US Government Gives Go-Ahead For BP Well Testing

14th Jul 2010 23:10

By Susan Daker Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. government late Wednesday cleared BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) to begin testing a new system for collecting oil gushing out of its blown out Gulf of Mexico well, after Obama administration officials ordered a delay to resolve concerns that the tests could lead to a bigger oil leak. "This last minute evaluation was due to an overabundance of caution," said retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen Wednesday evening. The well integrity test had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed because officials believed further analysis needed to be done, BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said during a morning teleconference. "Yesterday was not my best day on forecasting," Wells said. "[We're] just making sure there was no question in everybody's mind and that we had the right procedure in place." Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other government scientists were worried that the pressure under the cap could rupture other sites on the sea floor, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. Wednesday evening, Allen cleared BP to go ahead with the tests on the new cap, which the company has said could take as long as two days. "I thought long and hard before I directed BP to put a 24-hour hold on it," Allen said The delay had been disappointing news to those who were hopeful that the new cap could quickly stop the flow of oil from the well, which could be gushing as much as 60,000 barrels a day. Sealing the well would be a turning point in a nearly three-month environmental and economic crisis along the U.S. Gulf Coast caused by the April 20 explosion and subsequent sinking of Transocean Ltd.'s (RIG) Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. BP also delayed drilling on a relief well, setting back its completion by "a couple of days," Wells said. The decision was made as a precaution in case the simultaneous events of relief well drilling and the cap testing could cause an leak on the sea floor. The relief well is viewed as the best possible way to stop the flow of oil from the Macondo well. BP has said that the relief well could be finished by the end of the month. Seismic analysis performed Tuesday to determine the condition of the well's formation and the condition of the sea floor "removed the possibility of a negative event," Allen said. However, there still is concern that using the cap to seal the well could be too risky, so the cap will undergo 48 hours of testing. If in the first three hours, results show low pressure readings the tests will stop, Allen said. If the cap shows high pressure readings for up to 48 hours than it could be used to completely shut-in the well, Allen said. If not, the U.K. oil giant said it would use the cap to produce more oil from the well than it has been able to do with previous containment systems. No matter the determination, BP said the cap's installation was an important step for spill responders working to prepare for an expected busy hurricane season. The new cap can allow containment vessels to more quickly disconnect from the system and flee a storm. For the past several weeks, a more loosely fitting cap and the Q4000 system have managed to keep up to about 25,000 barrels of oil a day out of the Gulf. The new sealing cap-system, plus additional measures, will allow the recovery of 60,000 barrels to 80,000 barrels by the end of the month, BP has said. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208 (Jonathan Weisman of The Wall Street Journal and Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 14, 2010 18:10 ET (22:10 GMT)