The weekend’s euphoria that BP may have stopped the oil leaking into the Gulf has been replaced by the cold reality that the well head may still be leaking.
The US government has now ordered the beleaguered oil company to produce a report on a “detected seep” near the well-head, that could include leaking methane gas.
“Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount importance during the test period,” Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a letter to BP.
If seeping is confirmed then BP will have to reopen the shut off valve and resume siphoning off oil to the surface, but during the time to set the operation going again – possibly 3 days – oil would be released into the sea.
But it would also be bad news for the company, as it could suggest further damage to the well-head, and signal that the leaking will only be stopped once a relief well is successfully drilled.
But BP continues to say everything was fine. Yesterday evening, a spokesman for BP, John Curry, said: “We’re not seeing any problems at this point, any issues with the shut-in”.
Another sticking point is that if the well is never reopened and connected to ships on the surface, we may never know the true amount of oil that has leaked, something in BP’s interest to keep secret so it reduces its liability.
The new potential blow comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron travels to Washington later today for his first full length bilateral meeting with Barack Obama.
BP will certainly be on the agenda.
Probably top of the list…
I think it is obvious that just as in many other countries, the USA is in fact in collusion with the oil industry. I believe this goes beyond BP; a direct attack on BP is an attack on the entire oil industry. There is far too much money flowing from the oil industry to the government, congress, the senate, and back again. The only way to stop the oil companies from having so much control over the laws and regulations that govern them is to stop the flow of the money from oil to government and the representatives.
This is not just the USA’s problem, Canada (oil sands), and many other wealthier nations, as well as poor nations are being controlled by oil companies. Even in countries that do not allow direct money to flow from corporations government representatives, the price of oil products, and the taxes paid on gasoline, etc. has a direct effect on how the governments impose regulations on those corporations.
I believe one thing that would help all people in all countries that depend so much on oil would be to learn about oil. Most people actually believe that gasoline is the main product and earnings from oil. This idea is in fact completely false, gasoline is a very small portion of a barrel of oil, and an even smaller amount of the value of a barrel of oil. In the present system in which when the price of a barrel of oil goes up, the price of gas must go up as well is preposterous, industry bull $$ at its best.
It is difficult to get into the actual value of oil in a simple reply. Although, some investigation and articles by this sites writers would be quite informative, and allow consumers to learn the real value of oil when compared to the gasoline most think is the main reason for our dependence on oil.
Just as a hint, when the USA started prohibition, making the use and production of alcohol in the USA illegal, it had nothing what so ever to do with the evils of alcohol. Prohibition did have everything to do with the oil companies need to find a way to get rid of the garbage left over after refining oil. That was to stop the use of alcohol as a fuel for the internal combustion engine and replace it with the waste left over after the refining of oil; gasoline.
The idea that alcohol cannot be made in sufficient quantities to run our much love internal combustion engines is most likely lies, propaganda put out by the oil companies to keep most people and countries believing they need the oil companies’ gasoline. Here is a link for anyone wanting to check out the possibility of switching from a transportation by gasoline based society to a society based on less expensive, and much less pollution based on alcohol society. http://www.permaculture.com/