BP: Collected 5,875 Barrels Of Oil, Flared 3,420 Barrels Thu

15th Jul 2010 00:06

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said that it collected 5,875 barrels of oil and flared, or burned, 3,430 barrels of oil from the Gulf of Mexico early Thursday, before shutting down oil containment operations prior to testing a new cap the company has placed on top of a broken oil well. After starting the test Thursday, BP said that no oil was flowing out of the broken Macondo well. The test will determine whether the capped well can keep the oil underground, with no leaks from the well or from elsewhere along the seafloor, or whether BP will have to restart containment operations to collect oil leaking from the well, according to BP and U.S. government officials. If the cap and well can keep the oil underground, it would be a major achievement for BP after a string of failed attempts to stop the oil leak following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig three months ago. In addition to the oil collected Thursday, between midnight and noon, BP said it flared 22.5 million cubic feet of natural gas. BP shut down the containment operations prior to starting the test. -By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; [email protected] Order free Annual Report for BP plc Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=BP or call 1-888-301-0513 (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 15, 2010 19:06 ET (23:06 GMT)