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19 July 2010
BP can keep its cap closed on the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico until at least Tuesday despite growing fears that the cap will have to be re-opened, US officials said on Monday.
Those fears had made their way to investors on the New York Stock Exchange, where BP shares tumbled $1.97, or 5.3%, to $35.13/share in late-afternoon Monday trading.
BP said it would continue to test oil pressure readings around the well, despite concerns raised by the US Coast Guard that oil could be seeping from the ocean floor as a result of the cap’s closure.
Those concerns prompted Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen’s request for BP to provide a written procedure for opening the cap’s choke valve as quickly as possible and returning to siphoning operations, should the leak be confirmed.
However, the leak had apparently yet to be confirmed as of Monday morning, when officials led by Allen gave BP permission to hold the cap closed for another 24 hours.
BP had said that with the cap closed, no oil was escaping into the Gulf.
The pressure readings for the wellbore had yet to reach BP’s target range of between 8,000-9,000 lbs/square inch (psi). The company said Monday that readings were at around 6,800 psi and slowly increasing, but roughly steady with the prior two days.
As such, fears were mounting that the company would eventually have to re-open the cap’s valve and return to siphoning operations, which were unlikely to capture 100% of the oil flow over the near-term.
Moreover, it would likely take about three days to reinsert siphoning pipe work into the cap and reattach to the surface production vessels. In that time, oil could gush relatively unchecked into the Gulf.
Until the cap was closed last Thursday, oil had been gushing out since the 20 April explosion of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon offshore rig. Officials had estimated the leak was in a range of 35,000-60,000 bbl/day.
The only solution to permanently plug the leak remained the drilling of two relief wells. BP estimated on Monday that the first half of August would be when the first relief well would be completed and kill operations performed.
BP said its cleanup costs had reached $3.95bn (€3.04bn), and it was looking to sell some $10bn of its assets to pay for liabilities.
source: www.icis.com
BP can keep its cap closed on the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico until at least Tuesday despite growing fears that the cap will have to be re-opened, US officials said on Monday.
Those fears had made their way to investors on the New York Stock Exchange, where BP shares tumbled $1.97, or 5.3%, to $35.13/share in late-afternoon Monday trading.
BP said it would continue to test oil pressure readings around the well, despite concerns raised by the US Coast Guard that oil could be seeping from the ocean floor as a result of the cap’s closure.
Those concerns prompted Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen’s request for BP to provide a written procedure for opening the cap’s choke valve as quickly as possible and returning to siphoning operations, should the leak be confirmed.
However, the leak had apparently yet to be confirmed as of Monday morning, when officials led by Allen gave BP permission to hold the cap closed for another 24 hours.
BP had said that with the cap closed, no oil was escaping into the Gulf.
The pressure readings for the wellbore had yet to reach BP’s target range of between 8,000-9,000 lbs/square inch (psi). The company said Monday that readings were at around 6,800 psi and slowly increasing, but roughly steady with the prior two days.
As such, fears were mounting that the company would eventually have to re-open the cap’s valve and return to siphoning operations, which were unlikely to capture 100% of the oil flow over the near-term.
Moreover, it would likely take about three days to reinsert siphoning pipe work into the cap and reattach to the surface production vessels. In that time, oil could gush relatively unchecked into the Gulf.
Until the cap was closed last Thursday, oil had been gushing out since the 20 April explosion of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon offshore rig. Officials had estimated the leak was in a range of 35,000-60,000 bbl/day.
The only solution to permanently plug the leak remained the drilling of two relief wells. BP estimated on Monday that the first half of August would be when the first relief well would be completed and kill operations performed.
BP said its cleanup costs had reached $3.95bn (€3.04bn), and it was looking to sell some $10bn of its assets to pay for liabilities.
source: www.icis.com
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