Official tamps down fears about oil leak

July 21, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The federal government’s oil-spill chief said Tuesday that seepage two miles from BP’s oil cap is coming from another well, tamping down fears that leaks mean the ruptured well is unstable.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen also said five leaks in and around BP’s well are more like “drips” and aren’t yet reason to worry.

The leaks and seepage had raised concerns that the mechanical cap choking off the flow of oil was displacing pressure and forcing oil out deep underground. That could make the sea floor unstable and make the 3-month-old environmental disaster even worse and harder to fix.

Allen said the well appears stable, and he extended testing of the experimental cap by another day, which means the oil will remain shut in.

The cap is buying time until a permanent plug is in place. Crews are drilling into the side of the ruptured well from deep underground, and by next week, they could start blasting in mud and cement to block off the well for good. Killing the well deep underground works more reliably than bottling it up with a cap.

Allen also said he’s considering whether to pump mud and cement through the well cap, smashing the oil in from two directions. The idea is similar to the failed top-kill plan that couldn’t overcome the pressure of the geyser pushing up.

BP and Allen said it could work now because there’s less oil to fight against, and oil will also be coming in from the side.

The seepage was detected over the weekend and was the first sign of trouble after the cap was closed Thursday.

But Allen said Tuesday another well is to blame.

“In fact, it’s closer to that facility than” the one that blew out, Allen said. “The combination of those factors and the fact that it’s not unusual to have seepage around the old wells led us to believe that we could exclude that as a potential source of leakage from the particular wellbore.”