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BP relief well 'days from completion' as cap stays shut


The Development Driller II drills a relief well at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, June 2010 The Development Driller II has been drilling one of the two relief wells

Hope is rising that the ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well may be sealed for good in weeks after it was announced a relief well was nearly complete.

US crisis manager Adm Thad Allen said the final piece of casing was being put in place on Wednesday.

Once the casing is done engineers could then begin drilling into BP's damaged well within five to seven days.

There were fears that shutting the well might cause new leaks on the sea bed, but seepage was traced to another well.
The cap applied last Thursday stopped oil leaking from the well for the first time since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April which caused the disaster.

Eleven workers on the BP-leased rig were killed and the oil caused one of America's worst environmental crises.

Vast amounts of oil have entered the Gulf and BP says the cost of dealing with the spill has now reached nearly $4bn (£2.6bn).

BP has moved to sell assets in Texas, Canada and Egypt in order to meet part of the clean-up bill.

BP vice-president Kent Wells said crews hoped to drill sideways into the blown-out well and intercept it at the end of July.

The relief well being drilled towards the damaged Macondo well is necessary to plug it permanently. A second well is being drilled as a back-up measure.

July intercept

BP vice-president Kent Wells said the relief well was on schedule for completion.

"The relief well is exactly where we want it, pointed in the right direction," he said.

"The intercept of the Macondo well is still for the end of July."

Adm Allen allowed another 24 hours for the well integrity test, meaning the well can be kept closed.

The test aims to check pressure within the well and establish there are no ruptures beneath the surface.

If it ends, BP will have to reopen the cap and restart capturing it with ships on the surface. But this would involve oil gushing into the sea again for several days.

BP and government experts are currently considering a "static kill" whereby drilling mud would be injected downwards into the top of the well.

This would complement the relief well in stopping the outflow of oil.
BBC NEWS

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_48435615_009593696-1.jpg The Development Driller II has been drilling one of the two relief wells

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