![]() The first well is now only about 100 feet from the target.ģ34 in Louisiana Blame Illness on Oil Spill The company began drilling a primary relief well May 2, 12 days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and killed 11 workers, and a second backup well May 16. Under pressure from the White House, the company set up a $20 billion escrow fund to pay all claims, including environmental damages and state and local response costs. The high-end fine would drop to around $17.6 billion if the government credits BP for the oil it has recovered, while the low-end fine would be around $4.5 billion.īP Could Face up to $21B in Oil Spill FinesĪny fines would be on top of the compensation BP has agreed to pay to thousands of people harmed by the spill. Judging by the latest estimate, BP could be fined up to $5.4 billion under the Clean Water Act, or as much as $21 billion if it is found to have committed gross negligence or willful misconduct. The 172 million gallons is on the high end of recent estimates that anywhere from 92 million to 184 million gallons had gushed into the sea. ![]() The task force said about 206 million gallons actually gushed out of the well, but a fleet of boats and other efforts were able to contain more than 33 million. "The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can reduce the risk of some type of internal failure" of the massive cap, he said.Ī federal task force said Monday that about 172 million gallons of oil made it into the Gulf between April and July 15, when the temporary cap contained all the oil.īP Oil Well Gushed 12 Times Initial Estimates Tropical Storm Colin formed far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday, but early forecasts put it on a track off the East Coast rather than the Gulf.Īnd while diagnostic tests show that the 75-ton cap that has bottled up the oil since mid-July is sound, the static kill should give scientists more confidence the well won't leak again, he said. It's important to begin soon, he said, with the peak hurricane season just around the corner. The only thing that had been keeping the oil from blowing into the Gulf was an experimental cap that has held for more than two weeks but was never meant to be permanent.Īllen added earlier Tuesday that there "should be no ambiguity" that the primary relief well will be finished, regardless. The effort is meant as insurance for the crews that have spent months fighting the spill. ![]() The static kill could take days to complete, mostly because it involves slow pumping of mud, said Allen, the government's point man on the spill response. The relief well is set for completion as early as Aug. Thad Allen said earlier, calling it "good news in a time where that hasn't been very much good news, but it shouldn't be a cause for premature celebration."Ĭompany officials earlier said the static kill alone - which involves slowly pumping the mud down lines running from ships a mile above - might be enough to plug the oil leak.īut the only surefire way to make certain the well is permanently plugged is to fill it from below with mud and cement, via the relief well, in a so-called "bottom kill," Allen said. "This is a really positive step forward," retired Coast Guard Adm. But engineers still won't know for more than a week whether the attempt achieved its goal because they have to wait for completion of an 18,000-foot relief well to reach the reservoir from the bottom. As for the well, crews should know within hours whether the mud is pushing down the oil as envisioned.
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