BP Oil Spill: National Incident Commander Thad Allen “Seepage Found Near Wellhead”

Gulf of Mexico (July 18) – Today has been a tough day for crews working to end the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, methane seepage was reported near the wellhead as well as, A Whale pulled from the scene.

In a letter to Bob Dudley, Chief Managing Director, BP, Retired Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander directed BP to marshal in all its resources to deal with the new development. Undersea robots have detected methane gases seeping close to the Macondo wellhead.

Thad Allen stated, “Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount importance during the test period.” The Incident Commander further ordered BP adding, “When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours.”

Of concern is BP’s response in dealing with emergencies that arise from its new valve system under test at this time. Engineers with BP have stated in the past that, the valve system may have to be reopened if a sudden drop in pressure being measure at the wellhead is observed, or seepage is detected. In response to the news, Thad Allen mandated BP to comply stating, “I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed.”

The letter also refers to the finale of this situation is the completion of the two relief wells, and the permanent sealing of the Macondo gusher.

In other news, ‘A Whale’ was pulled from operation following initial tests that produced very little to no oil from the waters of the Gulf. This is due to the excessive use of chemical dispersants both on the surface, and underwater by BP with hopes of breaking down the crude oil prior to it spreading ashore.

Testing still continues on the new containment system as, preparations for both temporary oil production on the floating platform some 5,000 feet above the wellhead and completion of the relief wells continue.

As of the posting of this article, no updates have been received regarding the latest undersea developments as observation of the available video feeds, does not indicate the relief valve has be opened allowing crude to flow freely into the Gulf of Mexico.

Chief Editor – WorldNewsVine

Posted by worldnews on July 18, 2010. Filed under Medicine,National News,Science and Tech,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.