BP Cost Of The Response To Date $3.12B, Collects 585,400 Barrels

5th Jul 2010 07:21

LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP.LN), a oil and gas company, announced Monday for the MC252 oil well incident in the Gulf of Mexico, that to date, the total volume of oil collected or flared by the containment systems is 585,400 barrels and the cost of the response to date amounts to $3.12 billion. MAIN FACTS: -To date, almost 95,000 claims have been submitted and more than 47,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $147 million. -On July 3, a total of 25,198 barrels of oil were collected or flared by the two systems and 57.0 million cubic feet of gas were flared. -Specifically, the lower marine riser package or LMRP containment system connected to the Discoverer Enterprise collected 17,022 barrels of oil, and the Q4000 flared an additional 8,176 barrels of oil. . -Preparations continue for the next step in containment operations. -Work on the first floating riser containment system planned to be connected to the Helix Producer was delayed by heightened sea states caused by Hurricane Alex as it passed through the Gulf of Mexico. -The floating riser system is designed to allow more rapid disconnection and reconnection of the system, reducing the time that collection may be impacted in the case of, for example, inclement weather. -It is currently anticipated that this first floating riser system will be available to begin first operations towards the end of the week. -Plans also are being developed for additional containment capacity and flexibility. -These projects are currently anticipated to begin operations around mid- late July. -Work on the first relief well, which started May 2, continues. The well reached a depth of 17,725 feet on July 4 and a sixth 'ranging' run was completed. -The second relief well, which started May 16, has now reached a measured depth of 13,871 feet. -Both wells are still estimated to take approximately three months to complete from commencement of drilling. -Operations to skim oil from the surface of the water were temporarily placed on hold for approximately three days because of the effects of Hurricane Alex. -To date, these operations have recovered, in total, 673,497 barrels (23.5 million gallons) of oily liquid. -In addition, a total of 275 controlled burns have been carried out to date, removing an estimated 238,000 barrels of oil from the sea's surface. -Shares closed Friday at 322 pence. -By Zechariah Hemans, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9411; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 05, 2010 02:21 ET (06:21 GMT)