Issues continue in Gulf
Posted Jul 19, 2010 06:21:25 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
B-P and Washington are offering significantly differing views on whether the capped Gulf of Mexico oil well will have to be re-opened.
A U-S federal official says there could possibly be a leak in the well, which has been successfully capped off for three days.
The official says scientists are concerned about a seep of something, and possible methane, which has been seen near B-P’s shattered oil well.
At the same time, the official says B-P is not complying with Washington’s demand for more monitoring.
B-P spokesman Mark Salt declined comment on the allegation, except to say the company is working “very closely” with government scientists on the problem.
Retired U-S Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen will make the final decisions on the next step.
The federal official says Allen will issue a letter to B-P shortly, allowing testing to proceed in 24-hour increments, but also requiring more analysis of the seep and the possible observation of methane over the well.
In a related story, B-P announced this morning the cost of dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reached almost $4 billion U-S.
Recently, the sum has been rising at the rate of about $500 million per week.
B-P says it has so far made more than 67,000 compensation payments, with the average payment being a little over $3,000.
