Tropical Storm Bonnie turned from the Bahamas Thursday and aimed at the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010 . Most work was halted on oil spill cleanup and oil spill containment efforts. Thad Allen, the federal director of the spill response, had not yet given word to BP saying the massive flotilla engaged within the oil spill containment and cleanup must evacuate. Better weather will have to return before a final effort to kill the well is attempted. But the feds are confident, as outlined by Allen, the storm will not force them to disconnect the oil spill containment cap that has stanched the flow from the ruptured well. Source of article - Oil spill cap will stay in place when Tropical Storm Bonnie hits by Personal Money Store.

Tropical Storm Bonnie delays work on oil spill containment

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm system could become Tropical Storm Bonnie later Thursday and reach the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday. The Associated Press reports that work on plugging the well has stopped, just days before a relief well to permanently seal the ruptured well is scheduled to be completed. Original plans were for crews to reinforce the last few feet of the relief well with cement on Wednesday and Thursday, before killing it once and for all by pumping mud to the gusher. If Tropical Storm Bonnie forces work crews to evacuate, it could be two weeks before they can resume the effort to kill the well. For months, BP has said the relief well would be finished by the end of July in hopes the blowout could be plugged by early August.

Static kill try needs relief well in place

A new technique being discussed to plug the BP oil leak is called a “static kill” in oil industry parlance. The New York Times reports that to permanently stop the flow of oil and gas, a static kill is performed by pumping heavy drilling mud to the well via the blowout preventer. To minimize risk of damaging the relief well if something goes wrong with the static kill, the procedure can only start when the relief well casing is fully installed. If the static kill is successful, the only need for the relief well may be to confirm the well is permanently sealed. If the static kill doesn’t work, mud can have to be pumped to the relief well for a number of more weeks to permanently kill the well.

Pressure on oil spill cap increasing as planned

Despite Tropical Storm Bonnie, the government told BP it could leave the oil spill containment cap attached. Bloomberg reports that Allen said he had “growing confidence” in the data from the well, ruling out a potential leak from keeping the cap on. Pressure inside the well has risen to 6,863 pounds per square inch since BP sealed it July 15, indicating oil and gas is not being forced out elsewhere within the well bore, according to BP’s website. A BP official said every additional day the pressure holds gives them more confidence.

Citations

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