Funnel lowered to blown-out oil well
Source: Agencies |
May 8, 2010, Saturday
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A 100-ton concrete-and-steel box plunged toward a blown-out well at the bottom of the sea yesterday in a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop most of the gushing crude fouling the Gulf of Mexico.
The quest took on added urgency as oil reached several barrier islands off the United States' Louisiana coast, many of them fragile animal habitats. Several birds were spotted diving into the oily, pinkish-brown water, and dead jellyfish washed up on the uninhabited islands.
Meanwhile, a radar image showed that oil was extending west to fishing areas around the Mississippi Delta. The image, taken Wednesday night by a Canadian satellite, showed an extension resembling a finger reaching out from the main patch, imaging expert Hans Graber of the University of Miami said yesterday.
The main oil slick has been shifting to the northwest, encroaching on Chandeleur Sound, which lies between the delicate Chandeleur Islands and Mississippi Delta wetlands, he said.
Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that transported the box, confirmed he had received a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that it would be in position over the well soon.
The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the 12-meter-tall box.
A crane had lowered the box about 1,200 meters underwater before dawn yesterday, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert.
Once the contraption gets to the sea floor, underwater robots will secure it over the main leak at the bottom, a process that will take hours. If it works, the device could be collecting as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funneling it up to a tanker by tomorrow. But it has never been tried so far below the surface, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine.
"We haven't done this before," said BP spokesman David Nicholas. "It's very complex and we can't guarantee it."
Oil giant BP PLC is in charge of cleaning up the mess in the Gulf. It was leasing the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon when it exploded 80 kilometers offshore on April 20, killing 11 workers and blowing open the well. An estimated 750,000 liters a day has been spewing in the nation's biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
The containment box will not solve the problem altogether. Crews are still working on other methods to stop the leaks.
"It's all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before it moves up the west side of the river," said Dustin Chauvin, a 20-year-old shrimp boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. "That's our whole fishing ground. That's our livelihood."
The quest took on added urgency as oil reached several barrier islands off the United States' Louisiana coast, many of them fragile animal habitats. Several birds were spotted diving into the oily, pinkish-brown water, and dead jellyfish washed up on the uninhabited islands.
Meanwhile, a radar image showed that oil was extending west to fishing areas around the Mississippi Delta. The image, taken Wednesday night by a Canadian satellite, showed an extension resembling a finger reaching out from the main patch, imaging expert Hans Graber of the University of Miami said yesterday.
The main oil slick has been shifting to the northwest, encroaching on Chandeleur Sound, which lies between the delicate Chandeleur Islands and Mississippi Delta wetlands, he said.
Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that transported the box, confirmed he had received a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that it would be in position over the well soon.
The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil leak to act as markers to help line up the 12-meter-tall box.
A crane had lowered the box about 1,200 meters underwater before dawn yesterday, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert.
Once the contraption gets to the sea floor, underwater robots will secure it over the main leak at the bottom, a process that will take hours. If it works, the device could be collecting as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funneling it up to a tanker by tomorrow. But it has never been tried so far below the surface, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine.
"We haven't done this before," said BP spokesman David Nicholas. "It's very complex and we can't guarantee it."
Oil giant BP PLC is in charge of cleaning up the mess in the Gulf. It was leasing the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon when it exploded 80 kilometers offshore on April 20, killing 11 workers and blowing open the well. An estimated 750,000 liters a day has been spewing in the nation's biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
The containment box will not solve the problem altogether. Crews are still working on other methods to stop the leaks.
"It's all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before it moves up the west side of the river," said Dustin Chauvin, a 20-year-old shrimp boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. "That's our whole fishing ground. That's our livelihood."
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