Washington, Jul 9 (DPA): The White House Thursday gave BP Plc 24 hours to respond to questions on its plans to replace a containment cap with a tighter seal on the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a letter to BP, signed by Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration demanded that the oil company provide a detailed proposal outlining its efforts to skim and burn oil spewing from the well once the old cap is taken off.
It also wanted BP to explain the viability of simultaneously hooking up the Helix Producer, a third oil-recovery ship, over the next two or three days, that would increase the production rate to between 60,000-80,000 barrels.
"At the point, our production capacity will be beyond the current estimated flow rate, which is between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day," Allen said.
The cap on the wellhead needs to be swapped to make the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig more resilient in the event of a hurricane. The current cap on the well bore is loosely fitted and oil is being released around the rubber seal at the bottom, Allen told reporters.
During the cap switch period, oil will flow unchecked into the gulf. If the Helix Producer is not connected during the swap, then there will only be one containment vessel capturing oil at that time.
Plans for swapping the cap and attaching the Helix Producer have been delayed because of a tropical depression over the central Caribbean Sea, which was producing showers and thunderstorms. Allen said a "good weather window" in the next 7-10 days would enable BP to change out the containment cap.
BP is in the final stages of drilling one of two relief wells, which is now 17,780 feet deep, Allen said. The leaking well can only be permanently capped when the two relief wells are finished.
"Our target date remains the middle of August because there are a number of uncertainties related to what happens when we get down and penetrate the well bore," Allen said of the relief wells.
Oil has been gushing from the well since end-April, when the rig exploded and sank, causing the worst spill in US history that is leading to massive ecological degradation in the ocean and along the coastline of five Gulf states.