Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

BP on Monday expressed optimism that its latest strategy to quell the oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico by installing a new cap on its ruptured wellhead was proceeding as per plan. According to National Incident Commander Thad Allen, this strategy could potentially contain the entire leak in a matter of days.

In a statement over the weekend BP said that following approval from Admiral Allen, it had begun replacing the existing lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap — the so-called “top hat” system — over the Deepwater Horizon’s failed blow-out preventer (BOP) with a new sealing cap assembly (the “capping stack”).

“Installation of the sealing cap is proceeding as planned,” BP added, noting that the Discoverer Enterprise vehicle had removed the LMRP cap and its flange, or connecting projection.

Simultaneously, the disaster response team said that skimming operations had been “doubled” at the well site. Skimming and other methods of removing oil assumed particular importance after it was learned that the process for deployment of the capping stack would paradoxically increase the amount of oil leaking temporarily.

Thus during the procedure, close to 60,000 barrels of oil per day are expected to be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico without any containment. To mitigate this heightened flow, Admiral Allen had earlier pressed BP operations chief Robert Dudley to use a third containment ship, the Helix Producer.

In addition to skimming off this interim excess flow of oil, Admiral Allen’s team said “favourable weather conditions allowed responders to conduct a successful controlled burn operation for the third consecutive day”. They added that to date the controlled burns had helped to remove more than 10.3 million gallons of oil from the water.

Relief wells

Meanwhile BP has continued digging relief wells, as a fail-safe option in case the containment caps should be unable to halt the oil gushing into the Gulf. The disaster response team reported over the weekend that “The drilling of relief wells continues… The Development Driller III has drilled the first relief well to a depth of 17,810 feet below the Gulf surface. The Development Driller II has drilled the second relief well to a depth of more than 15,900 feet below the surface.”

BP shares trading higher

BP also issued an update on the cost to the company efforts to mop up the spill. In a statement, the oil major said, “The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 3.5 billion dollars, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs.” Yet BP’s shares were trading almost seven per cent higher on Monday, as rumours of the company planning an asset sale worth $100 million abounded, as did rumours that other oil giants, such as ExxonMobil were considering buying out the beleaguered BP.

However, even as the administration and BP continue to battle the leak, which began in late April, a presidential commission charged with investigating the spill and prescribing rules for future offshore drilling held its first public meeting on Monday, media reports said. According to CNN, “The National Oil Spill Commission has six months to determine what happened… and how to prevent something similar from ever happening again.”

Labels: BP oil spill, capping stack, Gulf oil spill, LMRP, Thad Allen

From The Hindu

It is possible that the oil from a damaged offshore rig may continue leaking into the Gulf of Mexico until August and cause the largest environmental catastrophe in the United States' history. The grim prognosis emerged even as rig owner British Petroleum (BP) admitted that its much-touted "top kill" operation had failed to stem the surge of oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20.

The enormity of the damage that has already occurred combined with the inability of the administration to stop the leak, has led to the possibility that "Oilgate" may have a significant political fallout and irreparably damage the Obama presidency as well.

In a statement BP said, the "top kill" procedure intended to kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blow-out preventer (BOP) on the seabed, into the well. However it said that despite pumping over 30,000 barrels of heavy mud in three attempts, and deploying a wide range of different bridging materials, "the operation did not overcome the flow from the well".

While there are several further steps that BP will take to halt the flow of oil, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, leading the effort to curtail the spill, said, "The ultimate solution is going to be to drill a relief well, take the pressure off that well and cap it. That will be sometime in August. We don't want to wait that long."

"Assault on the people"

President Obama echoed some of the frustrations of those affected in states such as Louisiana, when he said that every day that the leak continued was an assault on the people of the Gulf Coast region and their livelihoods.

He added, "It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimised by this manmade disaster are made whole."

On the unsuccessful efforts to stop the leak Mr. Obama said, "While we initially received optimistic reports about the procedure, it is now clear that it has not worked. Rear Admiral Mary Landry today directed BP to launch a new procedure whereby the riser pipe will be cut and a containment structure fitted over the leak."

BP confirmed that it had received government permission to move to the next step in the subsea operations, the deployment of the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System. This procedure would entail cutting and removing the damaged riser from the top of the failed BOP to leave a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP's LMRP, BP explained.

The cap designed to connect to a riser of a surface-level drillship, will be placed over the LMRP "with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well". BP added the LMRP cap would be connected in approximately four days.

"This operation has not been previously carried out in 5,000 feet of water and the successful deployment of the containment system cannot be assured," BP warned.

Since the crisis unfolded, the Obama administration has come under fire from various quarters, including Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, who recently expressed frustration at the delays in containing the damage to his state's coastline, which had seriously endangered its marine life and associated livelihoods.

Labels: BP, Gulf Coast, LMRP, oil spill, President Obama