There is Hope After the Oil Spill Disaster

At last, the oil spill on the Gulf Coast of Mexico has been temporarily put to a halt.  Through a snugly tightened cap that BP placed on the well last Thursday, they were able to stop crude from pouring into the sea.  It has been three months since the oil-rig explosion incident happened last April 20.  Does this mean good news for everybody?

Well according to Paul Zukunft, Coast Guard Rear Adm., this short time success is not a reason to be complacent.  Even President Barack Obama warned the public not too expect too much.  The cap is not a guaranteed solution to the problem.   There are still possible dangers that could even lead to catastrophe.

While doing some test on the newly capped well, engineers detected a leak but BP gave the Federal Government favorable answers.  That is why the testing was done continuously.

What is the testing for?  This is done to ensure that the temporary cap is tight enough to keep the oil from spilling.  They also want to find out if capping the well is the best remedy for this long time dilemma.  Should they reopen it?

However, there are some conditions that BP has to meet in order for this testing to continue.  According to Federal Government’s Oil Spill Response Director, Thad Allen, BP should make a commitment to strictly monitor any negative signs arising from this ‘well integrity test.’  If other leaks will be detected, they should immediately report it to the Federal Government within four hours.  BP Chief Managing Director, Bob Dudley agreed to these terms and conditions.

Another thing that baffles scientists is the pressure reading underneath the cap.  It has been slowly rising but not as fast or as high as scientists expected.  From 6745 psi last July 17, it rose to 6775 last July 19.  According to scientists, there are only two possible explanations for this reading.

One possibility is that the pressure from the reservoir where the oil is coming from already went down after three months of spilling into the sea.  Another possibility is that the pressure from the cap might be pushing the oil down to the sea floor and other parts of the well.  This could lead to undiscovered leaks that could even worsen the oil disaster in the gulf.  For this reason, engineers and scientists are closely monitoring through screens if there is any build up of pressure under the sea.

Despite this transient achievement, there are still other problems that need to be faced.  After 90 days of oil spill, where will the crude go?  The sea has been badly polluted so the next question is, how long will it take BP to clean up their mess?  How about the fishermen and those people who lost their jobs?  Are BP’s fines enough to cover all the damages it caused to the nation?  Good thing, there are still some surviving businesses along the Gulf Coast.

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   Anna says:

   August 5, 2010 at 7:52 pm

   I believe that oversights by BP caused this spill to occur, but they are doing all they can to fix it. There is no risk free way to drill in the Gulf.