BP Says Macondo Oil Well to Be Permanently Sealed This Month

By Katarzyna Klimasinska - Aug 9, 2010

BP Plc plans to finish drilling into the base of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico this week to pump in mud and cement and permanently plug the source of the world’s biggest offshore accidental oil spill.

The company has drilled more than 12,000 feet below the seabed to intercept Macondo at its base and is about 85 feet (26 meters) from its target. The drillers should reach Macondo between Aug. 13 and Aug. 15 as they run ranging tests to ensure the bore is on course, BP spokesman John Curry said yesterday.

“We’ll drill a little bit, then we’ll do a ranging run, and then we’ll be drilling again,” Curry said by phone.

The company said today that the cost of the spill rose to $6.1 billion. The well spewed an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig until BP capped the top with a stack of valves on July 15.

Cement poured in last week sealed the top of the well on the ocean floor about a mile below the surface. “The pressure testing following the cementing operations indicates we have an effective cement plug,” the company said yesterday.

BP has stopped skimming for oil in the ocean because it’s having trouble finding crude on the surface, said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for exploration and production. About 74 percent of the oil that flowed from Macondo evaporated, dissolved or biodegraded, or was burned, skimmed or captured, the government said in a report on Aug. 4.

BP’s ‘Struggle’

BP rose 2.3 percent today to 435 pence as of 9:41 a.m. in London. The shares are down 34 percent since the April explosion, which killed 11 workers.

BP did a “fairly good” job dealing with plugging the well, while not adequately addressing the needs of people involved, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said yesterday.

Dealing with individuals was “a real struggle” for BP, Allen said yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” That’s “where they need to improve.”

Oil companies producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico should change technologies used, adding floating production platforms, shuttle tankers and vertical risers used in the North Sea and offshore Angola, Allen said, when asked about lessons learned from the spill.

President Barack Obama supports a proposal that a large portion of any federal penalties paid by BP over the spill be returned to the states affected by the spill, White House energy adviser Carol Browner said yesterday.

Under current law, any penalties paid by the company would go to the general treasury, Browner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Some Gulf-area politicians have suggested that 80 percent of the money be returned to the affected states.

To contact the reporters on this story: Katarzyna Klimasinska in Houston at kklimasinska@bloomberg.net;