Pipe collecting one fifth of BP oil leak
Around one fifth of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the rig disaster is now being collected by a bypass pipe, BP said tonight.
Worries are now growing about the leak reaching a major ocean current that could carry it through the Florida Keys and up the East Coast of the US
BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said that a mile-long tube was funnelling around 42,000 gallons of crude a day from the blown-out well into a tanker ship.
The company and the US Coast Guard have estimated about 210,000 gallons are gushing out each day, although scientists who have studied video of the leak say it could be much bigger.
In the nearly a month since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers, BP has made several failed attempts to stop the leak, trying in vain to activate emergency valves and lowering a 100-ton container that got clogged with ice.
Chemicals being sprayed underwater are helping to disperse the oil and keep it from washing ashore in great quantities. But millions of gallons are already in the Gulf, and researchers said that in recent days they have discovered miles-long underwater plumes of oil that could poison and suffocate sea life across the food chain, with damage that could last for a decade or more.
Tar balls have been sporadically washing up on beaches in several states, including Mississippi, where at least 60 have been found.
Engineers finally got the contraption to siphon the oil working yesterday after several setbacks. BP engineers remotely guiding robot submersibles had worked since Friday to place the tube into a 21-inch pipe nearly a mile below the sea.
They will slowly increase how much the tube is collecting over the next few days. They need to move slowly because they do not want too much frigid seawater entering the pipe, which could combine with gases to form the same ice-like crystals that doomed the previous containment effort.
As engineers worked to get a better handle on the spill, a researcher said that computer models show the oil may have already seeped into a powerful water stream known as the loop current, which could propel it into the Atlantic Ocean. A boat is being sent later this week to collect samples and learn more.
"This can't be passed off as 'it's not going to be a problem'," said William Hogarth, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. "This is a very sensitive area. We are concerned with what happens in the Florida Keys."
BP had previously said the tube was expected to collect most of the oil gushing from the well. Officials still hope it will when working at full capacity.
Once it reaches the tanker the oil is being separated from the natural gas and seawater. The natural gas is being burned off, while the crude is being sent to oil terminals.
The first chance to choke off the flow for good should come in about a week.
Engineers plan to shoot heavy mud into the crippled blow-out preventer on top of the well, then permanently entomb the leak in concrete. If that fails, crews also can shoot golf balls and knotted rope into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it.
The final choice to end the leak is a relief well, but it is more than two months from completion.
Meanwhile, scientists warned of the effects of the oil that has already leaked into the Gulf.
Researchers have found more underwater plumes of oil than they can count from the well, said Samantha Joye, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia.
The hazards of the plume are twofold. Professor Joye said the oil itself can prove toxic to fish, while vast amounts of oxygen are also being sucked from the water by microbes that eat oil.
Dispersants used to fight the oil are also food for the microbes, speeding up the oxygen depletion.
