BP fails to contain oil spill as latest effort gets stuck

3 June 2010 3 June 2010

BonTrade

BP’s repeated failures to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill hit a snag on Wednesday as BP’s plan to cut a pipe before lowering a cap over the leak was halted when a diamond edged saw got stuck.

Efforts to sever the pipe were set to resume, but it looks like the cap may not fit as tightly, meaning more oil could escape into the ocean.

oil spill experts have suggested that a nuclear explosion – used successfully to contain leaks in Russia – could be the most effective and least environmentally damaging way of containing the spill.

However, a BP spokesman confirmed that the controversial nuclear method was not under consideration for the Gulf of Mexico.

Only four new ideas have progressed to testing phases suggested since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 men on April 20.

Kevin Costner, the US actor, has offered to supply a centrifuge technology that uses turbines to spin water and separate out oil at 200 gallons a minute. It is one of the four technologies under testing, but Mr Costner’s company is no longer involved.

A number of methods to stop the leak have already failed. BP first tried to place a dome over the leak, and then, siphon oil on to a barge, with limited success. Its “top kill” and “junk shot” methods, which involved pumping heavy fluids and debris into the well were abandoned over the weekend. BP subsequently warned that it could now take until August, when two relief wells are drilled, for the flow to stop.