US to BP – You have 24 hrs to share oil relief well plans

8 July 2010 8 July 2010

BonTrade

The US government today gave BP just 24 hours to outline its next plans to contain the Gulf oil spill, saying efforts to cap the spill with an oil relief well were entering a critical stage.

The US pointman in the crisis, Thad Allen, wrote to BP managing director Bob Dudley saying that after talks planned for Friday BP must hand over “detailed plans and timelines.”

“To approve these potential actions, I must have knowledge of the steps and decision points involved,” Allen wrote, highlighting that while the measures were being carried out the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf could increase.

Allen said he wanted to know the mitigation efforts to be implemented and contingency plans if these efforts are not successful.

There are 5 key points that BP must now provide

1: An updated timeline to hook up the Helix Producer containment ship to the system to start collecting oil

2: A contingency plan if BP’s move to fit a new containment cap fails

3: A plan for pressure testing the ruptured well and moving towards shutting it down completely

4: A detailed timeline for completing two relief wells aimed at capping the leak permanently

5: A plan on how to manage any oil reaching the surface, including the use of dispersants, skimming and burning operations

This comes on the same day that the top federal official overseeing the government’s response to the Gulf oil spill said today that he’s unwilling to assume BP will be able to meet a more optimistic timetable for capping the oil well that has poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.