BP ‘top kill’ fails, piling more pressure on Obama
/HOUSTON (Reuters) – BP Plc said on Saturday its complex “top kill” maneuver to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.
It may be another two months before the London-based energy giant can definitively turn off the gusher — a delay that could undermine U.S. President Barack Obama as he faces growing criticism for a perceived slow response to the disaster.
“We will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled,” Obama said in a statement after the news, noting that the wells will take months to complete.
The beleaguered BP said its next option is a “lower marine riser package” that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward called the containment cap “the best way to minimize the flow of oil into the Gulf” and said it would take around four days to put it in place.
But even Obama sought to lower expectations for this option, which he said is difficult and “has never been attempted before at this depth.”
BP and Hayward’s credibility are at new lows, after the chief executive had given the top kill a 60 to 70 percent chance of success although it had never been done at the depth of the well, a mile (1.6 km) beneath the sea.
BP “top kill” fails
/HOUSTON (Reuters) – BP Plc said on Saturday the complex “top kill” maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.
The beleaguered London-based energy giant said its next option is a “lower marine riser package” that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward called the containment cap “the best way to minimize the flow of oil into the Gulf” and said it would take around four days to put it in place.
Hayward had given top kill a 60 to 70 percent chance of success, but the procedure was fraught with risk because it had never been attempted at the depth of the well, a mile beneath the sea.
“I am disappointed this operation did not work,” Hayward said in a statement. “The team executed the operation perfectly and the technology worked without a single hitch.”
The news was a blow to Gulf coast residents, whose communities are still on the mend from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and now have to contend with oil invading fragile marshlands and waters vital to wildlife and a lucrative commercial fishing industry.
Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser was about to address a crowd when he got news of the top kill failure.
BP ‘top kill’ fails, sets back hopes to end spill
/HOUSTON, May 29 (Reuters) – BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Saturday the complex “top kill” maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.
The beleaguered London-based energy giant said its next option is a “lower marine riser package” that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward called the containment cap “the best way to minimize the flow of oil into the Gulf” and said it would take around four days to put it in place.
Hayward had given top kill a 60 to 70 percent chance of success, but the procedure was fraught with risk because it had never been attempted at the depth of the well, a mile (1.6 km) beneath the sea.
“I am disappointed this operation did not work,” Hayward said in a statement. “The team executed the operation perfectly and the technology worked without a single hitch.”
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BP assessing whether to continue well ‘top kill’
, May 29 (Reuters) – BP Plc’s (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (BP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) “top kill” has not stopped a Gulf of Mexico oil leak and the company is assessing whether to continue or move on to something else, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on Saturday.
“I don’t think the amount of oil coming out has changed,” he said at a news conference at Fourchon Beach, Louisiana. “Just by watching it, we don’t believe it’s changed.”
The live feed of the leak, available on BP’s website, showed preparations on Saturday morning for BP’s next step. An underwater robot gripped a saw near the bent and leaking pipe atop a failed blowout preventer, where BP aims to slice off the pipe and place a cap and seal over the opening.
That operation is known as the lower marine riser package cap and Suttles confirmed that BP had been preparing for that step “all along.”
“If we have to go to it, we can do it as quickly as possible,” he said.
BP has said previously the company was “planning in parallel,” or getting ready for other options while working on the top kill – the injection of heavy fluid and materials to plug the well.
While Suttles acknowledged that the amount of oil spewing from the leak has not changed, he did not go so far as to say the top kill has failed.
Gulf oil spill hits Day 40 with no end in sight
By Tom Bergin and Ed Stoddard
NEW ORLEANS/VENICE, La. (Reuters) – The worst oil spill in U.S. history hits its 40th day on Saturday with Gulf residents clinging to one tenuous hope: that BP’s complicated “top kill” operation will plug the gushing well.
Beleaguered Louisiana residents heard from President Barack Obama and BP CEO Tony Hayward on separate visits to the Gulf coast on Friday as they tried to get a handle on a crisis damaging the credibility of both the government and BP.
Obama, facing criticism that he responded too slowly to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, assured Louisianians during his five-hour visit that they “will not be left behind” and that the “buck stops” with him.
Hayward, on a visit to the site of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the oil, said the energy giant needed up to two more days to determine if the top kill will stop the underwater gusher once and for all.
The top kill, however, is a tricky maneuver that involves injecting heavy fluids, material and cement into the well to stifle the flow. It has never been done at this depth, one mile (1.6 km) under below sea level.
Hayward dismissed concerns about delays, which made investors jittery and drove BP shares down 5 percent Friday.
Some fishing goes on despite the oil spill
Venice, Louisiana, proudly calls itself the world’s “Fishing Capital” but as the Memorial Day holiday weekend gets under way, there are times when it seems journalists outnumber anglers in this steamy bayou town. There are also lots of fishing and charter guides with no or few clients.
Venice caters to recreational anglers in pursuit of legendary game such as redfish and it is suffering as the spill spreads from the ruptured well out in the Gulf of Mexico.
I have spoken to several fishing guides over the past couple of days and they all complain about BP — held squarely responsible for the mess — the situation, and the numerous clients who keep canceling their trips.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Friday that it was extending the closed fishing area to about 25 percent of the Gulf from around 19 percent before, dealing a further blow to both commercial fishermen and sport angling guides.
But what surprises me as someone who just arrived here a couple of days ago is the trickle of boats still leaving the Venice Marina with angling clients. They seem to be going either close inshore or very far because of the closures.
Several of the guides I spoke to said there were still inshore areas open to fishing though one said, “We have to work harder for the fish because the good areas we normally go to are closed.” Some grumbled that the media coverage was obscuring this fact.
Obama heads to Gulf, BP advances in oil plug bid
By Ed Stoddard
VENICE, La. (Reuters) – BP reported some progress on Friday in its struggle to shut off its gushing deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil well, and President Barack Obama was set to assert control with a visit to coastal areas threatened by the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said a “top kill” attempt that started on Wednesday to plug the ruptured seabed well had had some success in keeping oil and gas down in the bore. But the final outcome was still uncertain and it could be another 48 hours before it would be known whether it was successful.
“We don’t know whether we will be able to overcome the well,” he told NBC’s “Today Show”. The British-based energy giant was maintaining its assessment that the “top kill” plugging operation had a 60-70 percent chance of success.
Rising public anger and frustration over the uncontrolled spill has made it a major challenge for Obama, who will visit the Louisiana coast where sticky oil has permeated wetlands, closed down a lucrative fishing trade and angered locals still on the mend from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Appearing on several U.S. TV morning news shows, Hayward said BP engineers had injected a “junk shot” of heavier blocking materials — such as pieces of rubber — into the failed blowout preventer of the ruptured wellhead.
Later on Friday, they would also pump in more heavy drilling “mud” — all part of the top kill procedure being attempted.
Obama visits Gulf disaster, largest U.S. spill ever
, May 28 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama heads to the Gulf coast on Friday to assert control over the largest oil spill in his country’s history as energy giant BP Plc <BP.L> battles deep on the sea floor to plug its gushing oil well.
For a few hours, Obama will visit the Louisiana coast where the gloppy oil has permeated precious wetlands, closed down a lucrative fishing trade and angered locals still on the mend from 2005′s Hurricane Katrina.
It will be Obama’s second visit to the Gulf in the more than five weeks since a rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed the oil from a well head one mile (1.6 km) down.
His tour comes just a day after he vowed to “get this fixed” as criticism swelled over what many Americans see as a slow government response to one of the country’s biggest environmental catastrophes. [nN27148649]
Even his 11-year-old daughter Malia is weighing in, asking “Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?,” Obama told reporters.
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BP toils on oil “top kill”, Obama fights criticism
WASHINGTON/VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – BP Plc said its high-stakes bid to plug a gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well was proceeding to plan on Thursday, while U.S. President Barack Obama fended off criticism he has been too slow to respond to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Nearly 40 days into the disaster, the BP oil leak has now eclipsed the worst previous spill, the Exxon Valdez wreck on the Alaska coast in 1989, according to new U.S. government estimates of the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf.
BP’s “top kill” procedure launched on Wednesday could choke off the well a mile down on the sea floor, but BP said it needs another 24 hours or longer to know the outcome.
A day before he visits the Gulf for the second time, Obama vowed to hold BP accountable, saying was “angry and frustrated” at the London-based company’s failure to plug the leak.
“In case you’re wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility,” he told a White House news conference. “It is my job to make sure everything is done to shut this down.”
He announced a six-month extension of a moratorium on permits for new deepwater oil drilling while a commission investigates the causes of the disaster, and ordered 33 deepwater exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico to suspend work while they meet new safety requirements.
The move is a setback to offshore exploration and a potential blow to Obama’s efforts to rejig U.S. energy policy.
BP toils on oil “top kill”
WASHINGTON/VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – BP Plc said its high-stakes bid to plug a gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well was proceeding to plan on Thursday, while U.S. President Barack Obama fended off criticism he has been too slow to respond to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Nearly 40 days into the disaster, the BP oil leak has now eclipsed the worst previous spill, the Exxon Valdez wreck on the Alaska coast in 1989, according to new U.S. government estimates of the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf.
BP’s “top kill” procedure launched on Wednesday could choke off the well a mile (1.6 km) down on the sea floor, but BP said it needs another 24 hours or longer to know the outcome.
A day before he visits the Gulf for the second time, Obama vowed to hold BP accountable, saying was “angry and frustrated” at the London-based company’s failure to plug the leak.
“In case you’re wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility,” he told a White House news conference. “It is my job to make sure everything is done to shut this down.”
He announced a six-month extension of a moratorium on permits for new deepwater oil drilling while a commission investigates the causes of the disaster, and ordered 33 deepwater exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico to suspend work while they meet new safety requirements.
The move is a setback to offshore exploration and a potential blow to Obama’s efforts to rejig U.S. energy policy.
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