BP Top Kill Fails to Stop Oil Spill

Stock Market - BP Top Kill Fails to Stop Oil Spill

BP has stated that the "top kill" manoeuvre to try and stop the oil spill leaking into the ocean from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has failed. Oil expert T Boone Pickens actually said on Friday on CNBC that it would fail, unless BP got extraordinarily lucky. According to T Boone Pickens the only way to end this sorry saga is by drilling a second well, which BP is already doing it is believed, but that this will take until August to complete.

BP have said "We have not been able to stop the flow. We have made the decision to move on to the next option."

That next option is the so-called "lower marine riser package cap", that captures oil from the well rather than trying to seal it. This will take at least four days to show results.

U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry, who was with the BP representative Suttles, said the news that the top kill had failed was disappointing and that the best option was the relief well which BP says will take two months.

The top kill maneuver involved pumping heavy mud into the well shaft to stop the flow, then seal it with cement. But it had never been attempted at this depth before.

The failure is another blow to BP's reputation and profits. They have spent $940 million so far.

It is also of course a blow to everyone living around the Gulf of Mexico and the rest of the world, especially given that this looks set to continue for a while yet. The oil spill live video feed is not a pretty sight.

BP Stock Price Chart


BP is also being taken to court being accused of deliberate recklnessness by a pension fund in the UK they claim that "that BP knowingly, or with deliberate recklessness, failed to properly maintain, operate, inspect and monitor its pipelines at Prudhoe Bay (Alaska). ... BP had received repeated warnings from multiple sources and knew that its pipelines were severely corroded, repeatedly cut corrosion-inhibiting maintenance in order to reduce costs and improve profits, and failed for more than 14 years to inspect the inside of the pipelines with an in-line inspection tool that would have precisely identified the level and location of the corrosion."

So it looks like more trouble ahead for BP and more pollution for the rest of us.

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