Operations to permanently plug BP oil well delayed

Jul 30, 2010, 21:31 GMT

Washington - Work on a relief well that would permanently plug the BP Plc oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was delayed because of debris accumulated from a recent storm, US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Friday.

'The greatest concern is the relief well, as that's when we will truly end this threat to the environment and the Gulf Coast,' said Allen, who is coordinating the government's response to the largest oil spill in US history.

The government was also compiling an 'oil budget,' Allen said, which would be released in the next few days. It would compare the amount of oil released from the ruptured well with what has been collected, burned and dispersed with dispersants.

'We need to know the total amount of oil out there,' Allen said, adding that the budget would provide an estimate of the percentage of oil that needs to be accounted for and where it is located.

The well was spewing between 35,000-60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf until BP temporarily stopped it with a cap on July 15.

Work on the relief well as well as oil collection was delayed last week after all ships and platforms were forced to leave the spill area as storm Bonnie swept over the site. Ships returned to the Gulf Sunday.

Allen said that because of the storm, some sediment fell into the well bore, and while it was not 'a huge problem,' it would first have to cleaned out.

BP had hoped to begin forcing mud and cement down the top of the wellhead in a process known as the 'static kill' on Monday. But that would now be delayed by 24-36 hours, as workers would have to pull out the plug from the bottom of the well, and flush and clean out the debris.

Only after this could a separate bottom-up approach, using the relief well that has been drilled over the last few months, begin five days later.

'We are here to see this thing through to the finish,' Allen said, which meant making sure that the 'well is killed,' and continue to clean the oil already on the beaches and in the water.

An estimated 11 million feet of boom have been used to stop the spread of the oil. Allen said most of it would remain as hurricane season continues until December 1 and tar balls are still washing ashore in the Florida panhandle, Louisiana and Mississippi, spurred on by storm Bonnie.

A new analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Friday said that southern Florida, the Florida Keys - with its delicate coral reefs - and the East Coast were not likely to experience any effects from the remaining surface oil, as it continues to degrade and was hundreds of miles away from the Loop Current that further spread it.