BP's Wells: 'No Evidence' Of Problems With New Containment Cap

17th Jul 2010 14:42

By Brian Baskin Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A containment cap BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) has installed over a leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico shows "no evidence" of creating new ruptures on the sea floor, while drilling of a relief well aiming to permanently cut off the flow of oil is on scheduled to reach its target by the end of July, a company executive said Saturday. The cap, which has stopped oil from leaking, is undergoing at least two days of testing. Pressure has reached 6,745 pounds per square inch and is expected to max out at 6,800 psi, said BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells in a media briefing. That's less than the 7,500 psi initially hoped for, but so far does not indicate that the device is causing oil to escape elsewhere. "The longer the test goes, the more confidence we have in it," Wells said, adding that it's unclear whether the government will end testing later Saturday as scheduled. The tests are meant to quell fears that the containment cap will cause a rupture elsewhere on the seabed, creating new leaks. The capped well was estimated to be gushing between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, and has leaked ever since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig caught fire and sank in April. Meanwhile, BP completed another "ranging run" in the furthest along of its two relief wells that aim to cut off the leak nearly 18,000 feet below the surface. The test, designed to pinpoint the location of the broken well, is one of the final steps BP will take before drilling the final 24 feet to the relief well's destination. Wells said drilling should wrap up by the end of July, while "killing" the leaking well by pumping in heavy fluid could take "days up to a few weeks." A relief well remains the only way to permanently stop the flow of oil, BP has said. "We're feeling very good at this point on how the well is lining up," Wells said. Drilling of a second relief well was suspended to avoid interfering with the first well, BP said. Late Friday the U.S. Coast Guard said the "A Whale," a supertanker designed to skim oil off the surface on a massive scale, was unfit to work in the Gulf. The Taiwanese tanker had been outfitted by its owners, TMT Group, to theoretically skim oil at a rate exceeding all of the smaller skimmers operating in the region combined. But the A Whale recovered "negligible" oil over a 24-hour test period, where 590 smaller skimmers removed more than 25,551 barrels of oil water and recovered 12,800 barrels at the source. The oil is spread out in numerous patches and ribbons, making smaller, nimbler skimming vessels a more practical solution, the Coast Guard said in a statement. "While its stature is impressive, 'A Whale' is not ideally suited to the needs of this response," said Coast Guard Admiral Paul Zukunft. -By Brian Baskin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2453; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 17, 2010 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)