SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2010
KLMNO
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Gulf Coast Oil Spill Cap placed on well is slowing flow of oil into the gulf
by Kimberly Kindy A containment cap placed over
BP’s gushing undersea oil well captured 6,077 barrels of oil dur- ing its first 24 hours in operation, between a quarter and a half of the amount that is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day, au- thorities said Saturday. National incident commander
Thad W. Allen said engineers hope to steadily increase the amount of oil that is siphoned off the well until the full flow is cap- tured and directed to a nearby ship at the surface. He acknowl- edged that the recovery operation is still delicate, however, and said large amounts of oil could contin- ue to flow into the gulf for the next two months.
Since the BP oil rig exploded nearly six weeks ago, federal offi- cials say as much as 1 million bar- rels of oil have poured into the gulf. “The worse-case scenario I can
see is that the discharge goes for- ward until we have the relief well built, which will be in early Au- gust,” Allen told reporters in The- odore, Ala. The cap, which resembles an upside-down funnel, was lowered over the blown-out well a mile be- neath the sea late Thursday. BP had hoped by Saturday morning to close at least two of the four vents at the top of the cap — which are now open to relieve pressure — so the flow of the oil to the ship could be increased. But by late Saturday, technicians were still working to close the vents and were hoping they would be shut within the next day or two.
BP is trying to achieve the right balance of pressure, directing as much oil as possible to the sur- face and reducing the flow from an imperfect rubber seal between the cap and a sheared-off riser pipe.
BP is also trying to prevent wa- ter from entering the cap. The
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SATURDAY, JUNE 5 1:30 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 6 1:30 PM MONDAY, JUNE 7 7:00 PM
on
washingtonpost.com
Continuing coverage of the devastation in the gulf
To see more images of the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico and for live video footage from the oil “spillcam,” go to
washingtonpost.com/nation.
presence of water scuttled an at- tempt by BP four weeks ago when icelike crystals, called hydrates, plugged the pipe. This time, BP is pumping methanol into the cap to prevent the crystals from form- ing, Allen said. The oil captured Saturday is a
fraction of the 23 million to 47 million gallons government offi- cials estimate have leaked into the gulf since the April 20 explo- sion that killed 11 workers, mak- ing it the nation’s largest oil spill. A thick film coated the shores
of Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala- bama and Florida on Saturday morning, and tar balls, discol-
ored seashells and orange foam had washed up on Gulf Coast beaches. The oil has turned marshlands into death zones for wildlife and stained beaches rust and crimson. More than 500 birds have been found dead from Texas to Florida since the start of the leak, accord- ing to a federal tally released Fri- day, though their exact cause of death was not clear. More than 200 sea turtles have also been found dead. Dead dolphins were also washing ashore Saturday, al- though there was no official count. In Florida, state officials said
there was an immediate concern that the oil would coat a long swath of the state’s panhandle, and authorities were pushing for oil skimmers offshore and more cleanup crews on beaches. By late Saturday, thousands of local resi- dents in the affected coastal states had been trained, hired and were working on the cleanup effort.
At a briefing Saturday, BP offi- cials said the company had com- mitted close to $85 million through June to cover about 35,000 claims from workers and small businesses, with about half of those claims already paid. The earliest claims being han- dled are for $5,000 or less, and most — 90 percent — went to fishermen, crabbers and shrim- pers, according to BP America’s vice president for resources, Dar- ryl Willis.
kindyk@washpost.com
Staff writer Mary Pat Flaherty contributed to this report.
Latest developments
The containment cap is capturing an estimated quarter to a half of the oil coming from the damaged well.
Dead birds, sea turtles and dolphins start to wash ashore. Oil is on beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
BP repeats promise to pay all “legitimate” claims resulting from the oil spill.
By the numbers 6,077
barrels of oil captured by containment cap during its first 24 hours in operation
23
oil and natural gas rigs actively drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, compared with 46 a week earlier
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