10 Jul 2010

BP to try another cap for fractured oil well

10:36 pm on 10 July 2010

The British oil company, BP, is preparing for its latest attempt to stop oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from an underwater pipeline.

A new containment cap will be placed on the fractured well-head during the weekend, and an extra ship, the Helix Producer, will then start siphoning off the oil.

It is hoped the new cap will significantly increase the amount of oil being captured from the sea-bed, however, while it is being replaced oil will flow unimpeded into the sea, the BBC reports.

The Coast Guard commander in charge of the project says BP's submersible robots will soon start removing the current containment cap from the ocean floor.

Admiral Thad Allen says the subsequent flow of leaking oil could be shut off by Monday.

But in that time hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil could flow unabated into the ocean.

"We have a significant chance to dramatically reduce the oil that's being released into the environment and maybe shut the well in altogether in the next week," he said.

"I use the word 'contained'," said Admiral Allen. " 'Stop' is when we put the plug in down below."

BP is continuing work on what it hopes will be the ultimate solution: drilling two wells to intercept and block the leak under the seabed.

Oil has been flowing from the damaged well since an explosion on 20 April that killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.