A drilling moratorium seemed inevitable after the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010. Many in the oil industry are protesting loudly. But four oil companies have joined forces to convince the government to cancel the drilling moratorium. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell are committing $1 billion to set up a rapid oil spill response system in the Gulf of Mexico. Elsewhere within the gulf, BP could try to permanently seal the ruptured well this weekend with a tactic called a “static kill”. But approaching tropical storms are threatening to delay the procedure.
Deep water oil spill response system
The oil industry got a loud wakeup call from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 and also the drilling moratorium. While it has poured billions of dollars drilling for oil in ever-deeper waters, oil spill-response and cleanup technology has not advanced much in decades. The New York Times reports that the first $1 billion will be spent developing the equipment for underwater systems to contain deep water well accidents. The four oil companies putting up the money said the oil spill response system could be effective down to 10,000 feet and contain 100,000 barrels of oil daily.
Drilling moratorium’s end main objective of new system
The oil business consortium hopes the government will be persuaded to lift the six-month ban on deep water drilling soon following the oil spill response initiative. The Wall Street Journal reports the system BP developed over three months by trial and error is the model for the system . The Marine Well Containment Company is a non-profit venture set up to develop the system, which might be ready to deploy within 18 months.
Tropical storm adds urgency to latest containment attempt
This weekend, the ruptured well might be sealed for good using a technique called “static kill”. CNN reports the static kill involves pumping mud into the well to force oil back to the reservoir below. Because pressure within the well is lower than expected, BP officials say the static kill could work where similar approaches have failed. Even so, BP continues to drill the permanent relief well that might be ready at the end of the month. Because of a tropical storm heading for the gulf that could delay operations for upto two weeks, timing of the static kill is crucial.
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