14 DAY TRIAL // A new cap, that can contain up to 80,000 barrels of oil a day will be installed by BP. The pressure comes from the American administration that estimated that the well is leaking around 60,000 barrels a day.
British Petroleum, whose Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded and sank nearly three months ago, has been long criticized for not stopping the oil leak. The oil spill has polluted the Gulf of Mexico coastlines and has killed thousands of birds, dolphins and sea turtles. It has also threatened multi-billion dollar fishing industry and tourism. It is considered to be the worst oil spill in the entire US history.
The person in charge of the response o the leak is retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. In a news conference he announced that the failing well could be contained by Sunday or Monday, as the new cap will be installed on top of it. He stressed that this action will not allow plugging the well. “When we have the cap on, and it's sealed and we know that we've got a seal, yes” (it will be contained), he added.
Until the end of the construction of the two relief well, there is no possibility of plugging the leaking well. He said that this is scheduled to happen in mid-August and than the government requested BP for a timeline for the installation of the new cap. “If there are no problems with it, we'll probably authorize them to move ahead later on this evening.” the Admiral stated for Reuters. “It looks like it's achievable at this point if we remain on schedule. If we approve the timeline, we would start tomorrow to remove the current cap and to start the sequence of events.”.
In response to the court's refusal of the six-moths ban on drilling below 500 feet, the US administration said on Friday that it will announce a new moratorium. The American government imposed this ban after the BP spill, but a federal judge ruled otherwise.
This oil spill has also complicated relations between Great Britain and the Obama administration, as the president's management of the disaster was criticized as being too slow.