Perilous Times
BP, scientists admit the oil well shaft has been leaking
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a nail-biting day across the Gulf Coast,
engineers struggled to make sense of puzzling pressure readings from
the bottom of the sea Friday to determine whether BP's Top cap on the
oil well was holding tight. Halfway through a critical 48-hour window,
the signs were promising but far from conclusive.
Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said on an evening conference call
that engineers had found that the well has started leaking underground.
Engineers are keeping watch over the well for a two-day period in a
scientific, round-the-clock vigil to see if the well's temporary cap is
strong enough to hold back the oil, and to monitor leaks either in the
well itself or the sea floor. One mysterious development was that the
pressure readings were not rising as high as expected, leading us to
speculate that the well is leaking oil well below the surface said
retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the
crisis.
Allen said the possible reason was that there could be a leak
somewhere down in the well. Allen ordered further study but remained
confident.
But he cautioned, "We need to be careful not to do any harm or create
a situation that cannot be reversed."
He said the testing would go on into the night, at which point BP may
decide whether to reopen the cap and allow some oil to spill into the
sea again.
Throughout the day, no one was declaring victory — or failure.
President Barack Obama cautioned the public "not to get too far ahead
of ourselves," warning of the danger of new leaks "that could be even
more catastrophic."
Even if the cap passes the test, more uncertainties lie ahead: Where
will the oil already spilled go? How long will it take to clean up the
coast? What will happen to the region's fishermen? And will life on the
Gulf Coast ever be the same again?
"I'm happy the well is shut off, that there's a light at the end of the
tunnel," said Tony Kennon, mayor of hard-hit Orange Beach, Ala. But
"I'm watching people moving away, people losing their jobs, everything
they've got. How can I be that happy when that's happening to my
neighbor?"
On Thursday, BP closed the vents on the new, tight-fitting cap and
finally stopped crude from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico for the
first time since the April 20 oil-rig explosion that killed 11 workers
and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet down.
With the cap working like a giant cork to keep the oil inside the well,
scientists kept watch on screens at sea and at BP's Houston
headquarters,
to monitor the buildup of pressure underground that has caused new
leaks in the well pipe and in the surrounding bedrock that could make
the disaster even worse.
Pressure readings after 24 hours were about 6,700 pounds per square
inch with is about 2500 -3000 lbs less then it should be reading, Allen
said A low pressure reading, or a falling one, could mean the oil is
escaping.
Benton F. Baugh, president of Radoil Inc. in Houston and a National
Academy of Engineering member who specializes in underwater oil
operations, warned that the pressure readings could mean that more
underground blowouts could occur. He said the oil coming up the well
may be leaking out underground and entering a geological pocket that
might not be able to hold it.
But Roger N. Anderson, a professor of marine geology and geophysics at
Columbia University, said the oil pressure might be rising slowly not
because of the leak, but because of some kind of blockage in the well.
The cap is designed to prevent oil from spilling into the Gulf, either
by keeping it bottled up in the well, or by capturing it and piping it
to ships on the surface. It is not yet clear which way the cap will be
used if it passes the pressure test.
Either way, the cap is a temporary measure until a relief well can be
completed and mud and cement can be pumped into the broken well deep
underground to seal it more securely than the cap. The first of the two
relief wells being drilled could be done by late July or August.
In a positive sign, work on the relief wells resumed Friday. The
project had been suspended earlier this week for fear that the capping
of the well could interfere with it.
There was no end in sight to the cleanup in the water and on shore.
Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into
the Gulf, according to government estimates.
In Orange Beach, Ala., long strands of white absorbent boom strung
along the shore were stained chocolate brown after a fresh wave of
BB-size tar balls washed up. Charter boat captains who can't fish
because of the spill patrolled the shore, looking for oil slicks.
Fishing guides spent their time ferrying Coast Guard personnel. A
flotilla of fishing boats operating as skimmers plied the waters across
the Gulf.
Large sections of the Gulf Coast have been closed to fishing and
shellfish harvesting. Many fishermen have been hired out by BP to do
cleanup work.
Cade Thomas, a 38-year-old fishing guide from Pine, La., said the whole
mentality of the place is different.
"It's all changed dramatically. The fishing stories aren't there," he
said. "There's no stories to tell except where we went to today and how
much oil we saw."
In Grand Isle, La., most of the summer rental cottages are vacant,
tables at the single high-end seafood restaurant are empty, and
souvenir shops are barely doing enough business to pay the bills. A
hand-painted sign along the main road rechristens the tourist town
"Grand Oil."
Folks are grateful the gusher has been stopped, but many say it is too
late to save this summer. Thousands of tourists have gone elsewhere.
Scientists cannot say for certain what the long-term environmental
effect will be. But long after the well is finally plugged, oil could
still be washing up in marshes and on beaches as tar balls or patties.
There is also fear that months from now, those tar balls could move
west to Corpus Christi, Texas, or travel up and around Florida to Miami
or North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Tim Kerner, mayor of Lafitte, La., said the crisis isn't over by a long
shot.
"There's millions and millions of gallons of oil out there, and they
need to keep the fishermen working," he said. "We need to constantly
have that boom up absorbing oil along the banks and hard boom in the
bayous to protect the marshland. It's no time to pull back. It's time
to continue to fight until we know it's over."
Kerner added: "I don't want everybody to think we won this battle. This
battle's going to be ongoing for a while."
Weber reported from Houston, Mohr from Venice, La. and Smith from Grand
Isle, La. Associated Press Writers Colleen Long, Shelia Byrd, Jay
Reeves, Matt Sendesky, Kevin McGill, and Ramit Plushnick-Masti
contributed to this report.