After 85 days, 184 million gallons, and a (benchmark) of one of the nation’s worst environmental disasters, oil stopped spilling into the Gulf Coast on Thursday.
At 3:25 p.m. ET on Thursday, a live video of the leak showed no oil at the site where the liquid had been flowing since the explosion of the drilling rig on April 20.
The oil was contained with a cap placed over the well, as well as devices siphoning up oil from the region.
However, federal officials are concerned that there may be cracks in the well's underground pipes -- and that a full seal might exacerbate the flow of oil out of those cracks, creating even more leaks on the ocean floor.
Though the test to measure the sturdiness of the cap was due to end Saturday, the government’s oil-spill response chief extended the test by 24 hours to determine whether it is safe to keep a tight seal on top of the well.
Company officials and the U.S. government had been on the alert for the potential dangers of high pressure causing a blowout somewhere else in the well’s damaged underground pipes or the “blowout preventer” on the sea floor.
If a new leak springs out of the sea floor instead of from a single pipe, it could be harder to control than the original one.
Officials are monitoring seismic readings from the under-sea rock, scanning the sea floor for bubbling gas or oil, and studying readings of the massive pressures inside the pipe itself.
The rise of pressure readings would indicate the reservoir has been successfully bottled up.
As of Sunday morning, no problems had been found, said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.
Though pressure inside the well was rising, it was still not as high as expected, which maybe be because the reservoir has been spilling into the gulf for so long.
While officials had expected 8 to 9,000 pounds per square inch, the pressure has risen to just 6,778 pounds.
Allen cited concerns about those pressure readings in his statement, saying the low levels may signal a problem in the well pipe.
"Work must continue to better understand the lower than expected pressure readings. This work centers on two plausible scenarios, depletion of oil from the reservoir and potential leakage caused by damage to the well bore or casing," his statement said.
In a news conference earlier in the day, BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said there was no evidence so far that the well was damaged or leaking.
Though initially the plan was to re-open the well and connect it to pipes that would suck up the oil towards ships on the surfaces, Wells said the cap would remain in place till a relief well completed in the next few weeks can kill it for good.
Re-opening the well would have allowed scientists to finally gauge a definite number for how much oil has been leaking – a key factor in how much BP will pay for damages – but would require allowing oil to leak for 3 more days.
"No one wants to see oil flowing back into the sea, and to initiate containment would require that to occur," Suttles said.
The Gulf of Mexico had been leaking up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day until the seal, according to government estimates.
However, a federal official familiar with the spill oversight told The Associated Press that “a seep and possible methane were found near the busted oil well.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet.
Despite a cleaner outlook on the Gulf Coast, BP may sell off its gas stations and cut back U.S. operations, according to the Sunday Times of London.
Directors of the oil giant had been discussing a dramatic restructuring of the company with major shareholders, including selling off its refineries and gas stations, and doing more engineering in-house instead of outsourcing.
The restructuring could lead to a significantly smaller firm focused primarily on exploration in emerging oil regions in Africa and Latin America.
BP also plans to sell about 10 percent of its assets to cover the cost of the oil spill, which up to now adds up to $3.5 billion, and many more costs to cover moving forward.
The oil giant employs about 51,600 people in its gas stations and refineries – more than half of the form’s workforce, though those (parts) make up just 3% of the company’s pre-tax profit.
The stoppage of the oil leak led to relief from those living on the coast.
"It is welcome news. It's the first piece that we've had in a long time," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told CNN. "But it's just a beginning. We have a very, very long way to go. We really have to aggressively capture the oil, clean the coast, make sure that all of the families are compensated, and then begin to restore the wetlands down here."
ff
ff
