HOUSTON – BP is making progress on a delicate undersea operation in the Gulf of Mexico to install a new containment cap on its blown-out Macondo well, and was planning to activate a new oil-siphoning system yesterday, a company executive said.
On Saturday the company removed a cap over the well as part of a plan to install a bigger capping system that can capture up to 80,000 barrels per day (3.4 million gallons/12.7 million litres), up from about 25,000 bpd previously.
When fully operational, the new cap will capture virtually all of the oil spewing from the well, according to retired Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, the top US oil spill official.
Oil is still spewing, mostly unchecked, from the well as BP undertakes the task.
“We’re pleased with our progress,” BP senior vice-president Kent Wells told reporters on a conference call, reiterating that it will take four to seven days for undersea robots operating 1 mile (1,600 metres) below the sea surface to install the new containment system.
BP was also making final safety checks on a new containment ship, the Helix Producer, which will be able to siphon up to 25,000 bpd from the well, Wells said. BP expected the vessel to begin processing oil later yesterday, he said.
BP’s plan to ramp up oil collection capacity is expected to take two to three weeks. US government experts have pegged the leak’s flow at up to 60,000 bpd (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million litres).
The end-game to stop flow from the blown-out well is a pair of relief wells, expected to be complete in mid-August. – (Reuters)