UPDATE: BP: May Deploy Gear For 'Top Kill' Of Oil Leak Sunday
May 19 2010 - 5:40PM
Dow Jones News
BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) could deploy equipment Sunday or early next
week in order to start the procedure known as a "top kill" to stem
the flow of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
The procedure involves shooting heavy drilling fluids into the
well, followed by cement to seal it.
"The earliest we think we will be able to deploy that is Sunday,
or it could slip into early next week," BP Chief Operating Officer
Doug Suttles said during a teleconference. The timeframe isn't
precise because the procedure has to be done at more than 5,000
feet below water, he said.
Engineers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which
supervises offshore oil and gas operations, are participating in
the preparation for the "top kill" procedure to ensure it will be
done in a safety manner, said MMS Regional Director Lars
Herbst.
BP's Suttles also said the company was siphoning 3,000 barrels
of oil a day and 14 million cubic feet of natural gas a day from
the leak through a mile-long tube it inserted earlier over the
weekend into a shattered oil pipe on the ocean floor. On Tuesday,
BP said it was collecting an estimated 2,000 barrels of oil a day
from the leak.
Favorable weather also helped the company with clean-up
operations on the sea surface. About 14,000 barrels of oily waters
were skimmed Tuesday and four controlled burnings of oil were
completed, Suttles said. Similar results are expected Wednesday as
the weather continues to be favorable. "Our efforts on the surface
are making a measurable difference," Suttles said.
The well is estimated to be spewing at least 5,000 barrels of
oil a day into the Gulf. The spill resulted from the April 20
explosion and sinking, two days later, of Transocean Ltd.'s (RIG)
Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was finishing a well for BP.
Eleven members of the crew were killed by the blast, and the spill
threatens the shore of several Gulf Coast states.
-By Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9207;
isabel.ordonez@dowjones.com
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