BP oil-collection chamber clogs, removed from leaking Gulf well
Monday, 10 May 2010
NEW YORK, May 9 (Bloomberg): BP Plc's latest effort to prevent oil leaks from damaging wildlife and tourism on the US coast are being stymied as cold and pressure a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico formed ice that clogged a containment device.
The device, a 40-foot-tall steel chamber BP hoped would capture the gushing oil and funnel it to an overhead drillship, was blocked by ice crystals formed from gas hydrates at the well site, the company said. An estimated 5,000 barrels of crude are spilling each day from the well, threatening shrimping and fishing grounds that supply a quarter of the US seafood.
The Macondo well began spewing oil into the Gulf after an April 20 explosion on Transocean Ltd.'s Deepwater Horizon rig.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday stopped public access to Louisiana's Chandeleur and Freemason islands, where BP and federal officials Thursday said oil from the spill first reached shore.
Tarballs ranging in size from dimes to golf balls, were recovered yesterday on the shore of Dauphin Island, Alabama, about 50 miles northeast of Chandeleur.
The containment system, now set aside on the seabed about 200 meters (656 feet) from the biggest leak, was London-based BP's best hope for slowing the spread of oil while it drills a relief well aimed at relieving pressure so the flow can be stopped altogether. BP has 20 experts studying the possibility of injecting pieces of rubber into the well to stop up the pipe.
The device, a 40-foot-tall steel chamber BP hoped would capture the gushing oil and funnel it to an overhead drillship, was blocked by ice crystals formed from gas hydrates at the well site, the company said. An estimated 5,000 barrels of crude are spilling each day from the well, threatening shrimping and fishing grounds that supply a quarter of the US seafood.
The Macondo well began spewing oil into the Gulf after an April 20 explosion on Transocean Ltd.'s Deepwater Horizon rig.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday stopped public access to Louisiana's Chandeleur and Freemason islands, where BP and federal officials Thursday said oil from the spill first reached shore.
Tarballs ranging in size from dimes to golf balls, were recovered yesterday on the shore of Dauphin Island, Alabama, about 50 miles northeast of Chandeleur.
The containment system, now set aside on the seabed about 200 meters (656 feet) from the biggest leak, was London-based BP's best hope for slowing the spread of oil while it drills a relief well aimed at relieving pressure so the flow can be stopped altogether. BP has 20 experts studying the possibility of injecting pieces of rubber into the well to stop up the pipe.