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Relief well drilling ahead of schedule
By: cnn.comPosted On: 07/08/2010 2:34 P
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The first relief well BP is drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could intercept the leaking Deepwater Horizon well in seven to 10 days, the man heading the federal response to the oil crisis said Thursday.
The first relief well BP is drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could intercept the leaking Deepwater Horizon well in seven to 10 days, the man heading the federal response to the oil crisis said Thursday.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the length of time it will take to seal the well will depend on "where the oil is coming up through, where they can intercept, where they can put the mud in, where they can put the cement plug."
He reiterated that despite that accelerated time frame, he's sticking with mid-August as the expected time for the "bottom kill" procedure to be completed. "Certain things could move that up," Allen said, but for the second time in as many days, he couched that optimism, saying, "It's better to under-promise and over-deliver."
BP is in the final stages of drilling one of two relief wells, which is now 17,780 feet deep, Allen said. He called it "the slowest, most meticulous part."
After several days of rough seas, improved weather Thursday was allowing oil skimmers to restart their cleanup efforts in the Gulf, said Allen. He added that forecasters expected good weather for the next 7 to 10 days, and he hoped to make significant progress in the operation during "a weather window that we may not see again this summer."
Allen said he is asking BP to present a timeline within the next 24 hours detailing the series of events to take place. The timeline would outline how BP would concurrently hook up the oil-recover vessel, the Helix Producer, and replace the existing containment cap with a larger, more permanent seal. He said it would make sense to replace the containment cap and hook up the Helix Producer at the same time.
Rough seas earlier in the week delayed plans to deploy the Helix Producer, which could bring in up to 25,000 barrels of oil a day from the ruptured well, upping the total possible collection to 53,000 barrels of oil a day, which Allen said is the maximizum amount of oil capture in the current setup. BP says it recovered about 24,575 barrels on Wednesday, bringing the total number of barrels removed from the Gulf to about 706,700.
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