Tag: Evening Edition

BP wants to keep the valves on its containment cap closed continuously until an operation to permanently seal the well can be performed in less than two weeks time, meaning no more toxic crude would stream into the Gulf.

But those hopes were dealt a blow on Sunday when the government raised concerns about “the detection of a seep near the well and the possible observation of methane over the well.”

The US government is granting extensions to exhaustive well tests on a 24-hour basis, but BP said the valves on the containment cap that is staunching the flow will remain shut as long as no leaks are discovered.

This could mark the beginning of the end of what estimates suggest is the biggest oil spill ever, although the true damage from one of America’s worst environmental disasters might not be known for decades.

“We’re feeling more confident that we have integrity,” BP senior vice president Kent Wells told reporters in an early morning briefing.

“At this point there’s not evidence that we don’t have integrity,” he said as a second day of tests on the condition of the wellbore below the seabed continued.

Shortly after BP engineers shut down the last of three valves on a giant new cap placed on the blown-out well at around 2:25 pm (1925 GMT), senior vice president Kent Wells announced no oil was leaking into the seas.

“I’m very excited to see no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico,” Wells told reporters, but cautioned it was only the start of a painstaking testing process set to last 48 hours to analyze the condition of the underground wellbore.

Shortly after BP engineers shut down the last of three valves on a giant new cap placed on the blown-out well, senior vice president Kent Wells announced no oil was leaking into the seas.

“I’m very excited to see no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico,” Wells told reporters, but cautioned it was only the start of a testing process set to last 48 hours to analyze the condition of the underground wellbore.

The pressure test aimed at evaluating the integrity of the wellbore, which stretches down 2.5 miles (four kilometers) below the seabed, involves shutting off the valves on a 75-tonne cap freshly installed on top of the leaking well.

High pressure readings would allow the three valves to remain shut and the well would effectively be sealed, but low ones could mean there is a hole somewhere in the casing of the well where oil is escaping.

Crucial seismic surveys were being carried out first after underwater robots successfully lowered a 30-foot-tall (10-meter) device known as a capping stack on top of the ruptured wellhead late Monday.

On the 85th day of the worst US oil spill ever, engineers were to start a series of pressure and integrity tests around midday (1700 GMT) to see if the huge cap, weighing some 75 tonnes, has indeed choked off the leak.

Almost 13 weeks after the disaster began with a deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, the end is finally in sight as engineers place the “Top Hat 10” device over the giant gusher a mile down on the sea floor.

BP chief operating officer said once the cap was connected and its valves closed to shut off the flow, critical pressure tests would be carried out to study the well’s integrity.