BP Pressure Test for Oil Leak Delayed

New video illustrates devastation on Gulf, wildlife.

An important pressure test on the latest attempt by BP to cap its leaking oil well was originally scheduled for Monday, but has yet to get underway. The problem seems to be nervousness about how well the cap will hold, and the even longer delays stemming from a test failure. Thad Allen, Commander of the federal spill response and retired Coast Guard Admiral, made the choice yesterday to delay the test at least another 24 hours.

The test would shut off the flow of oil by sealing a stack of valves on a cap already installed at the wellhead nearly a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. If the well is able to hold pressure, then the cap could remain on, effectively closing off the leak that has been spewing anywhere from 2 to 4 million gallons of oil into the Gulf daily. Estimates on the exact amount of oil leaking daily vary widely, but are certainly more than the low-ball accounts given by BP when the spill began nearly 90 days ago (after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and setting off the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history).

Senior BP Vice President Kent Wells, who noted that the test was so important officials decided to give another day to study it, told the New York Times that his company was waiting for pressure to build up to ideal test conditions. “It’s very clear,” he said. “What we’re waiting for is pressure to build up. The higher, the better.”

However, a technician involved in the test, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Times that the real debate was whether the test was worth the risk, as a pressure buildup could damage the well bore and force the repair team several steps backward in eventually sealing it up. The technician added that the test is also designed to provide data in relation to drilling the relief well that will permanently stop the leak, but he asserts that many relief wells have been drilled in the past without such information and that to wait for it is unnecessary.

The test could take anywhere from 6 to 48 hours to complete, if and when it gets started.

On a different note, today I discovered a video compilation of photos taken of the BP oil disaster. The photos, from the Alexander Higgins Blog, illustrate the incredible devastation the oil spill has leaked on the Gulf of Mexico, its shores and the wild and marine life inhabiting the region. Higgins prefaces the compilation as “the photos BP does not want you to see,” which is obvious considering BP’s blatant culpability in the disaster and almost laughable (if not so disturbing) ineptitude at doing anything about it.

Say what you will about Higgins’ rather inflammatory blog or the soundtrack he provides to the aforementioned video; the photographs do not lie and really bring home for us who live on the other side of the country (or world) real pain and destruction caused by the BP oil spill for the residents of the Gulf region, both human and animal. It also goes to show the true necessity and urgency of weening ourselves off of fossil fuels and into renewable resources such as solar power (a good alternative for ailing southern U.S. states in the line of fire from the spill).

Photo Credit via screengrabs of a CBS Video

Posted on July 14th in Solar News by Dan.