Related News
Gulf storm threatens US efforts to plug spill
Source: Agencies |
July 23, 2010, Friday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
MANY of the rigs and vessels at BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil leak site will prepare to move out of the path of Tropical Storm Bonnie late yesterday, the top federal official overseeing the spill response said.
"While these actions might delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a statement.
Allen did not specify when the rigs and vessels would move, beyond saying they would begin their preparations "to move out of harm's way" beginning last night.
Among the rigs involved is the one drilling the relief well that will permanently kill the leak. It had been on track to intercept it by mid-August. Officials have said an evacuation could force a delay of 10 to 14 days in operations.
Officials said earlier the blown-out well would remain capped even if an evacuation forces a temporary halt to undersea surveillance.
BP capped the well last week, choking off the flow of oil that has caused an ecological disaster for the first time since the April 20 explosion. Such containment efforts have been keenly eyed by investors as BP's ultimate costs may hinge on how much oil is determined to have flowed into the Gulf.
The US National Hurricane Center said Bonnie, the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles (65 kph) per hour.
It formed near the Bahamas yesterday on a track that could take it over BP's oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as the storm is forecast to hit the state's coast on Sunday.
BP has already evacuated nonessential workers from eight offshore Gulf facilities.
The largest offshore oil spill in US history, triggered by the explosion that killed 11 workers, has unleashed an environmental disaster in the Gulf and devastated the region's tourism and fishing industries.
Workers also had been close to completing the relief well designed to permanently stop the spill and launching a "static kill" operation to pump heavy drilling mud and possibly cement into the well.
Because of the storm, the well could go unwatched for days. BP executive Doug Suttles told CBS News engineers may have some data on the well, but not until after the storm is gone.
"We're trying to have some capability to do things like take stored images, photographs, video, other things that we can actually collect after the storm passes. But right now we couldn't do live monitoring," Suttles said.
Allen said he had directed BP to ensure vessels involved in monitoring were "the last to leave, and the first to return."
CRISIS FOR BP
The spill has sparked a crisis for British energy giant BP, which created a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disaster and still faces mounting costs.
BP shares remained relatively steady in New York trading, climbing 0.3 percent as the overall market rose. It is due to report quarterly results next week.
President Barack Obama, who has been under political pressure for his handling of the spill, will spend the August 14 weekend along the hard-hit Florida Gulf Coast, the White House announced.
Vice President Joe Biden visited Theodore, Alabama, yesterday to assess BP's efforts, and he met with fishermen and small business owners from the area.
The government announced it was reopening 26,388 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing after tests and US Coast Guard flights showed no oil in the area and fish showed no signs of contamination.
Away from the Gulf, the high-stakes political and legal wrangling continued.
In a report to a federal judge in New Orleans, the Obama administration said it had complied with his order blocking the government's original six-month ban on deepwater drilling. But it also argued the case was moot because a revised suspension order has been issued.
The new moratorium, which lasts through November and bars new projects that use blowout preventers similar to the one used on the BP well, has already been challenged by one drilling company, Ensco Plc.
"While these actions might delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a statement.
Allen did not specify when the rigs and vessels would move, beyond saying they would begin their preparations "to move out of harm's way" beginning last night.
Among the rigs involved is the one drilling the relief well that will permanently kill the leak. It had been on track to intercept it by mid-August. Officials have said an evacuation could force a delay of 10 to 14 days in operations.
Officials said earlier the blown-out well would remain capped even if an evacuation forces a temporary halt to undersea surveillance.
BP capped the well last week, choking off the flow of oil that has caused an ecological disaster for the first time since the April 20 explosion. Such containment efforts have been keenly eyed by investors as BP's ultimate costs may hinge on how much oil is determined to have flowed into the Gulf.
The US National Hurricane Center said Bonnie, the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles (65 kph) per hour.
It formed near the Bahamas yesterday on a track that could take it over BP's oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as the storm is forecast to hit the state's coast on Sunday.
BP has already evacuated nonessential workers from eight offshore Gulf facilities.
The largest offshore oil spill in US history, triggered by the explosion that killed 11 workers, has unleashed an environmental disaster in the Gulf and devastated the region's tourism and fishing industries.
Workers also had been close to completing the relief well designed to permanently stop the spill and launching a "static kill" operation to pump heavy drilling mud and possibly cement into the well.
Because of the storm, the well could go unwatched for days. BP executive Doug Suttles told CBS News engineers may have some data on the well, but not until after the storm is gone.
"We're trying to have some capability to do things like take stored images, photographs, video, other things that we can actually collect after the storm passes. But right now we couldn't do live monitoring," Suttles said.
Allen said he had directed BP to ensure vessels involved in monitoring were "the last to leave, and the first to return."
CRISIS FOR BP
The spill has sparked a crisis for British energy giant BP, which created a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disaster and still faces mounting costs.
BP shares remained relatively steady in New York trading, climbing 0.3 percent as the overall market rose. It is due to report quarterly results next week.
President Barack Obama, who has been under political pressure for his handling of the spill, will spend the August 14 weekend along the hard-hit Florida Gulf Coast, the White House announced.
Vice President Joe Biden visited Theodore, Alabama, yesterday to assess BP's efforts, and he met with fishermen and small business owners from the area.
The government announced it was reopening 26,388 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing after tests and US Coast Guard flights showed no oil in the area and fish showed no signs of contamination.
Away from the Gulf, the high-stakes political and legal wrangling continued.
In a report to a federal judge in New Orleans, the Obama administration said it had complied with his order blocking the government's original six-month ban on deepwater drilling. But it also argued the case was moot because a revised suspension order has been issued.
The new moratorium, which lasts through November and bars new projects that use blowout preventers similar to the one used on the BP well, has already been challenged by one drilling company, Ensco Plc.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
