The US government yesterday allowed BP to keep the cap shut tight on its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well for another day after the company promised to watch closely for any signs of new leaks breaking through the sea floor, settling for the moment a rift between BP and the government.
The federal point man for the spill, retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, said early yesterday that government scientists had gotten the answers they wanted about how BP is monitoring the seabed around the 1,500m-deep well site, which has stopped gushing oil into the water since the experimental cap was closed on Thursday.
Late Sunday, Allen said a seep had been detected a distance from the oil well and demanded in a sharply worded letter that BP step up monitoring of the ocean floor. Allen didn’t say what was coming from the seep.
The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren’t as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the well bore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix. An underground leak could let oil and gas escape uncontrolled through bedrock and mud.
“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. 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,” Allen said in a letter to BP managing director Bob Dudley.
When asked about the seep and the monitoring, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that “we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this.”
Early yesterday, Allen issued a statement saying there had been an overnight conference call between the federal science team and BP.
“During the conversation, the federal science team got the answers they were seeking and the commitment from BP to meet their monitoring and notification obligations,” Allen said.
He said BP could continue testing the cap, meaning keeping it shut, only if the company continues to meet its obligations to rigorously monitor for any signs that this test could worsen the overall situation.
Both Allen and BP have said they don’t know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end on Sunday afternoon, but the deadline came and went with no official word on what’s next.
White House energy adviser Carol Browner said Allen’s extension went until yesterday afternoon. She said on ABC television that monitoring was crucial to make sure the trapped oil doesn’t break out of its pipe.
“Clearly we want this to end, but we don’t want to enter into a situation where we have uncontrolled leaks all over the Gulf floor,” Browner said.
BP said yesterday that the cost of dealing with the oil spill has now reached nearly US$4 billion. The company said it has made payments totaling US$207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the US. To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling US$207 million.
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