Gulf oil spill: BP cuts pipe, clearing way for cap [Updated]

Robots using giant hydraulic shears finished cutting away the pipe atop a BP well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, clearing the way for a cap to be placed over the well on Thursday in an effort to contain the 45-day-old spill.

Cutting away the riser pipe is “a significant step forward,” Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said at a briefing Thursday morning. "The challenge now is to seal that containment cap over it."

Allen said the shears used in the cutting did not give the clean edges that officials had hoped for, which could make it more difficult to fit the cap tightly over the pipe. The shears were used after a diamond-edged saw got stuck Wednesday while cutting through the pipe.

“This is an irregular cut. It will be a bit more challenging” to tightly seal the cap over the ragged-edged opening through which oil is gushing, Allen said. The cap was already suspended over the area and would be lowered into place within hours, he said.

The cap is intended to contain, not stop the flow of oil, but the tighter the cap, the more oil will be contained. The spill is not expected to be fully controlled until August at the earliest, after two relief wells are completed.

[Updated at 12:03 p.m.: BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward described the cut as a "very important step," but added that it would be another 12 to 24 hours before engineers know how well the capping procedure works.

Underwater robots were preparing to attach the containment cap to the pipe stub, but in the meantime, black clouds of oil erupted from the cleaved pipe at a greater rate than ever.

“We recognize this is just the beginning,” Hayward said, vowing that his embattled company will work as long as it takes to clean up the spill and restore the livelihoods and way of life of gulf residents.

In the meantime, the oil continues to spread, with the upper edge of the spill approaching Florida and 37% of gulf waters closed to fishing.]

Hurricane season, which began June 1, poses a major problem to workers trying to finish the relief wells, something Allen acknowledged was a concern. He said officials had to face the possibility that a major storm would force a halt to work on the relief wells.

-- Tina Susman in New Orleans

Comments

[Melanie Knobel]

The post by Sandor Caplan, is that the chef of 5 dudley?

[Michael Hertel]

Just crimping the pipe may not have been an option, the pipe was laying in a mess piled around the well and crimped in many places but even with particulates injected into the oil stream the leak was not stopped. This must mean that the pressure is very high and even if you could put a valve on the pipe if you closed it the pipe itself might burst. It seems they drilled a very large hole into an unproven field which is under very high pressure.

In hind sight this large hole does not make much sense. If they had drilled a much smaller hole say 10 inches rather than over 20 inches they would have had either no problem or at least a much smaller leak.
In the future a small bore hole should be required in all exploratory drilling.

[Ambrose Bierce]

The answer was right in front of us all along.
Lower Rush Limbaugh, head first ( heavy crane), to the cut off pipe, and his mouth can do the rest.

[Just ME in TJust ME in T]

Were you taught whilst growing up that Real Men Don’t Cry Mr. Obama? Well let me tell you now – that is a fallacy! Emotions right this moment, are what will touch those suffering on the Gulf Coast the most, and give them a sense of your love for them.

I believe they are sick and tired of the same old lines. “We’re making good progress” just does not cut it any longer.

http://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/2010/06/its-ok-for-men-to-cry-note-to-president.html

[jffblm]

The time to fix this problem is ridiculous. 45 days already. Our planet is so screwed if disasters like this keep cropping up. Doomsday theorists may be right when they say that we won't be able to swim in our planets oceans if this keeps up. What a mess. Less scientists, more people of action needed.

[mayaO]

Hows about seeing the oil spill as punishment dished out for goint to war over oil, proping up terror states and despots in the mid east. A la Homer Simpson when he goes to hell and Satan gives him all the doughnuts he wants.....Well USA heres all the oil u want, heres hoping it washes up from florida to new england.....HA HA!

[Bill Porter]

Running casing down large enough to encircle the leaking pipe should be done immediately and handle the flow up on the rig. Casing was run to start the well and is not something new. Get a crew out there that has experience and wants to stop the leak. There are good men that are not being called upon because we keep saying this is British Petroleum's problem. This is our problem. This is our eco system being destroyed. Our economy will take a hit we have not experienced if this is not handled now. BP trying new ideal's with failure their main ability is not the answer. We need our best out there stopping this leak the old way that works. Case the leak and handle it on the rig.

[cshargeit]

to be sure. this is hand glove kid handle. a very particular undersea earthquake will do the job. and one can even print this truth. lol.

[JAMES FERGUSON]

If they had they ability to do this then they could have crimped the end of the pipe weeks ago and reduced the flow. If you have ever bent a water hose, when water is running through it, you will understand this remarkably simple technique for reducing the flow. Too simple for the BP and US government geniuses to understand.

[sandor caplan]

How safe are the CA oil rigs? Are we next?

[Edward]

Why are all the details being held secret? In my town fixing sewer pipe would require more disclosures.

Where are the plans? Only a cartoon picture of the solution was released. Where is the analysis? Everything BP has done so far has been a disaster.

BP's different PR announcements say that this will collect "most" or "much" or "some" of the spill. Where are the regulators? What is wrong with these people? This is a plumbing job. You connect two pipes together. This is what oil companies do. Shell pipes oil from 8000 feet below the gulf and doesn't spill a drop. Every solution so far has had some ridiculous defect that doomed it before it started.

[Not my joke]

There is only one man for a cleaning job this vast, better send in:

Jacques Coustodian.

[Fleabell]

and this couldn't have been done weeks ago, why?