Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

BP has announced that a critical test on the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico will proceed as planned after a hydraulic leak that had delayed the tests was fixed on Thursday.

Tests of the integrity of the well were said to be vital to establishing a total mop-up mechanism until the permanent solution — relief wells — are put in place. These tests were initially scheduled for July 13 following the installation of the latest cap — called a “capping stack” — on the Deepwater Horizon well. Yet they were postponed because of the leak and also due to the need for further checks on the testing procedure.

In particular, Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander in charge of the spill response, said in a briefing on July 14 that the test was rescheduled to start after a day’s delay during which time the procedure had been reviewed by a team of scientists from BP, other companies and the government.

“We sat long and hard about delaying this test,” he said, adding that it was in the interest of the American people, the safety of the environment and of the project to take a 24-hour break “to make sure we were getting this absolutely right.”

Reports quoted Kent Wells, Senior Vice President of BP as saying that overnight, engineers using remotely operated submersibles replaced equipment on the tight-sealing cap at the top of well, 5,000 feet under water. The reports added that with the repair made Mr. Wells said, “We’re looking to start this test as soon as we possibly can.”

Meanwhile, commenting on the temporarily elevated rate of flow of oil into the Gulf, Admiral Allen said, “As you know our current flow rate projections are 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day. We had intended by about this time to have 53,000 barrel a day capacity by bringing the Helix Producer online.”

“Robust containment strategy”

The Admiral added that he did not want to lose track of the fact that his team was following “a very robust containment strategy that was actually started in early June where we directed BP to come up with alternatives to increase redundancy and capacity related to the new flow rate numbers”.

He also said he would put in writing to BP the revised steps within the testing procedure, as decided through the multi-party consultations. He added, “Two of the very positive aspects that can come out of this… are an assessment of whether or not we can just cap the well at this point and the pressures can be maintained without damaging the wellbore or the casings.”

Labels: BP oil spill, capping stack, Deepwater Horizon, Thad Allen

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

A rare public exchange of letters between National Incident Commander in charge of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Thad Allen and Robert Dudley, who is leading the mop-up operations at BP, showed the government has been pressing the oil major to come up with plans to accelerate its collection of the oil.

It began on Thursday when Admiral Allen wrote to Mr. Dudley saying, “We are entering a critical stage in the Deepwater Horizon response where key decisions will be made in executing plans for total collection of oil at the wellhead and for potentially securing the well completely.”

Not mincing his words, Admiral Allen on Thursday demanded that Mr. Dudley provide him, within 24 hours, with a detailed timeline outlining BP's plans to affix onto the well a second cap — called a “capping stack” — that could significantly increase the containment capacity of the system. Paradoxically, the process for deployment of the capping stack would, Admiral Allen acknowledged, increase amount oil leaking temporarily. To mitigate this heightened flow, the Admiral asked Mr. Dudley to explain his plans to use a third containment ship, the Helix Producer. “I must have knowledge of the steps and decision points involved; mitigation efforts to be implemented; and contingency plans if these efforts are not successful,” he emphasised.

After scrambling to provide the Admiral with a response within the deadline, Mr. Dudley said in his letter that though BP had initially scheduled the capping stack installation to follow the Helix Producer beginning containment operations, “as weather has impacted our ability to execute these activities in series we … have proposed that the capping stack procedure be implemented in parallel with the start-up of the Helix Producer.”

After review Admiral Allen approved the plan, saying later to media: “After reviewing Bob Dudley's response to my July 8 letter … I approved BP's plan to simultaneously install the Helix Producer and ‘capping stack' containment mechanisms, which will require temporary suspension of the current top hat containment system.”

The Admiral added that he had validated this plan because the capacity for oil containment when the installations were complete would be “far greater than the capabilities we have achieved using current systems”. He also noted that weather forecasts had turned more favourable over the last few days and “will provide the working conditions necessary for these transitions to be successfully completed without delays”.

Admiral Allen said the transition to the new containment infrastructure could begin “in the next days but will take seven to ten days to complete”. He also said the entire process, “once we start unbolting until we're in a position to put the new cap on, could be three to four days”.

The Admiral conceded that there would be a spike in the outflow volume, saying: “There will be a period of time where the Discover Enterprise will have to move off station to allow us to put the new capping device on. So the amount they've been able to recover which is roughly around let's say 15,000 barrels a day will have to be released while we're putting the new cap on.”

Labels: British Petroleum, capping stack, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, Robert Dudley, Thad Allen