No more oil leaking in the Gulf of Mexico

Thursday began a test designed to measure the pressure within the BP’s well in Gulf of Mexico and for the first time in three months, no more oil was flowing into the Gulf. This test was appreciated by officials who considered that this was a positive step and requested caution because the experts are still trying to assess how the well is holding. The test finally started after two days of delay because the scientist of the government examined the testing procedure and the BP replaced a piece of equipment.

All the data is close examined at an interval of six hour. The high pressure means that there is no leak while lower pressure means the opposite.

The test could end after one of the interval of six hours if the result shows low pressure, if not the testing will keep on going for 48 hours. The longer the test goes, the better results are which means the well is holding with a new sealing cap.

The valves are going to open after the 48 hours test to permit the siphoning of the oil to two ships, the Helix Producer and the Q4000, meanwhile the BP officials and the government evaluates the data and decide what to do. Another two ships will come in the next weeks with a containment capacity of 80, 000 barrels of oil per day more that the estimation of how much oil is leaking.

“It felt very good to see no oil going into the Gulf of Mexico,” BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells declared in a briefing. He stated that the officials of the BP company are “obviously very encouraged” and that they are “trying to maintain a strict focus” so they can remember the purpose of the test, which is to gather information so they could decide how to take action and proceed.

“I don’t want to create a false sense of excitement,” he said. “We want to move forward and make the right decisions.”
Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles declare on a CNN’s “Situation Room” that there were no leaks but is not a moment for celebration because is too early to tell. Admiral Thad Allen who is retired is supervising the answer of the government about the spill and he said in a statement that the containment ships will be the solution that the officials will pursue after the finishing of the test until a conclusive and permanent solution will be ready like sealing the well by pumping cement and mud through one of the relief wells being drilled. The wells will be ready in August. There are two relief wells the second one being a backup for the first. Some of the earlier briefing of Thad Allen was mentioned that there is a possibility of leaving the cap after the test is finished. If there s a hurricane the experts are examining the option of shutting off the well temporarily. Officials of the states around the Gulf region are warning that the cleanup from the spill could possibly take many years.
“Hallelujah. It’s a step in the right direction,” declared Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who has been unreserved about speaking on the subject of oil in the Gulf.
“My goodness! This have taken us three months. We’ve been hurt, and hurt badly.” said the senator.

“Work to revitalize our coast won’t be done until our waters and our shores are completely clean and our wildlife, our communities and our coastal industries are 100 percent restored”, said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindall in a statement. Besides this he was optimistic about the proceeding of the test.

A similar note was stated by Florida Governor Charlie Crist. “While I am pleased that oil no longer is flowing freely into the Gulf of Mexico, there is more work to do to help families, businesses and communities on the Gulf Coast as they recover from this disaster.”

On the London stock market the idea that the oil flow had been stopped and that the test was successful, made the shares to jump more than 7 percent, close to 38.92 dollars. At the beginning of the month a share was below 30 dollars.

Kent Wells declared that shortly before 2.25 PM the oil flow was stopped. Cameras positioned at 5,000 feet below the surface were showing the stoppage, very different view from the last three months when we could see only a nonstop flow.

BP said that there was no insurance on how much will the cap contain the oil. It was without precedent, for the first time a stacking cap was lowered in place at that depth and in those conditions.

The valves on the cap system through where the oil could get out were closed sequentially. If the pressure was too low would mean that oil is getting out through another source and the testing would cease said Thad Allen.

All this began when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, triggering the nonstop spill and killing 11 workers.

The cap was not designed for permanent use but for a solution in case of a hurricane and to help to move to the four-vessel containment system solution.

Wednesday before the integrity test, BP stopped the oil recovery but was resumed when they were fixing the leaking choke line. When the test started it was halted again.