried for three days to overwhelm the crippled well with heavy drilling mud and junk 1,500 meters underwater.
Now BP hopes to saw through a pipe leading out from the well and cap it with a funnel-like device using the same remotely guided undersea robots that have failed in other tries to stop the gusher.
Robert Dudley, BP's managing director, said on "Fox News Sunday" that company officials were disappointed that they "failed to wrestle this beast to the ground."
Engineers will use undersea robots to try to lower a cap onto the leak after cutting off part of a broken pipe leading out from the well.
The device is similar to a huge containment box that failed before when it became clogged with icelike slush.
Dudley said officials "learned a lot" from that failure and would pump warm water through the pipes to prevent the ice problems.
The spill has dumped between 68 million liters and 150 million liters into the Gulf, according to government estimates.
The leak began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the firm was already preparing for the next temporary fix.
"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said.
Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser was probably restricting the flow of oil somewhat, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve was risky.
Six weeks after the catastrophe began, oil giant BP is still casting about for at least a temporary fix to the spewing well underneath the Gulf that's fouling beaches, wildlife and marshland.
A relief well being drilled - which is supposed to be a better long-term solution - won't be complete for at least two months.
That would be in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins tomorrow.
American President Barack Obama said it was "as enraging as it is heartbreaking" that the most ambitious bid yet for a temporary solution failed.
BP said on Saturday that the procedure known as the "top kill" failed after engineers tried for three days to overwhelm the crippled well with heavy drilling mud and junk 1,500 meters underwater.
Now BP hopes to saw through a pipe leading out from the well and cap it with a funnel-like device using the same remotely guided undersea robots that have failed in other tries to stop the gusher.
Robert Dudley, BP's managing director, said on "Fox News Sunday" that company officials were disappointed that they "failed to wrestle this beast to the ground."
Engineers will use undersea robots to try to lower a cap onto the leak after cutting off part of a broken pipe leading out from the well.
The device is similar to a huge containment box that failed before when it became clogged with icelike slush.
Dudley said officials "learned a lot" from that failure and would pump warm water through the pipes to prevent the ice problems.
The spill has dumped between 68 million liters and 150 million liters into the Gulf, according to government estimates.
The leak began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the firm was already preparing for the next temporary fix.
"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said.
Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser was probably restricting the flow of oil somewhat, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve was risky.
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