NEW ORLEANS – BP’s attempt to drill a relief and by 2 1 / 2 miles of rock to the Gulf to stop leaks is on schedule for completion in mid-August, the oil giant said Friday. But BP’s stock tumbled talking about the mounting cost of the disaster and the inability of business to plug the leak earlier. The first tropical depression of the Atlantic season formed in the Caribbean, raising concerns about what might happen in the effort to contain the oil if bad weather forces them to leave BP. It is too early to tell exactly where the storm might go and how it would affect oil and under the surface of the Gulf.
The relief is well regarded as the best hope for halting the rough, that began April 20 in the pouring largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The crew that was drilling the exemption since early May and ran a test to confirm on the right track, using a tool that detects the magnetic field around the body of the original, well-blown.
“It seemed translation is,” We are where we thought we were, “said BP spokesman Bill Salvin.
Several such tests are necessary because drilling sideways into the original case and requires tedious by more than 13,000 feet of rock to a target 9 inches in diameter, or about the size of a plate to hit.
Once the new cuts and a torn, BP plans to pump heavy drilling mud into the oil flow to stop and plug it with cement.
Despite the encouraging news, BP stock tumbled 6 percent in New York on Friday a 14-year low on news that BP now has 2.35 billion U.S. dollars in connection with the disaster spent.
BP has lost more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in market value since its deepwater drilling platform inflated and the stock is worth less than half the $ 60 or so it was for sale on the day of the explosion.
Meanwhile, the oil company and forecasters kept an eye on the tropical depression with winds of 35 mph churning in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters predicted it would strengthen a tropical storm and reach the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula by Saturday.
Michael Brennan, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it is too early to say whether the storm, the northeastern part of the Gulf, where the leakage is affected.
Most models show that over the Yucatan Peninsula this weekend and heading back into the southern part of the Gulf Monday. Then, some models is heading to the spill, while others do not.
The effort for the oil flowing from the seabed to catch can be interrupted for up to two weeks if a storm forces BP to move its stock of the damage path, said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the point man on the government crisis.
In other news:
_ A financial disclosure reports released Friday show that the court struck down the Louisiana Obama administration six months ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf has sold much of its energy investments. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman still owns eight energy-related investments, including shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. in among the goods he sold stock in Transocean, the rig that exploded in the hands. The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday to Feldman pronunciation of “delay of preserving the status quo during the appeal of the government.
Hilda Solis _ Labor Secretary BP hit – along with Massey Energy, owner of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 died in an explosion in April – say they need better security. “We do not go out of business,” she said. “Do your job better. Make an investment in your employees. We want you to make profit but not at the expense of killing your people.”
_ Vice President Joe Biden will head into the Gulf on Tuesday at a command center in New Orleans and the Florida Panhandle oil-polluted visits.
_ The IRS said payments for wage loss of BP’s 20 billion U.S. dollars compensation to the victims fund is taxable like regular income. Payments for personal injury or loss of property are generally exempt from tax.
BP is drilling two wells relief, in case the first misses its mark. The first, started 02-5, reached a depth of 16,275 feet Wednesday – including approximately 5000 meters of water – for workers interrupted the test. Although the relief and just 200 meters laterally from the initial well, the crew must still about 2000 meters depth drilling before it can intercept the original well, according to Salvin. The second relief well, started on May 16, has reached a depth of 10,500 meters.
The largest oil spill ever in the Gulf of Mexico – a submarine painter in Mexico, which began in the summer of 1979 and 140 million liters leaked – was eventually stopped by two wells relief. According to some estimates, the BP spill disaster can eclipse in a week or two, leakage is estimated at somewhere between 69,000,000 to 132 million liters.
BP would have approximately five days to secure each piece of equipment to the security of an approaching storm, but works to reduce to two days, Salvin said. This equipment includes vessels for processing the oil sucked by the containment cap on the hole and the rig to drill the two wells relief.
BP is everywhere capturing 840000-1200000 liters of oil per day. Worst Case Government estimates say 2.5 million liters per day leaking from the well, though no one really knows.
BP works to another containment system that would be easier to disconnect and connect back as a storm interrupted the work to develop.
source:chron.com
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