BP tries giant shears to try to stop gulf oil leak
Source: Agencies |
June 4, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BP sliced off a pipe with giant shears yesterday in the latest bid to curtail the worst oil spill in United States history, but the cut was jagged and placing a cap over the leak will now be more challenging, a Coast Guard official said.
BP turned to the shears after a diamond-tipped saw became stuck in the pipe halfway through the job, yet another frustrating delay in six weeks of the Gulf of Mexico spill.
The cap was to be lowered and sealed over the following couple of hours, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said. It won't be known how much oil BP can siphon to a tanker on the surface until the cap is fitted, but the irregular cut means it won't fit as snug as hoped.
"We'll have to see when we get the containment cap on it just how effective it is," Allen said. "It will be a test and adapt phase as we move ahead, but it's a significant step forward."
Even if it works, BP engineers expect oil to continue leaking.
The next chance for stopping the flow won't come until two relief wells meant to plug the reservoir for good are finished in August.
The latest attempt to control the spill, the so-called cut-and-cap method, is considered risky because slicing away a section of the 50-centimeter-wide riser could remove kinks in the pipe and temporarily increase the flow of oil by as much as 20 percent. Allen said it was unclear whether the flow had increased.
BP's top executive acknowledged yesterday the global oil giant was unprepared to fight a catastrophic deepwater oil spill. Chief executive Tony Hayward told The Financial Times it was "an entirely fair criticism" to say the company had not been fully prepared for a deep-water oil leak.
BP turned to the shears after a diamond-tipped saw became stuck in the pipe halfway through the job, yet another frustrating delay in six weeks of the Gulf of Mexico spill.
The cap was to be lowered and sealed over the following couple of hours, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said. It won't be known how much oil BP can siphon to a tanker on the surface until the cap is fitted, but the irregular cut means it won't fit as snug as hoped.
"We'll have to see when we get the containment cap on it just how effective it is," Allen said. "It will be a test and adapt phase as we move ahead, but it's a significant step forward."
Even if it works, BP engineers expect oil to continue leaking.
The next chance for stopping the flow won't come until two relief wells meant to plug the reservoir for good are finished in August.
The latest attempt to control the spill, the so-called cut-and-cap method, is considered risky because slicing away a section of the 50-centimeter-wide riser could remove kinks in the pipe and temporarily increase the flow of oil by as much as 20 percent. Allen said it was unclear whether the flow had increased.
BP's top executive acknowledged yesterday the global oil giant was unprepared to fight a catastrophic deepwater oil spill. Chief executive Tony Hayward told The Financial Times it was "an entirely fair criticism" to say the company had not been fully prepared for a deep-water oil leak.
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