AFTER 87 days, numerous false starts, broken promises, and more than four million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, the moment was almost too sweet to take in.
BP’s underwater cameras, dubbed “spillcams”, finally broadcast a picture that was clean, calm and absolutely devoid of any billowing oil.
Clapping, handshakes and backslaps erupted in the control room in Houston where BP and US government scientists have mingled, fretted and plotted since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20th. At 2.25pm local time, the last of three valves in the new sealing cap placed over the Macondo well was at last closed, and the dirty cloud of gushing oil and gas that has become a symbol of nature’s ability to bite back against man’s insatiable demand for energy thinned and was no more.
Verbally, the reaction of key players was notably muted. They have now learned to avoid giving any impression of euphoria.
Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice-president, emerged barely five minutes after the oil stopped spewing and said it “felt very good not to see any oil going into the Gulf of Mexico. What I’m trying to do is maintain my emotions”. Pressed further to describe the mood, all he would say was “I’m very excited,” but added swiftly: “I don’t want to sort of create a false sense of excitement.”
President Barack Obama gave a brief press conference on the disaster. “For almost 90 days of this environmental disaster, all of us have taken hope from the image of clean water instead of oil spewing into the Gulf. The new cap is good news,” he said. But he also urged prudence, warning that this was not the time to “get ahead of ourselves”.
“One of the problems with having this camera down there is when the oil stops gushing everybody feels that we’re done, and we’re not.”
The main issue for scientists involved in attempting to wrestle the broken oil well under control is whether by placing the new containment cap over it, other leaks will be produced under the sea floor that could be even more difficult to deal with.
Pressure gauges on the cap give the best indication of that – high pressures of between 6,000 and 8,000lbs per square inch would indicate that the well is holding together and the rate as of yesterday lunchtime was 6,700 pounds per square inch, well within that range. Remote-controlled submarines are also scouring the sea floor with sonar to detect any signs of breaches. So far none have been found.
The US government and BP now have to decide whether to keep the well shut off or reopen some of the valves to reduce the pressure. President Obama pointed out that even in that latter case, the new cap would be far more effective at funnelling the oil to up to four vessels on the surface with a capacity of up to 80,000 barrels a day, well above the estimated upper limit of 60,000 barrels that have been spewing. “Either we will be able to stop the flow, or to capture almost all the oil until the relief well is completed,” he said.
With that relief well now tantalisingly close to the bottom of the Macondo – just 5ft from the well with another 30ft to be drilled down to the final casing point – all eyes will be on that last and potentially conclusive operation.
Drilling has been suspended to allow work on the new containment cap to be undisturbed, but is likely to resume in the next few days. The last procedure of pumping heavy mud and then concrete to plug the well could be weeks away.
Down in the Gulf itself, the reaction of some of the thousands of people whose lives have been overturned by the catastrophe was a mixture of delight and open scepticism. “Five words I don’t want to hear: Houston we have a problem,” said one commentator on the Alabama news site al.com.
“It’s freaking wonderful,” a shrimper from Cut Off, Louisiana, said.
Amid the lighter mood, nobody was underestimating how much work remains to be done in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster. “People down in the Gulf are still suffering as a result of this disaster,” President Obama said, repeating his now familiar mantra: “BP is going to pay.”
Ken Feinberg, appointed by Obama to manage the $20 billion fund set up by BP to compensate individuals and businesses, said he would make the first payments in early August. – ( Guardianservice)