Oil is still leaking into the Gulf of Mexico after last week’s drilling rig accident.
According to the unified command dealing with the incident, attempts are being made to use underwater robots to activate a ‘blowout preventer’ valve on the sea floor, which it is hoped will seal the well and end the current leakage of 1,000 barrels a day. BP, which was in charge of the oil exploration, is also rushing another rig into the area to drill a ‘relief well’, reducing the pressure on the leak and allowing it to be sealed.
The Deepwater Horizon rig sank last week after a fire broke out onboard. Eleven crew are still missing, and presumed dead (Coast Guard statement).
Underwater remotely operated vehicles have spotted two places in the well pipe where oil is leaking and skimmers are already recovering oil from the surface but rough seas are hampering all efforts to deal with the incident.
“We are attacking this spill on two fronts – at the wellhead and on the surface offshore,” says Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive (press release). “The team on the ground and those at sea have the Group’s full resources behind them.”
Coast Guard flights over the area have identified a 30 km square slick some 60 km offshore.
“Our response plan is focused on quickly securing the source of the subsurface oil emanating from the well, clean the oil on the surface of the water, and keeping the response well offshore,” says Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the Federal on scene coordinator (statement).
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If the blowout preventer does not seal off the well, officials intend to place a large dome directly over the leaks to catch the oil and route it up to the surface, where it could be collected.
– NY Times
“The relief well as described could take several months,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer of exploration and production, said in a teleconference yesterday.
University of California Santa Barbara Prof. Keith Clarke, who studied a 1969 oil spill off the Southern California coast, said: “Worst-case scenario would be loss of sea life, especially sea birds and marine mammals. Fishing could be significantly impacted. A great deal depends on how long the site leaks.”
The well mishap occurred just as the U.S. Senate was prepared to unveil a major proposal to expand offshore oil production—as part of larger legislation aimed to address global warming. At the event, which had been scheduled for Monday, the bill’s sponsors had planned to appear at the podium flanked with industry supporters, including from BP.
Image: a remotely operated vehicle attempting to activate the blowout preventor last week (22 April).