New Orleans, July 16: BP said on Friday that the early test results were heartening and there were no signs of fresh oil leaks, as the cap sealing its stricken undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico held tight overnight and into the morning.
Mr Kent Wells, a senior vice president at BP, told reporters on a conference call that the pressure inside the well had built up steadily, as engineers had hoped it would, and that engineers would continue to perform different analyses and scour video feeds from cameras to look for any underground leaks.
He said that BP would take steps to resume the drilling of a relief well, which officials hope will provide a permanent solution to plugging the runaway well, which has belched millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico since a fatal explosion and fire sank a drilling rig in April.
Mr Wells said that the longer the test continued, the better, because it would indicate that the pressure inside the well was holding and that the well bore was intact. The announcement that the geyser of oil streaming from the well had been stopped came after a series of failed attempts to cap or contain the runaway well that had tested the nation’s patience.
Mr Wells emphasised that pressure tests were being conducted to determine the status of the well, which is now sealed like a soda bottle. BP and the government could decide to allow the oil to flow again and try to collect all of it; they could allow the oil to flow and, if tests show the well can withstand the pressure from the cap, close the well during hurricanes; or they could leave the well closed permanently. The last option seems unlikely, but whatever the decision, the cap is an interim measure until a relief well can plug the leak for good.