BP begins permanent plug of Gulf oil well in coming days

BP will begin it’s latest operations to make a permanent plug on the Gulf oil well in the coming days and is now preparing to install a casing in the relief well.

The operation, called a static kill, will start tomorrow or on August 3rd, Kent Wells, BP senior vice president for exploration and oil production has reported.

“I give a reasonable chance of success to this operation. Nothing is 100 percent, but I think we’re all hoping that the relief well is the final solution.” said Arthur Berman, who owns Houston based Labyrinth Consulting Services, which specialises in subsurface petroleum geology.

In the static kill operation, BP will pump the mud, which is heavier than oil, into the damaged well, pushing the oil back into reservoir until the well pressure is zero. BP may also pump cement using the same route. BP will then complete drilling the relief well to pump mud and cement into Macondo to permanently plug the spill source.

For now, the well is capped and experts have concluded that the few seeps and leaks around the well are either irrelevant or come from another oil reservoir altogether. But that does not mean everything is secure as it is still possible for the well to leak before the relief well was completed.

For that reason, the static kill operation makes sense to potentially kill the well two weeks earlier than the relief well would.

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