UPDATE:BP Oil Recovery Improves, Tropical Storm Raises Concerns

26th Jun 2010 18:32

(Updates with spill, storm response details from Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.) NEW ORLEANS (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) is on track to double the amount of oil collected from a leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico next week, but Tropical Storm Alex threatens to interrupt efforts to contain the spill for up to 14 days, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Saturday. A decision to evacuate would need to be made five days before gale force winds are expected to reach the spill, where 6,000 vessels and more than 38,000 people are involved in the cleanup, Allen said. The National Hurricane Center said Saturday that the storm is on track to enter the Gulf early next week, but its current path runs far to the west of the spill, which is spreading from the leaking well southeast of Louisiana. "At this point (Alex) does not threaten the site, but we know that these tracks can change," Allen said in a press conference. Allen is heading the federal spill response. The high winds and rough seas kicked up by a storm may disperse some of the oil, though storm surges could also carry the spill inland, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Earlier Saturday, BP said in a statement that 24,550 barrels of oil were recovered Friday from the well off the Louisiana coast, up 3.5% from Thursday's total. BP is sending oil up through a containment cap to the Discoverer Enterprise rig on the surface, and it is also collecting oil using a second rig, the Q4000. A third rig, the Helix Producer, should begin siphoning oil next week, boosting the daily recovery rate to 53,000 barrels a day, Allen said. At that point, the government will need to decide whether to move aside the cap BP installed in favor of alternative plans that could collect as much as 80,000 barrels a day, he said. Those options will be explored in a meeting headed by Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday, Allen said. BP's well has leaked oil into the Gulf ever since a rig working at the site caught fire and sank in April. Government and independent estimates put the flow of oil out of the well between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day. The leak is not expected to be fully plugged until BP finishes drilling a relief well in August. Allen said Saturday that one BP-contracted rig had drilled 11,141 feet beneath the sea floor, and is conducting its third "ranging run," where an electrical signal is used to determine the precise location of the leaking well before drilling continues. (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 26, 2010 13:32 ET (17:32 GMT)