fyi
Just what has Admiral Thad Allen done as “national incident commander” other than hold press conferences? Has the U.S. government done anything positive with respect to solving the problem?
I must have missed a step. I haven't heard anything about removing the drill pipe that was left in the well bore during the original disaster.
My trophy bride made a couple of interesting comments yesterday after a brief Fox New update:
1. The leak must be pretty well under control since very little hysteria is being aired.
2. Is the “escaped” oil and the Gulf Salt Watere, doing what salt water has done with escaping oil for centuries, ie, handling the problem.
3. Has/Did BP buy out the envirals before, during and after as they certainly have been quiet versus if this had been Exxon or an American oil company.
One thing this whole episode has shown me.
Drilling for oil as waaaaay more complicated than I ever imagined.
BP starts Macondo cement job
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article224829.ece
BP starte pumping cement to seal the Macondo blowout about 9 Thursday morning after receiving the green light from the head of US Gulf spill response team.
The move was endorsed by retired US Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, who is heading the US Gulf spill response team.
“Based on the successful completion of the static kill procedure and a positive evaluation of the test results, I have authorised BP to cement its damaged well.
“I made it clear that implementation of this procedure shall in no way delay the completion of the relief well,” Allen said late Wednesday night.
BP first commenced the static top kill on the Macondo blowout well on 3 August.
Heavy drilling mud had been pumped into the well in an effort to suppress the flow.
The operation was declared a success at about 1 am local time Wednesday, with the well being brought under control by the hydrostatic pressure of drilling mud, effectively killing the leak.
BP used Helix Energy Solutions’ semi-submersible platform Q4000 for the static kill operations. About 2300 barrels of mud in total had been pumped into the blowout well.
Crews stopped pumping mud into the well about eight hours into the operation to formulate a plan to permanently seal the well.
At the end of the operation, the pumping rate was ramped up to between 10 barrels per minute and 15 barrels per minute, according to BP’s executive Kent Wells.
BP is likely to pump cement at similar rates should it choose to permanently seal the well from the top, Wells said.
BP is pursuing a concurrent bottom-kill strategy by drilling a relief well to intercept the Macondo blowout.
The relief well was being drilled by Transocean’s semi-submersible rig Development Driller 3.
Once it intercepts the Macondo bore, crews will either verify that the well was successfully cemented and killed through the top kill or will proceed with a bottom kill and final cement job, Wells said.
Last updated: 05 August 2010 15:40 GMT