HOUSTON, (Reuters) – BP Plc said yesterday it had begun reinstalling a critical containment cap over the gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Operations have now begun to reinstall the cap,” the London-based energy company said in a statement.
A live video feed of the seabed procedure showed the containment cap lowered onto the geyser-like crude oil billowing from the top of failed blowout preventer equipment.
Positioning the cap “may take some time,” BP said, and the system should begin collecting oil again once it is in place. BP shut down the system yesterday morning when a remote controlled undersea robot apparently hit the top of the cap, closing one of three open vents through which oil and gas had continued to leak, said U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.
The cap system had channeled 16,600 barrels of oil to a drillship at the water’s surface on Tuesday, its highest capture rate since it was installed June 3.
Since the cap was removed for safety inspection, oil had spewed from the leaking well, Allen said. But a second oil-capture system was operating normally, pulling more than 10,000 barrels a day to the surface and burning it off.
A team of U.S. scientists estimates the leak is gushing up to 60,000 barrels a day.
Allen also reported the deaths of two workers helping with the oil spill response. The deaths did not appear work-related but were under investigation. BP shut down the system when workers thought “some kind of gas” rose through a line that channels warm water to the cap to maintain temperature control, Allen said.
BP said both its oil-capture systems had collected or burned off 27,100 barrels of oil on Tuesday, the highest capture rate yet.