Saturday, July 17, 2010

Capped Gulf of Mexico oil well 'withstands pressure'

Workers cleaning up the beach on Grand Isle, Louisiana, on 16 JulyTests on BP's newly capped Gulf of Mexico oil well show pressure has been building up slightly as hoped with no signs of leakage, BP says.

BP vice-president Kent Wells said rising pressure "is giving us more and more confidence". Tests, however, could be extended beyond Saturday.

The new cap has managed to stop the flow of oil for the first time since a 20 April explosion killed 11 people.

The spill has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the US.

It has affected hundreds of miles of Gulf coastline since April, with serious economic damage to the region as tourists have avoided Gulf Coast beaches and fishing grounds have remained closed.

BP has put the costs of dealing with the disaster at over $3.5bn.

via BBC News - Capped Gulf of Mexico oil well 'withstands pressure'.

1 comment:

Ann said...

Earlier there was news reports indicating the pressure wasn't building as high as it should, meaning there was other leaks. Or, as Mathew Simmons founder of Ocean Energy Institute and head of Simmons & Company International says there's another hole issuing enormous amount of oil. Although he says he gets his information from early studies after the initial explosion by scientists on the vessel, Thomas Jefferson, I wouldn't take him too seriously. He advocated using a nuclear weapon to plug the leak!