Deepwater Horizon: Riser tube, top hat remain in spill control plans

Offshore staff

ROBERT, Louisiana-- In a Unified Command briefing today, Doug Suttles, BP COO, said that the riser insertion tube operation (see schematic below) should begin over night and that the Discovery Driller III should arrive on location Sunday, May 16, to spud the second relief well at the Deepwater Horizon location. Lars Herbst, MMS regional director for the Gulf Coast Region said that MMS had granted the permit to try the insertion tube plan and that the top hat containment device was nearby on the sea floor as a back-up plan. He added that the permit for the second relief well should be granted tomorrow by the MMS. US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the coastal beaches were being monitored constantly but that the majority of the beaches had seen no oil from the spill. The Loop Current moved out to50 mi distance, she added, decreasing the chances of the current picking up any of the oil and carrying it out of the Gulf. If the weather cooperates, Landry said, surface skimming would continue along with direct dispersant spread and subsea dispersant injection into the plume. Additional controlled burns are possible, too.