BP remains cautious on Macondo victory, eyes cementing decision
By Gary Taylor in Houston
August 5 - Despite success with its static kill operation, BP remained cautious August 4 about declaring victory in its 107-day battle with its runaway Macondo exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico.
"I'm looking forward to that day," said Kent Wells, BP senior vice president, when asked if he had finally reached a point where he could declare the "well is dead."
Although static kill has reduced the pressure from the well to a point where he said "there is none" at the vessel involved in the operation, Wells reminded reporters: "We do want to get it sealed with cement."
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He said: "That date is coming. But we are in a good place today."
BP engineers and a government science team continued to study results from the static kill operation to determine their best method for proceeding with cement.
Wells said they can choose to follow the static kill with cement from the top of the wellbore at the wellhead on the sea floor in 4,993 feet of water or wait for a relief well to administer cement as a bottom kill later this month at the reservoir 13,000 feet below the sea floor.
The engineering team was expected to make a decision on cementing later in the evening, Wells said.
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Regardless of that decision, Wells and US National Incident Commander Thad Allen have repeatedly said the relief well must be completed to assure that the well has been plugged.
And Wells said it again Wednesday, telling reporters during his briefing: "We always said we would move forward with the relief well as the ultimate solution."
The primary relief well remains on schedule for interception of the original Macondo wellbore by the middle of the month with the bottom kill expected to take anywhere from a several days to a few weeks.
Wells has warned BP might need the entire month to complete the bottom kill, depending on the conditions found in the wellbore after interception.
No oil has flowed from Macondo since July 15, when BP successfully installed a sealing cap above Macondo's malfunctioning blowout preventer.
With static kill, however, BP has pumped drilling mud into the well relieving the pressure against the cap and at the Helix Q4000 multipurpose vessel involved in the pumping on the surface.
Before July 15, the well had leaked an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil since the April 20 blowout that destroyed Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and killed 11 workers.
BP managed to collect 800,000 of those barrels at the Macondo site with a variety of containment devices deployed during the company's long-running battle to stem the flow.
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