Be afraid BP: US President Barack Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that a significant increase in the regulations governing offshore drilling is coming. The day after that, he is due to go down to the Gulf of Mexico and see for himself what a mess has been made by oil leaking from the site of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig accident (AFP).
Today BP is supposed to begin the ‘top kill’ operation, involving pumping heavy mud into the well to shut off the flow of oil. An additional ‘junk shot’ of golf balls and pieces of rubber tyres may be pushed into the failed blowout preventer valve that should have shut off the flow of oil automatically.
Yesterday more woe was piled on the oil company, as a congressional hearing heard that there were warning signs before the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon. The New York Times reports:
Among the red flags, the panel said, were several equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout. Investigators also noted “other events in the 24 hours before the explosion that require further inquiry,” including a critical decision to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with seawater, possibly increasing the risk of an explosion.
BP has also admitted that it could have been a “fundamental mistake” to continue working on the well after an earlier test suggested all was not well (Washington Post).
More Deepwater news
The NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter, a 224-foot fisheries research vessel, will embark on a water column and fisheries sampling mission in the Gulf of Mexico using its sophisticated sonar equipment to help define the plume near the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill site and adjacent waters.
– NOAA
Lloyd’s of London, the world’s oldest insurance market, said claims following the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be between $300 million and $600 million.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday ordered an investigation of whether his agency failed to properly oversee the rig that caused the Gulf oil spill, in light of a new report revealing ethical lapses under prior administrations.
– Reuters
At a 2005 workshop, a senior official in the U.S. government’s Minerals Management Service raised concerns about ultra-deepwater drilling and included the bullet point, “Few or no regulations or standards.” Within two years, Jim Grant left his post as chief of staff of the government’s Gulf of Mexico region to take a job with BP PLC — one of the companies his former agency regulated in its oversight of offshore drilling.
– AP
Video: Animation of proposed ‘top kill’ procedure