BP gears up for two-phase effort to plug Gulf oil well

New Orleans, Louisiana (News Today) - One of two efforts to seal the ruptured oil well in the Gulf once and for all could begin as early as Monday night, officials said.

The "static kill" involves pouring mud and cement into the well from above -- a process that had been delayed while debris from a tropical storm was cleared out.

"I do have a lot of confidence we'll be successful," Doug Suttles, the oil giant's chief operating officer, said Sunday.

It will be followed by a final "bottom kill" after a relief well intercepts the crippled well -- a step estimated to start about five to seven days after the static kill is complete.

However, federal officials remain cautious.

The government point man on the Gulf oil spill last week warned against elevated optimism.

"We should not be writing any obituary for this event," said Thad Allen, a retired Coast Guard admiral.

As the oil giant prepares to launch the latest effort, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to travel to New Orleans on Monday. Napolitano will review the oil spill response with federal, state and local officials.

Napolitano's trip comes a day after Allen rejected accusations by a congressional subcommittee that federal officials allowed BP to use excessive amounts of chemical dispersants.

BP used the chemicals to break up oil after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion sent millions of gallons of crude gushing into the Gulf.

Despite a federal directive restricting their use, BP "carpet bombed the ocean with these chemicals, and the Coast Guard allowed them to do it," said Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee.

Markey said the Coast Guard ignored a directive to only allow dispersants on rare occasions.

It approved more than 74 exemptions in 48 days, Markey said. In one instance, Coast Guard officials allowed the oil giant to use a larger volume of dispersants than it had applied for, he said.

Dispersants are "a toxic stew of chemicals, oil and gas, with impacts that are not well understood," Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in a letter to Allen.

Allen on Sunday defended the use of dispersants as a "very disciplined" procedure. Field commanders used dispersants when oil was spotted by surveillance aircraft and no other method of cleaning it up was available in the area, he said.

BP also dismissed Markey's allegations and said it has worked closely with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard from the start.

The oil company is funding research into the long-term effects of the spill, including the use of dispersants, Suttles said.

Source : CNN

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