Jul 16 2010

BP’s Cap is “Temporary Measure” Says Adm. Thad Allen

(11AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Washington’s Blog thursday…

…numerous industry experts have warned that there is no upside to temporarily capping the well as part of the well integrity test, and that it might actually cause the well to blow out.  

Admiral Thad Allen previously said that the test will be considered a success if pressure in the well stays at 8,000 psi or higher for 48 hours.   So we won’t know for a couple of days whether the test has succeeded.

As AP correctly notes:

Now begins a waiting period to see if the cap can hold the oil without  blowing a new leak in the well. Engineers will monitor pressure readings  incrementally for up to 48 hours before reopening the cap while they  decide what to do.

Interestingly, as CNN’s Situation Room noted a couple of minutes ago, the cap might soon be re-opened, and closed again only during hurricanes:  

Admiral Thad Allen releasing a statement to us just a  short while ago…

He cautions “This isn’t over”…

Very interesting here. He talks about the cap as a temporary  measure to be used for hurricanes…

“It remains likely that we will return to the containment  process… until the relief well is completed”

So it looks like the plan is to go back to releasing the oil  and letting it pump up to the surface.

 (hat tip FloridaOilSpillLaw).

So is the well integrity test a meaningless PR stunt, which is delaying completion of the relief wells, and failing to bring us any closer to permanently killing the oil gusher?

6 comments

Skip to comment form

    • Edger on July 16, 2010 at 01:59
      Author
    • #

    Here are some of Hayward’s more cringe-worthy quotes:

    • “What the hell did we do to deserve this? (said to fellow executives) (New York Times, April 29)
    • “We are going to defend the beaches. We will fix this.” (Wall Street Journal, May 3)
    • “We will only win this if we can win the hearts and minds of the local community. It’s a big challenge.”(Financial Times, May 13)
    • “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.” (Guardian, May 14)
    • “Yeah, of course I am” (when asked if he sleeps at night) (Forbes, May 18).

  2. the new cap will ‘capture 80,000 barrels’ — a figure he has not used until now.

    Notice how it always goes up when they ‘claim’ they’ve captured it ?

    • Edger on July 16, 2010 at 19:47
      Author
    • #

    from the post. They were making the page load too slowly.

Comments have been disabled.