Oil Gushing News

According to a June 25 report from the Houston Chronicle, a tropical weather system heading for the Gulf of Mexico threatened to halt operations at the BP well leak site and send oil gushing unabated into the ocean. If a storm reaches the Gulf, oil containment operations and the drilling of relief wells to plug the leaking Macondo well will have to be stopped and equipment redeployed to safe areas. The tropical system is forecast to reach the southwestern Gulf of Mexico by early Monday, June 28. (Source: Houston Chronicle)

According to a June 12 report from Nola.com, the Coast Guard has told BP that the system the company has developed for capturing oil gushing from a collapsed Gulf rig isn't big enough and won't be expanded fast enough. Responding to a plan BP submitted last week to improve and expand the performance of its containment cap system, Rear Adm. James Watson, the federal on-scene coordinator, said the giant company must do better. In light of the estimate released June 10 by a federal panel of scientists who said the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico could be 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day -- double the previous estimates - BP's plan is insufficient, Watson said in a letter dated June. (Source: Nola.com)