BP sees progress on new oil containment system
BP said it is making progress on a new system to capture almost all the oil spewing from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico and a relief well could finally plug the leak by early to mid-August.
“We’re pleased with our progress,” BP senior vice president Kent Wells told reporters on a conference call. It will take up to a week for robots working 1 mile (1.6 km) underwater to completely fit a new cap and seal. Oil will flow mostly unchecked until the bigger containment system is installed, further hurting tourism and fishing in all five states along the Gulf Coast.
The British energy giant, which is also drilling two relief wells to try to permanently plug the leak, hopes the new containment system will funnel as much as 80,000 barrels (12.7 million liters) per day of oil to vessels on the surface — more than 3 times the current amount.
It expects the first of the relief wells to intercept Macondo by the end of July, a first step in plugging the well by early to mid-August. BP is also on track to start a rig on Sunday evening that can siphon up to 25,000 bpd from the well, Wells said. The Obama administration has pressed BP to take advantage of calm weather and move forward with the containment.
Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod, asked on the “Fox News Sunday” program about hopes the spill will be contained by the end of July, said he was “reasonably confident but obviously this thing is uncharted waters.”
BP, which has set up a US $20 billion spill fund under pressure from the White House, removed a smaller containment cap from the gushing well on Saturday. On Day 83 of the disaster, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department has started interviewing witnesses as part of a criminal and civil investigation into the worst oil spill in US history. Agenices
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