BP: Well cap may bottle oil until permanent plug
NEW ORLEANS, LA
"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see
any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," said Doug Suttles,
BP's chief operating officer. "Right now we don't have a target to
return the well to flow."
Pressure in the well cap continues to rise, and scientists are
still monitoring for any signs of a leak, but the news still seems
to be good, Suttles said. The oil giant is hoping to keep
evaluating even after the extended monitoring period it was given
by the government, which expires Sunday afternoon.
"We're not seeing any problems at this point with the
shut-in," Suttles said at a Sunday morning briefing.
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point
man on the crisis, gave the oil giant at least three days to see
whether its stopgap measure would work. He said Saturday that after
the test was complete, the cap is to be hooked up through nearly a
mile of pipes stretching to ships on the surface that will collect
the oil.
But that would mean oil would flow back into the Gulf for three
days, Suttles said, something no one wants to see.
Suttles said the oil giant hopes to keep the well shut in until
it's permanent measure is completed. BP is drilling two relief
wells, one of them as a backup. Wells said work on the first one
was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken
well's casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. Then
the job of jamming it with mud and cement could take "a number of
days through a few weeks."
The cap stopped the crude Thursday for the first time since the
April 20 explosion unleashed the spill.
