Officials Warn Oil Could Gush Until August
May 31st, 2010 | File Under : Energy - Natural Gas - Oil and Gas
As BP readied its latest fallback plan to stop oil gushing from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration and the company warned that the crude could continue flowing until August, compounding threats to coastal wetlands, fisheries and beaches.
White House energy and climate adviser Carol Browner declared Sunday that the oil spill was “probably the biggest environmental disaster we’ve ever faced in this country” and said that “we are prepared for the worst.” On the CBS show “Face the Nation,” she said that the “American people need to know that it is possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August, when the relief wells will be finished.”
Those two wells, which BP began drilling early this month, are expected to intersect the damaged one and seal it near the reservoir far below the seafloor. The first has reached 7,000 feet, and second has reached a depth of 3,500 feet below the seafloor, but progress gets slower the deeper the wells go. With the arrival of hurricane season Tuesday, the drilling could be slowed if the rigs need to be evacuated during storms.
The grim assessment came in the wake of the failure last week of BP’s “top kill” effort to stop the flow of oil from the damaged well by shooting heavy drilling mud into the hole.
BP managing director Bob Dudley, who also made the rounds of Sunday morning shows, said on ABC “This Week” that “the next step is to make sure that we minimize the oil and pollution going into the gulf.” He added: “The main thing now is to contain it.”
Read more “Officials Warn Oil Could Gush Until August
” at PressDemocrat.com
Find More Other News : British Petroleum - oil and pollution - oil drilling - oil spill