THE KILL BP's top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak

Workers clean up oil residue along the beach in Port Fourchon, La., Saturday, May 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) AP – Workers clean up oil residue along the beach in Port Fourchon, La., Saturday, May 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae …

* Gulf Coast Oil Spill Slideshow:Gulf Coast Oil Spill
* Gulf tourism leaders try to get word out beaches are clean, open Play Video Energy & Oil Video:Gulf tourism leaders try to get word out beaches are clean, open WWL-TV, Channel 4 New Orleans

Related Quotes Symbol Price Change
BP 42.95 -2.43
XOM 60.46 -1.00
^GSPC 1,089.41 -13.65
By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 29, 7:43 pm ET

ROBERT, La. – BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but said it's readying yet another approach to fight the spill after a series of failures.

BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.

In the six weeks since the spill began, the company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher, as estimates of how much is leaking grow more dire. It's the worst spill in U.S. history — exceeding even the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 off the Alaska coast — dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet."

The company failed in the days after the spill to use robot submarines to close valves on the massive blowout preventer atop the damaged well, then two weeks later ice-like crystals clogged a 100-ton box the company tried placing over the leak. Earlier this week, engineers removed a mile-long siphon tube after it sucked up a disappointing 900,000 gallons of oil from the gusher.

Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next attempt to stop the leak that began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in April, killing 11 people.

The company plans to use robot submarines to cut off the damaged riser from which the oil is leaking, and then try to cap it with a containment valve. The effort is expected to take between four and seven days.

"We're confident the job will work but obviously we can't guarantee success," Suttles said of the new plan, declining to handicap the likelihood it will work.

He said that cutting off the damaged riser isn't expected to cause the flow rate of leaking oil to increase significantly.

The permanent solution to the leak, a relief well currently being drilled, won't be ready until August, BP says.

Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser likely was restricting the flow of oil somewhat, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve is risky.

"If they can't get that valve on, things will get much worse," said Philip W. Johnson, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama.

Johnson said he thinks BP can succeed with the valve, but added: "It's a scary proposition."

Word that the top-kill had failed hit hard in the fishing community of Venice, La., near where oil first made landfall in large quanities almost two weeks ago.

"Everybody's starting to realize this summer's lost. And our whole lifestyle might be lost," said Michael Ballay, the 59-year-old manager of the Cypress Cove Marina.

___

Online: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

___

AP Radio correspondent Shelly Adler and Associated Press Writer Matthew Brown contributed to htis report.
Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook
Related Searches:

* deepwater horizon
* exxon valdez disaster

*
Buzz up!
* Send
o Email
o IM
* Share
o Facebook
o Twitter
o Delicious
o Digg
o Fark
o Newsvine
o Reddit
o StumbleUpon
o Technorati
o Yahoo! Bookmarks
* Print

Related

* Twitter list: Gulf oil spill Yahoo! News
* How to help wildlife Network for Good
* In Pictures: The Gulf oil spill Yahoo! News

More...

* Video: BP's top kill effort fails to plug leak AP
* Video: 'Top Kill' Fails ABC News
* Video: BP: 'Top Kill' Operation Not Working CBS 3 Philadelphia

75,879 Comments
Show:
Post a Comment

* Comments 1 - 10 of 75879
* First
* Prev
* Next
* Last

*
Texbella13
8813 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 1909 users disliked this comment
Texbella13 Sat May 01, 2010 02:06 am PDT Report Abuse

BP. Bad track record for 12 or so years at least. Explosions in the Houston metropolitan area, leaks, now this. Can't keep up with damage control. Tragic.

*
Braveheart
6309 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 7821 users disliked this comment
Braveheart Sat May 01, 2010 02:08 am PDT Report Abuse

better now than later when they would have had 1000s of these dangerous wells going for their greedy gain.

*
helena handbasket
16089 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 5771 users disliked this comment
helena handbasket Sat May 01, 2010 02:18 am PDT Report Abuse

Reg wrote: "Where is the government oversight?"
Oh sure, now that there's been a disaster all the right-wingers run around saying the government should have more regulations so this wouldn't have happened. That would be the same government that the rest of the time you don't want to be able to regulate ANYTHING, because after all, corporations always have the public interest at heart -- right?

*
robert
6673 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 3149 users disliked this comment
robert Sat May 01, 2010 02:19 am PDT Report Abuse

Finally the world will understand there is no way to clean an oil spill....welcome to the myth...this is catastrophic...but now everyone will no there is no good way to do it at all .....when will we take our world back....

*
Thomas
5889 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 1067 users disliked this comment
Thomas Sat May 01, 2010 02:19 am PDT Report Abuse

why cant they make a huge clamp with a relief valve, drop it down, clamp around the leak, then seal the relief valve on the clamp? i know its deep but i cant beleive we cant make something and bring all resources in the world to bear on this problem. at least have some oil tankers out there as holding tanks for skimmers sucking up the oil right at tdc of where its coming out, that could cut oil down alot. just my 2 cents. If we can land a man on the moon in the 60's for sure we should be able to do something with this fast.

*
Andy
1965 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 5389 users disliked this comment
Andy Sat May 01, 2010 02:20 am PDT Report Abuse

Everyone wants us to drill off shore... well u got it. Better to let others drill.

*
amelie
1706 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 5459 users disliked this comment
amelie Sat May 01, 2010 02:20 am PDT Report Abuse

Depressurization could be responsible for current rash of earthquakes! ! !

*
Tiffany
6051 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 2863 users disliked this comment
Tiffany Sat May 01, 2010 02:22 am PDT Report Abuse

why has it taken so long for the government to help, kind of reminds people of another disaster that the government took to long to help. I can't stand the fact that it's takes another country less time to get help from our own government than we get. I feel that they need to take care of home first. thats like saying we are not important enough to come first.

*
Doug H
9385 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 3121 users disliked this comment
Doug H Sat May 01, 2010 02:25 am PDT Report Abuse

Wow!!! Alot of really big words and armchair quarter backs. whether anyone likes it or not, oil makes the world go around. Petroleum is used in virtually every aspect of our lives and day to day activities. I am always amazed when I see the "Ban offshore drilling" bumper sticker....on a car that runs on oil products......and is built using petroleum based products. Parked in the garage built with materials hauled by fuel burning vessels from tranes to planes. So before everyone jumps on the I hate big oil band wagon....try and visualize how difficult life would be without it...... Just my .02.
Diposkan oleh shio tahun china di 03:38