By Brett Clanton, Houston Chronicle
Two weeks after halting the flow of oil from its runaway Macondo well, BP could begin a procedure to plug the well for good slightly ahead of schedule this weekend.
The effort, originally scheduled for Sunday or Monday, could be accelerated if crews complete preparations sooner, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said in a briefing Thursday.
Called a "static kill," the procedure involves pumping heavy drilling mud and then cement into the top of the well, with the goal of pushing a column of oil back down into the reservoir nearly three miles below the seafloor.
It could be enough to seal the well permanently.
But BP still plans to follow up with a second kill attempt, at the bottom of the well, by drilling a relief well into the damaged Macondo well and injecting more mud and cement.
Crews planned to install a final section of pipe-like casing into the relief well Thursday evening.
If that goes smoothly and workers are able to ready mud-pumping vessels on the water's surface, the static kill could start early, Allen said.
BP has not changed its projection that the static kill will begin Sunday or Monday, company spokesman Daren Beaudo said Thursday.
Either way, it is clear the company is closing in on ending a national nightmare that began with an April 20 well blowout that took the lives of 11 workers and launched the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The Macondo well effectively has been sealed since July 15 when BP installed a giant capping stack on the well as part of a test of the well's integrity.
With pressure inside the well continuing to rise slowly -- BP on Thursday said it was at 6,951 pounds per square inch -- scientists have concluded it is structurally sound and it's safe to proceed with the static kill.
Interior option
If successful, BP might have the option of leaving the interior part of the well sealed and using the relief well only to inject mud into the annulus -- the outer area between the well bore and the steel casing running through the center of the well, Allen said.
Darryl Bourgoyne, director of Louisiana State University's petroleum engineering research lab, said the primary goal of the static kill is to relieve pressure on the capping stack now holding the column of oil in place inside the well.
"Secondarily, it may wind up totally killing the well, which means they might be able to get some cement up towards the top of the well and plug it off at the top," he said.
'Good hedge'
But while the static kill is a "good hedge," the relief well is still necessary to ensure that the flow stops, he said.
In June, BP tried to plug Macondo with a top kill, which also involved pumping heavy mud into the top of the well, but it failed to overcome the force of oil and gas gushing from the well at the time.
Now with the oil under control -- or static -- a kill has better odds, he said.
BP has said the static kill could take two days and estimates the relief well will be complete by mid-August.
Candid meeting
Separately Thursday, Allen said he had what he described as a frank meeting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and parish presidents about winding down the Coast Guard's massive spill-response apparatus and how to handle cleanup issues long-term.
He said they didn't discuss a precise timeline for the scale-back, but that with the well nearly plugged, the effort is entering a different phase.
brett.clanton@chron.com
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