Engineers yesterday prepared to permanently seal a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well as incoming BP boss Bob Dudley vowed that his company would stand by local residents who have suffered the effects of the spill.
Energy giant BP aims to drown the well in an operation dubbed a “static kill,” in which mud and cement will be injected down through the ruptured wellhead via a cap installed on July 15.
Dudley confirmed the operation had been pushed back by a day, saying: “We are hopeful by Tuesday the static kill will have been performed.”
The US pointman on the crisis, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, said the operation had been delayed as engineers had to clear out debris from the damaged wellhead caused by a recent storm.
“Some of the sediment around the sidewalls sort of fell in on itself ... It’s not a huge problem, but it has to be removed before you can put the pipe casing down,” Allen said.
BP senior vice president Kent Wells said company officials were confident that the static kill would succeed, since the cap in place for the past two weeks appeared to be holding.
The lack of any leaks is “giving us more confidence that this well has integrity,” which is a positive sign for the operation, Wells said.
“Everything is looking good at this point,” he added.
He said the goal would be to push down any oil in the well during the static kill to avoid new leaks into the water. However, if the static kill is halted, Wells said the permanent sealing via a relief well would continue as planned.
BP said the relief well was likely to intersect the existing well deep below the ocean floor within eight to 10 days and be sealed off by the end of this month.
Making his first trip to the region since being named to take the helm of the British energy giant, Dudley said Friday that with no oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for two weeks now the company’s focus was shifting to long-term economic and environmental recovery.
“We’ve had some good news on the oil ... but that doesn’t mean we’re done. We’ll be here for years,” Dudley told reporters in Mississippi, one of the five states hit by the massive oil spill.
With the focus now moving toward mitigating the long-term impact of the worst-ever US oil spill, Dudley said there would be signs that the operation was changing.
Miles of protective boom will be withdrawn from coastlines, and fewer clean-up crews in hazmat suits would be seen on beaches no longer soiled by oil.
“So you’ll probably see that kind of a pullback. But commitment, absolutely no pullback,” he said.
It remains unknown just how much oil has spilled into the Gulf since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in April, killing 11 workers. Best estimates put the amount at between 3 million and 5.3 million barrels.
Allen said a team of experts was carrying out an “oil budget” to calculate how much was released, how much was captured and how much has evaporated, adding he hoped the report would be released in the coming days.
“It’s something we ultimately need to know,” Allen said.
Dudley will take over as BP chief executive on Oct. 1, when Tony Hayward, who was widely criticized for his handling of the crisis, hands over the reins.
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