BP to test if cap will hold
Source: Agencies |
July 14, 2010, Wednesday
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AFTER securing a new, tight-fitting cap on top of the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP prepared yesterday to begin tests to see if it will hold and stop fresh oil from polluting the waters for the first time in nearly three months.
The oil giant expects to know within 48 hours if the new cap, which was affixed on Monday after almost three days of painstaking, around-the-clock work 1,500 meters below the Gulf's surface, can stanch the flow. The solution is only temporary, but it offers the best hope yet for cutting off the gush of billowing brown oil.
The cap's installation was good news to weary Gulf Coast residents who have warily waited for BP to make good on its promise to clean up the mess. Still, they warned that even if the oil is stopped, the consequences are far from over.
"I think we're going to see oil out in the Gulf of Mexico, roaming around, taking shots at us, for the next year, maybe two," Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's oil-stained Plaquemines Parish, said on Monday. "If you told me today no more oil was coming ashore, we've still got a massive cleanup ahead."
Starting yesterday, the cap will be tested and monitored to see if it can withstand pressure from the gushing oil and gas. The tests could last anywhere between six to 48 hours, according to National Incident Commander Thad Allen.
Kent Wells, a senior vice president at BP, said: "We need to wait and see what the test actually tells us," Wells said. "It's not simple stuff. We don't want to speculate."
The cap will be tested by closing off three separate valves that fit together snugly, choking off the oil from entering the Gulf.
Pipes can be hooked to the cap to funnel oil to collection ships if BP decides the cap can't take the pressure of the gusher, or if low pressure readings indicate oil is leaking from elsewhere in the well.
Even if the cap works, the blown-out well must still be plugged.
A permanent fix will have to wait until one of two relief wells being drilled reaches the broken well, which will then be plugged up with drilling mud and cement. That may not happen until mid-August.
The oil giant expects to know within 48 hours if the new cap, which was affixed on Monday after almost three days of painstaking, around-the-clock work 1,500 meters below the Gulf's surface, can stanch the flow. The solution is only temporary, but it offers the best hope yet for cutting off the gush of billowing brown oil.
The cap's installation was good news to weary Gulf Coast residents who have warily waited for BP to make good on its promise to clean up the mess. Still, they warned that even if the oil is stopped, the consequences are far from over.
"I think we're going to see oil out in the Gulf of Mexico, roaming around, taking shots at us, for the next year, maybe two," Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's oil-stained Plaquemines Parish, said on Monday. "If you told me today no more oil was coming ashore, we've still got a massive cleanup ahead."
Starting yesterday, the cap will be tested and monitored to see if it can withstand pressure from the gushing oil and gas. The tests could last anywhere between six to 48 hours, according to National Incident Commander Thad Allen.
Kent Wells, a senior vice president at BP, said: "We need to wait and see what the test actually tells us," Wells said. "It's not simple stuff. We don't want to speculate."
The cap will be tested by closing off three separate valves that fit together snugly, choking off the oil from entering the Gulf.
Pipes can be hooked to the cap to funnel oil to collection ships if BP decides the cap can't take the pressure of the gusher, or if low pressure readings indicate oil is leaking from elsewhere in the well.
Even if the cap works, the blown-out well must still be plugged.
A permanent fix will have to wait until one of two relief wells being drilled reaches the broken well, which will then be plugged up with drilling mud and cement. That may not happen until mid-August.
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