Vendredi

Containment Dome, above water

BP thinks the latest Gulf oil is coming from a leaky dome. According to a statement released Thursday afternoon, the sheen discovered above the Deepwater Horizon on Sept. 16 is seeping small globules of oil out of a containment dome that was used in one of the company's many ineffective attempts to cap the Macondo well. The structure is not currently in use, BP said.

The new leak is many times smaller than the massive spill, but it apparently has the creative naming team from BP inspired all over again. This time, they've introduced the measure of globules per minute to illustrate the size of the drip. A statement released Thursday said the oil was moving out of the dome at approximately 15 globules per minute. For those who like their measurements in milk jugs, that amounts to approximately 100 gallons per day. 

Back in 2010, the Dome could've been our salvation. By now, the long and varied list of well plugging schemes are likely a blur of could-be porn references and would-be dance crazes. But allow us to bring things back into focus. This one had the potential for fart jokes, so don't worry, there won't be any sports analogies.

According to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon OIl Spill and Offshore Drilling, the 40-foot-tall containment dome was lowered into the Gulf on May 6, 2010. The large vessel was placed over the larger of the two Macondo gushers. Scientists hoped oil and gas would flow up a pipe in the top of the device. The pipe was connected to a large ship on the surface of the water, which would suck up the oil.

However, the Macondo had a lot of excess methane spewing from its innards, which prevented the pipe from collecting the oil. As the gas filled up the dome, it briefly began to float toward the surface, prompting a BP engineer to announce that they'd "lost control" of the cofferdam. But it was later guided back to the seafloor. The dome was then moved away from the well, and it was on to kills both Top and Static.

BP discovered the dome leak by sending undersea robots (ROVs) to the bottom of the Gulf to take video. Samples are being tested by the company and the Coast Guard to confirm that the leak is the source. The dome is about 500 meters away from the well and broken riser pipe that were gushing oil. The robots also inspected that area, but found no new oil.

There won't be a plan to stanch this flow until the samples are back from the lab.

“The Coast Guard is further evaluating what is believed to be seepage from the containment dome to determine how best to respond,” Capt. Duke Walker, Federal On?Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon response, said in the statement.

The Coast Guard and BP plan to release video of the robots' voyage, but it is not yet available as the sides work out custody issues.