UPDATE: US Government: No Indication That Leak On Well Is Significant

19th Jul 2010 23:01

(Updates with more details from teleconference). HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Oil-spill responders have detected a leak around the cap that has temporarily shut in BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) broken well, but it may not be "significant," the U.S. federal response commander said Monday. "It's not a huge leak, but it is causing a formation of hydrates," retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said during an afternoon teleconference. Hydrates, crystal-like compounds made of water, oil and gas, derailed a previous containment effort by the U.K. oil company. The cap has been preventing thousands of barrels of oil from spewing into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico since Thursday. Spill responders had originally planned on testing the cap and the well's integrity for a 48-hour period, which was to end Saturday. Since then, the company has been given extensions for more testing. On Monday, Allen granted a third 24-hour extension period, which should last until Tuesday afternoon, in order to check a few anomalies that have arisen including the leak around the cap, Allen said. The move was out of an "out of an abundance of caution," he said. During seismic testing and sonar analysis, responders also found a leak on the sea floor surface about 3 kilometers from the well but it is believed to be unrelated to the well cap, Allen said. Concerns have been raised that another uncontrolled leak could happen at anytime near the Macondo well. Allen said he and other responders are checking the anomalies found, but so far none of them appear to be serious enough to force BP to open the cap and move to a different containment option. The cap could be vented and connected to up to four containment vessels sitting on the sea's surface. This system could eventually capture up to 80,000 barrels of oil a day. Nonetheless, the ultimate goal is to kill the well with the completion of a relief well due to be finished in August, he said. "I think it would be very premature to say the well is shut in," Allen said. BP has been working for 13 weeks to contain the gusher, which at one point was spewing up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; (713) 547-9208; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 19, 2010 18:01 ET (22:01 GMT)