When was the well capped

Now he had to cope with a wild, seemingly unstoppable gusher in conditions that had no precedent. The pressure readings the technician was calling out stopped dropping at roughly 6, psi, meaning that the flowing oil was successfully pushing back against the pump engine's 30, horsepower.

The pressure readings just wouldn't drop—even when BP tried again with denser mud. By May 27, it had become clear to even its main supporters like Tony Hayward that the top-kill attempt had failed. And by the end of the weekend, BP had new overseers. Chu killed top kill on May 28, worried that BP's efforts would cause a subsurface blowout and make the gusher impossible to control. By mid-June, Chu wrote an e-mail to his team, including physicist Richard Garwin , who had helped invent the hydrogen bomb as well as cap burning oil wells after the Persian Gulf War, and Tom Hunter, former director of Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

You're in it now, up to your neck! They told me that you're a genius with explosives. Start proving it! Navy to bomb the well shut, with nukes if necessary—were not likely to be useful "on this mission…the rest rings true. What finally worked Despite Chu's oversight, BP remained in charge of critical information flowing from the deep-sea blowout. Chu's team had to know what to ask for and request it specifically in order to get their hands on data. The government scientists got enough information to give their blessing to BP's "top hat" approach , which—taking a lesson from the failed cofferdam—boasted circulating methanol to prevent methane-filled ice from forming.

By June 3, the top hat was capturing roughly 15, barrels a day—or three times early estimates, and the upper threshold after which BP's Tooms had calculated "top kill" would fail—with no discernible impact on the flow of oil into the ocean. Even when BP began pumping oil and gas through a line from the blowout preventer to the Q well-servicing ship —at Garwin's suggestion—the flow of oil into the sea remained undiminished.

The Q, which had pumped the mud for top kill, had specially designed flares for oil and gas that enabled BP to burn off as much as 10, barrels a day—bringing the total amount of oil prevented from flowing into the sea to as much as 25, barrels a day at times. Because this containment still failed to show any visible improvement in the amount of oil flowing from the wellhead, Secretary Chu's back-of-the-e-mail math suggested that at least 40, barrels a day must be gushing from the well.

What finally worked on July 12 was a smaller blowout preventer installed atop the failed blowout preventer at the well's head on the seafloor, replacing the top hat.

This "capping stack" had risks, however, such as creating the kind of subsurface blowout that would end up draining all the estimated million barrels of oil in the entire formation. But government scientists calculated the flow would have to be , barrels per day—or nearly twice as much as it actually was roughly 50, barrels per day —for that risk to be realized. Once the cap was in place, BP prepared to conduct a "well integrity test" —essentially, shutting off the flow of oil and checking pressure readings to see if a subsurface blowout would develop.

In the worst case a burst of methane could liquefy and collapse the seafloor surrounding the wellhead, thereby swallowing the blow-out preventer, capping stack and all. In a frantic, overnight session the government scientists assessed that risk and, by morning, they had decided such a worst-case blowout could be prevented with early detection of a leak. Here are some good steps to take. Some areas of Texas have programs to help landowners take care of wells.

The effort was partially funded by the U. Environmental Protection Agency. Contact Your County Office. Our work makes a difference, in the lives of Texans and on the economy. View Economic Impacts ». Can my well be capped? There are three criteria for capping a well: A cap must fit tightly and be properly sealed to prevent surface pollutants from entering the well.

The well cap should support pounds to minimize the risk of a person falling into the well. To protect children and animals, the cap should not be easily removed by hand and it should be heavy enough that it is not easy to lift. If the cap is properly glued or welded there should be no danger of its accidentally being removed. Investors believe BP will still pay a dividend this year , despite opposition from US politicians.

Two ratings agencies downgraded BP yesterday, though, warning that the cost of the catastrophe will hurt the company for a long time. BP has succeeded in attaching a cap to the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico but concedes that the Top Hat will only be a partial success at best.

A video shows BP's underwater robots shearing off a gushing oil pipe deep under the Gulf of Mexico, and lowering a cap as oil gushes out from the sides. Photograph: guardian. What has BP managed to do? How much oil might it catch? Why try something that has no chance of working permanently?

When will we learn how successful LMRP has been? Then, in September , BP sealed the well permanently from the bottom using cement. Adams' suit is filed in U. District Court in Roanoke, Virginia. Explore further. Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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