The thing I don’t understand is that the original plan was to get the cap back on for the new collection facility, and then work setting up a 2nd collector (this in addition to the existing Q4000 burner and the Helix collector).
Then the government said they were pushing BP to do a pressure test to see if they could seal the well. Then they said they were delaying that test.
Well, why not continue with the capping? The capping and collection setup shouldn’t interfere with the pressure test, or would it? Maybe cutting off the oil to the collection would mean they’d have to remove the cap and reset it because of ice formation.
Very good questions. Seems like we have too many cooks in the kitchen and they end up flailing around making a mess and not getting anything cooked. At the very least, they should have starting the top collection right after the new CAP was on. The previous CAP put no extra pressure on the well bore. Obviously the Feds, which had approved and modified the plan, did not see any reason at the time to delay the shutoff pressure test. Big. Big. Mistake. This is all about Risk Management. We have been blowing a significant amount of oil out of the top for nearly a week now.