Tropical Storm Bonnie turned away from the Bahamas Thursday and aimed at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 . Most work was halted on oil spill cleanup and oil spill containment efforts. The massive flotilla assembled by BP for the oil spill containment and cleanup waited for official word from Thad Allen, the federal director of the spill response, on whether to evacuate. A final effort to kill the well could have to wait for better weather. But Allen said the feds are confident that an oil spill containment cap that has stanched the flow from the ruptured well will hold during the storm.
Oil spill containment postponed by Tropical Storm Bonnie
The storm system called Tropical Storm Bonnie could reach the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday, Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The Associated Press reports that a relief well to permanently seal the ruptured well was nearly complete before work on it was stopped. To pump mud to the gusher and kill it once and for all, crews were going to reinforce the last few feet of the relief well with cement Wednesday and Thursday. If Tropical Storm Bonnie forces work crews to evacuate, it might be two weeks before they can resume the effort to kill the well. For months, BP has said the relief well would be finished by the end of July in hopes the blowout might be plugged by early August.
Relief well must be complete before static kill attempt
A “static kill,” is the latest option being considered to plug the BP oil leak. The New York Times reports that to permanently stop the flow of oil and gas, a static kill is performed by pumping heavy drilling mud to the well via the blowout preventer. A static kill would only start after the final casing was installed in the relief well, to reduce the risk of damage to the relief well if something went wrong. If the static kill works as advertised, the relief well will still be needed to confirm that the well has been killed. If the results from the static kill are ambiguous, though, it would then take at least various days, and possibly various weeks, to permanently shut the flow from the bad well by pumping mud down the relief well.
Oil spill cap performance breeds confidence
As Tropical Storm Bonnie draws closer, the government said BP can leave the oil spill containment cap on. Allen told Bloomberg that data from the well gave the response team confidence that leaving the cap in place wouldn’t be an issue. Oil and gas is not escaping from elsewhere within the well bore, according to increasing pressure readings on the oil spill cap, BP said on its website. Each day the pressure holds gives the team more confidence, a BP official said.
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