Some oil spill events from Tuesday, June 1, 2010

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Some oil spill events from Tuesday, June 1, 2010

A summary of events on Tuesday, June 1, Day 42 of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well at a rate of at least 210,000 gallons per day.

OVERVIEW

BP’s stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it as federal prosecutors announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. With the ambitious “top kill” having failed over the weekend and a relief well at least two months away, BP engineers began an effort to saw through the pipe leaking the oil and cap it.

FLOTELS

The 40-foot-long corrugated steel boxes, resembling oversized white shipping containers, are stacked two high and three wide atop a barge at Port Fourchon, the oil industry’s hub on the Gulf of Mexico. They’re furnished with bunk beds, not stuffed with cargo. The floating hotel, or “flotel” was set up by BP and several subcontractors to accommodate more than 500 workers hired to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Temporary housing is the only way to station workers at Port Fourchon, a massive shipyard that serves offshore oil rigs and is surrounded by ecologically sensitive marshes and beaches.

BP STOCK

On Tuesday, the first trading day since BP PLC’s latest attempt at a fix failed, and the day the government announced it had opened a criminal probe into the disaster, its stock took a hit of 15 percent. The British oil giant is worth $75 billion less on the open market than it was when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded six weeks ago. Other companies involved in the spill — Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron — have all lost at least 30 percent in value.

ADMINISTRATION

President Barack Obama met for the first time Tuesday with the co-chairmen of an independent commission investigating the spill, while Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to the Gulf to meet with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors. “We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response,” Holder said.

PATCHWORK FIXES

The latest in a series of patchwork fixes is a cut-and-cap process to put a lid on the leaking wellhead so oil can be siphoned to the surface. The risky procedure could, at least temporarily, increase the oil flowing from the busted well. Using robot submarines, BP plans to cut away the riser pipe this week and place a cap-like containment valve over the blowout preventer.

THE OIL’S SPREAD

Thick, brown oil is starting to spread along the coast and now appears to be a day away from hitting Florida. Red-brown oil made its first appearance on Dauphin Island near the mouth of Alabama’s Mobile Bay, three weeks after tar balls were found there. A two-mile long, three-feet wide strand of caramel-colored oil was found on Petit Bois Island, a barrier island near the Mississippi-Alabama border. And an oil sheen was seen about nine miles off the Florida coast and is expected to hit the white sands of Pensacola Beach as soon as Wednesday.