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BP to remove broken blowout preventer ahead of final kill operation
Procedure not expected to be completed until after Labor Day weekend
BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, 23 Aug 2010
BP is not expected to complete the "kill" operation on its ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico until after the 6 September Labor Day holiday after US officials ordered the company to fit a new blowout preventer to the well head.
The company had originally hoped to complete the so-called "bottom kill" procedure that will see mud and cement pumped through a relief well into the ruptured well later this month.
But a combination of bad weather and concerns that the operation could increase pressure in the well, leading to a fresh leak, have delayed work on the procedure.
Following a series of pressure tests last week, Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the official in charge of the US government response, told BP to submit a new plan to remove the failed blowout preventer at the head of the well and replace it with a second preventer.
Pressure tests showed that the switch was unlikely to lead to further leaks, although BP has been instructed to include proposals to contain any leak in the new plan.
Once a new blowout preventer is installed, BP will be free to complete the drilling of the relief well and begin the "bottom kill" operation – a process Allen said he expected to get under way some time after Labor Day.
The recovered blowout preventer will be handed to government officials who are undertaking an investigation to ascertain the cause of the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people and sparked the largest offshore oil spill in history.
The latest developments came as the Wall Street Journal reported that the US government knew that its ban on deepwater drilling in the wake of the BP spill would cost about 23,000 jobs and delay more than $10bn (£6.4bn) in investment.
The government is preparing to defend its second ban on deepwater drilling, which the White House maintains is required to give officials time to determine the cause of the BP leak and ensure current regulations governing deepwater drilling are adequate.
A previous ban was overturned by a judge who argued that the move was disproportionate and would result in sizable economic losses for the Gulf region.
The White House responded by imposing a second moratorium, but that move is once again being challenged in the courts by the oil industry which alleges that the latest ruling is fundamentally the same as the overturned ban.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Risk]
BP to remove broken blowout preventer ahead of final kill operation
Procedure not expected to be completed until after Labor Day weekend
BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, 23 Aug 2010
BP is not expected to complete the "kill" operation on its ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico until after the 6 September Labor Day holiday after US officials ordered the company to fit a new blowout preventer to the well head.
The company had originally hoped to complete the so-called "bottom kill" procedure that will see mud and cement pumped through a relief well into the ruptured well later this month.
But a combination of bad weather and concerns that the operation could increase pressure in the well, leading to a fresh leak, have delayed work on the procedure.
Following a series of pressure tests last week, Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the official in charge of the US government response, told BP to submit a new plan to remove the failed blowout preventer at the head of the well and replace it with a second preventer.
Pressure tests showed that the switch was unlikely to lead to further leaks, although BP has been instructed to include proposals to contain any leak in the new plan.
Once a new blowout preventer is installed, BP will be free to complete the drilling of the relief well and begin the "bottom kill" operation – a process Allen said he expected to get under way some time after Labor Day.
The recovered blowout preventer will be handed to government officials who are undertaking an investigation to ascertain the cause of the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people and sparked the largest offshore oil spill in history.
The latest developments came as the Wall Street Journal reported that the US government knew that its ban on deepwater drilling in the wake of the BP spill would cost about 23,000 jobs and delay more than $10bn (£6.4bn) in investment.
The government is preparing to defend its second ban on deepwater drilling, which the White House maintains is required to give officials time to determine the cause of the BP leak and ensure current regulations governing deepwater drilling are adequate.
A previous ban was overturned by a judge who argued that the move was disproportionate and would result in sizable economic losses for the Gulf region.
The White House responded by imposing a second moratorium, but that move is once again being challenged in the courts by the oil industry which alleges that the latest ruling is fundamentally the same as the overturned ban.
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