Well, seepage found.
Quote:
The U.S. official in charge of the oil spill response said late Sunday that a seep has been detected near the recently capped Gulf well. He ordered BP to do more tests.
"Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount importance," retired U.S. Coast Admiral Thad Allen said in a letter to Bob Dudley, BP chief managing director.
The letter stopped just short of demanding BP open the valves that have sealed off the well since Thursday, the first time since the well's April 20 explosion that oil has not spewed into the Gulf of Mexcio.
"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," Allen wrote in the letter.
A BP spokesman said the company is reviewing the letter and "continuing to work very closely with the government," reports the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier Sunday, BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles told reporters that the new capping stack could remain shut until a relief well permanently plugs the well with mud and cement in August.
"The results continue to look encouraging," Suttles said." We just need to be careful about predicting how long it will go. If we did see a problem we may have to initiate flow."
BP has been testing the well's pressure to see if it remains physically intact. Before it started, it said pressure above 8,000 psi (pounds per square inch) would indicate integrity but below 6,000 would suggest leakage from the casing onto the seafloor.
The well's pressure level was up to 6,778 psi (pounds per square inch) inside the well's new cap and is building at about 2 psi an hour, Suttles said. He attributed the pressure level to a depleting reservoir and said no problems had been found.
"No one wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf. We are hopeful that we will be able to continue the integrity test until we get to kill" or plug the well, Suttles said. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."
Allen said Saturday in a statement that BP and government officials decided to extend the integrity testing on the Macondo Well, initially slated to end after 48 hours, for another 24 hours
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http://"http://content.usatoday.com/...eping-crude/1"
patience is a virtue, one this disastrous incident/accident is truly testing, but faith insists (for me) that we must recover for not only ourselves but our children and our childrens', children, the environment alone deserves our best efforts. The world is still watching, at the very least I am watching and waiting until I can go home and pick up tar balls again from my beaches.... the panhandle is my home, the marsh is my home, the Gulf is my home. I live in hope... and the future, because that is the way I grew up and what I was taught, hope and substance and action. I hope the substance in the actions of those who can do something to fix, repair, clean, reduce, the oils damage to the environment and the people of the Gulf are doing the best they can. I thank all those who are working for this singular purpose in the restoration of the gulf and its shorelines and the end of this disaster. I send my prayers to those along the Gulf, may they find some sort of, I don't know, but something which will bond them together and help them to survive this and grow not only stronger but more resolved in the protection of their cultures and lives.
Jimmy Buffett Concert Draws Crowd on Oil Coast - CBS News
^^was a nice moment of what was and what will be again... wish I had been there. It takes a lot to down the southern fisherman mentality, et al the "beachers", we are used to setbacks, but we still keep fishing and singing and enjoying to the best we can. I miss my home.