Pressure Tests Determine Oil In Annulus; Officials Debate How To Proceed

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

In a conference call with reporters, Friday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen reported the status of pressure tests on the Macondo deepwater well - the well responsible for the months-long oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - which resumed Thursday after storms passed through the Gulf.

Allen told reporters that the tests had revealed, “something that is between the annulus and the reservoir that is not allowing the flow of hydrocarbons … the question is, what to do about that moving forward.” 

Crews have determined that there may be as much as 1,000 barrels of “stagnant” oil suspended in the well, which could compromise the success of the bottom kill. “Tt remains a work in progress,” said Allen; “we’re trying to assess the options that we have. Everyone is in agreement that we need to proceed with the relief well - the question is how to do that.”

There is a risk that pumping mud and cement into the bottom of the well could increase the pressure beyond the threshold of the machinery now holding the well shut. “To increase the pressure in the blowout preventer and the capping stack in excess of 7,500 PSI would put that link in between them at risk, and we’re trying to figure out what that means and how we could mitigate that risk,” said Allen. 

Officials report that they are still wholly committed to completing the relief well and executing the bottom kill, and Allen reported that despite pressure test results showing a possible situation in which conducting a bottom kill could endanger the well’s integrity, BP officials would be “delighted” to show that they could, “drill down over 17,00 feet below sea level and hit a 7-inch pipe.” 

“The relief well will be finished, and that is the end result. How it gets finished will be determined on risk mitigation and the way forward that’s being discussed right now. The relief well will be finished - we will kill the well,” Allen concluded. The well will take about 96 hours to complete once drilling has resumed, according to administration officials.

Relief Well Drilling Suspended Due To Weather

By Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

As heavy storms brew in the Gulf of Mexico, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen reports that drilling will halt on the relief well that may finally put an end to the months-long BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill until the weather system has passed.

The Development Driller III, which has drilled to within about thirty feet of the crippled Macondo well, will disengage from the well itself but will remain onsite through the storm. Allen told reporters that the joint command had expected to complete the relief well on Thursday or Friday of this week - “this could potentially delay the final portion of the relief well for two to three days.”

The response team does not expect the storms to reach hurricane status, but are executing safety measures “as a precaution.”

In the meantime, the team, “will continue our aggressive search for oil that’s onshore in the marshes, to make sure we’re being responsive to the oil that does appear.”

“As we near the completion of the relief well, we’ll kind of assess where we’re at because we are moving into a new phase, where we’ll be focusing on locating any oil that remains out there - surface or subsurface - focusing on cleanup, and starting with the long-term recovery issues, and making sure that BP maintains their commitment,” said Allen.

Allen: Static Kill Completed, Moving On To Finish Relief Wells

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen provided an update via teleconference, Friday, on BP and the Coast Guard’s newest developments in finishing up the highly praised “static kill,” which has now successfully filled a large portion of the casing pipe of the deepwater Macondo oil well, responsible for the deaths of 11 rig workers and nearly 5 million barrels of sweet Louisiana crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, with heavy drilling mud, and now cement. 

Ret. Admiral Allen told the press that BP has now injected a layer of fluid on top of the cement, and a layer of drilling mud on top of that. The static kill has essentially ensured that no more oil will leak from the Macondo well, said Allen on Thursday.  The team will now begin pressure testing to keep track of the curing of the cement.

“We are unequivocally committed to completing the relief wells, drilling into the annulus, and cementing the annulus as the bottom portion of this kill, and there is no indication at all … that we completed this with the static kill from the top,” reminded Allen.

Rigs will begin to drill August 8; “we expect to be somewhere around the annulus around the 13th of August, and the drilling portion into the annulus is expected to occur somewhere between the 14th and the 15th of August.”

The annulus is the open space between the casing pipe that leads from the reservoir to the ocean floor, and the surrounding rock.

“We do not believe that a second try will be needed to go into the casing pipe because the indications are from the cement that was put in from the top is that the casing has been filled with cement down at that level,” said Allen; “If the pressure checks hold and we have indication the casing has been sealed off with cement, then the killing of the well would require only going into the annulus”

BP Official Touts Success Of Static Kill

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told reporters on Friday that the ‘static kill’ procedure put into motion earlier this week to cement the oil company’s leaking well “went very well.”

Suttles, BP’s point-man on the massive spill in the Gulf, which began almost four months ago, said workers performed an “almost textbook job” during the process. Suttles confirmed reports that no oil is currently leaking from the mangled well, which exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. As a result, Suttles said, the number of response workers in the Gulf has decreased from 48,000 during the height of the spill, to 31,000.

Suttles said BP will attempt to seel the well later today, adding that a relief well should be completed by the middle of August. BP has been quick to avoid any “mission accomplished” claims until the relief well is ready and the company can perform a “bottom-kill” procedure.

“We’ve got a ton of work left to do,” said Suttles.

As BP Fills Well With Cement, Response Team Moves To Recovery

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

In an operational update in Washington, Thursday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen stated; “the decision was made last night that the well was in the proper condition where we could cement it. That would increase the integrity of the well, as far as potential leaking of hydrocarbons, and would actually enhance our ability to do the bottom kill … this is not the end, but it will virtually assure us that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment.”

After successfully pumping heavy drilling mud into the Macondo deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP was authorized by the Coast Guard last night to begin cementing the well - a large step toward killing the well once and for all.  Cementing began around 8:30 am EST, Thursday, and may take up to two days to cure enough for drilling to resume on two crucial relief wells.

Once the cement has set for a “certain amount of time,” drilling into the annulus (the area between the pipeline and the rock) should take five to seven days, according to top officials.

“this is not the end, but it will virtually assure us that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment,” continued Allen; “I will say once again to the people of the Gulf that we are committed to finishing this cleanup, and holding BP accountable, and we will continue to do that.”

In an operational update from New Orleans that afternoon the Federal On-Scene Coordinator, Rear Admiral Paul Zukunft, explained that, 21 days since any oil has entered the Gulf from the Macondo well, he has seen evidence of recovery in heavily-oiled Barataria Bay in Louisiana. 

Zukunft described the resilience of the Gulf ecosystem, and told the press that a key goal in the next phase of the oil spill response will be the inclusion of local leaders in policy-making. He warned, however; “in terms of tar balls washing ashore, we are definitely talking months, potentially years.”