Offshore staff
ROGER, Louisiana – Preparations are under way for an attempted “top kill” at the Deepwater Horizon spill site in the Gulf of Mexico. Current plans call for initiation of the operation in the daylight morning of Wednesday, May 26, says BP Exploration & Production COO Doug Suttles.
Suttles cautioned that there was no guarantee of success and that while the technique is not new, it has not been performed at the 5,000 ft water depth of this site. Care is being taken, he says, to make sure nothing that is attempted makes the problem worst or prevents other options from being tried should this one fail.
If the top kill is not successful, BP has a lower marine riser package now on the seabed as the next option. This is another type of containment device which would be tried pending successful completion of the relief drilling.
Offshore weather has been conducive to operations, and skimming, burning, and dispersant application are continuing. Most of the boom deployment is off Louisiana, west of the Mississippi River. Suttles says that, to date, there were nine onshore locations with oil and that 30 acres of marsh were affected along with 60 mi of beach.
BP says it has spent $800 million so far on the containment efforts and reparations.
05/24/2010
