BP Oil Spill | New Containment Cap Being Readied

Gulf of Mexico (Jul 9) – Spokesperson from BP, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, stated that they have received the go-ahead to begin operations to replace the leaky containment cap now in place over the gusher.

The work schedule has been accelerated to take advantage of a window of opportunity regarding the weather. Initially, a third containment vessel was to be attached to the temporary riser system prior to the upgrade of the well cap. The current containment system is still less than fifty percent efficient as it continues to allow oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead to pollute the waters of the Gulf.

The procedure requiring the removal of the existing cap will unfortunately, allow all the crude gushing from the wellhead to escape into the Gulf waters however, the new cap is said to be designed to eliminate any leakage.

Currently, the Development Driller III, located a few thousand yards away from the current location of operations, is within several feet of closing in on the shaft of the Deepwater Horizon well. The operation has slowed to ensure that the drilling will perfectly intersect with the existing well.

The plan to backfill the existing well is rather complicated as, engineers on the scene are unaware at this time whether the crude flowing into the Gulf is actually coming from the steel encase well, or the annulus surrounding the steel tube. Once the determination is made, the proper recourse for sealing the well permanently will be determined.

According Admiral Thad Allen, “The time it will take to do this—the reason it is unknown right now and I’m not willing to come off the mid-August deadline is, if they have to pump mud up through the annulus and then go into the pipe and pump mud there, too, that’s a period of seven, 10 days to accomplish both of those things.  And if they have to be done in sequence because of the condition of the wellbore when they go in, it will probably take into August, so we’re looking at optimal conditions on what they find when they penetrate the wellbore.”

Admiral Thad Allen was out on location to inspect the operations, and sea conditions today.

Posted by worldnews on July 9, 2010. Filed under Environment,National News,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.