Key BP Oil Well Test Delayed - US Official

14th Jul 2010 03:01

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The start of BP PLC's (BP) crucial integrity test of the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well has been delayed until at least Wednesday, the U.S. official leading the disaster response said. Adm. Thad Allen, the former U.S. Coast Guard chief, said he had taken the decision to delay the test after meetings with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and other top experts. "As a result of these discussions, we decided that the process may benefit from additional analysis that will be performed tonight and tomorrow," Allen said in as statement. BP is poised to test whether a huge 75-ton cap can choke off the leak without threatening the structural integrity of the well. The device, which contains three giant valves, was lowered late Monday and latched onto the ruptured pipe almost a mile down on the sea floor where only underwater robots can operate. Once given the go-ahead, BP engineers will gradually close the valves and shut down the flow of oil in a process expected to last between six and 48 hours. High pressure readings would mean there are no other leaks and the cap could effectively be left on to seal the well. Low pressure would indicate oil was seeping out of the external casing of the well, meaning the valves would have to be reopened to reduce the risk of causing a new gusher on the seabed. Containment operations would then have to resume. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 13, 2010 22:01 ET (02:01 GMT)