BP Could Try Static Kill Late Sunday, Early Monday

27th Jul 2010 21:43

By Susan Daker and Angel Gonzalez Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said Tuesday it could proceed to flood the Deepwater Horizon well with mud and cement starting late Sunday or early Monday. BP senior vice president Kent Wells said in a teleconference that the company will be ready to commence the so-called "static kill" process by the end of this week, but that it will wait until casing of a relief well that will eventually intersect the broken Macondo well is complete. The comments reiterate earlier remarks by the federal spill response commander, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. Wells said the relief well could intersect the broken well about "two weeks from today," or around Aug. 10. The intersection could be followed, if the broken well isn't already dead, by flooding it from the bottom with mud and cement, a process that could take days or weeks, Wells said. The two procedures should work in conjunction to improve the operation's chance at permanently sealing the well, which gushed between 3 million and 5.2 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, Allen said in a teleconference. Even though the well is no longer spewing oil, thanks to a temporary cap put in place earlier this month, it is still uncertain how much damage has been done to the Gulf Coast environment, said Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The good news is that surface oil continues to break up into smaller parts, Lubchenco said on the call. "The sheer volume of oil that is out there will have to mean there will be significant impacts to the environment," Lubchenco said. "What we have yet to determine is the full impact and reach that the oil will have on not just the shoreline, not just the wildlife, but beneath the surface. We have a very aggressive research team to determine that." BP said earlier that it was testing the blowout preventer on its relief well. The blowout preventer is an important piece of the equipment that is designed to prevent uncontrolled gushers. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the blowout preventer failed and played a role in causing the disaster. The rig exploded in April, leading to one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 16:43 ET (20:43 GMT)