Scientists to keep watch over Gulf oil well cap for another 24 hours to evaluate strength

Trial of Gulf oil well cap extended for 24 hours

NEW ORLEANS — BP’s trial run of a cap blocking oil from streaming into the Gulf of Mexico has been extended.

Thad Allen, the government’s point man on the cleanup, says BP will continue to monitor the cap for another 24 hours.

The oil giant was initially given 48 hours to see whether its latest effort to stop the leak was working. Allen made the call to extend the trial run less than two hours after the period ended.

The cap could be reopened if scientists decide it could create an underground breach. It also could be reopened if they need to do certain seafloor mapping, or if they want to contain the oil by instead drawing it up to vessels on the surface.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Gulf Coast found itself in an odd moment of limbo Saturday: The oil has been stopped, but no one knows if it’s corked for good.

The clock expired on BP’s critical 48-hour observation period, and it appeared scientists were still contemplating what to do next. Scientists and engineers were optimistic that the well showed no obvious signs of leaks, but were still struggling to understand puzzling data emerging from the bottom of the sea.

It’s possible the past three days will be only a brief reprieve from the flow of oil bleeding into the Gulf. BP and government scientists could decide at any time to reopen the well and bring in containment ships to suck up the oil. Or, if scientists are confident in what they see, the cap might stay closed.

That leaves three options: They can keep the well shut, they can open it temporarily or permanently, or they can do nothing and continue to keep vigil over the bandaged well for some new sign that convinces them it is stable enough to deem the cap a success.

BP began the day saying they were feeling “more comfortable,” though Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, cautioned the 48-hour test was not over. Then, as the deadline passed Saturday afternoon, the company made no further statement.

Even if the well stays plugged, it will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover. But if the coast was on edge about the impending decision, it wasn’t apparent.

In fact, there were signs that people were trying to get life — or at least a small part of it — back to normal.

In coastal Alabama, lounge chairs for rent outside of hotels were full and swimmers bobbed in emerald green water virtually oil-free, save for a few small tar balls.

Calls started flooding into the reservations switchboard at Kaiser Realty Inc. in Gulf Shores, Ala., almost as soon as BP confirmed Thursday that oil had stopped flowing into the Gulf, said marketing director Emily Gonzales.

“Are they what what we want them to be? No, but it is far better than it was,” she said.

People also were fishing again, off piers and in boats, after most of the recreational waters in Louisiana were reopened late this week. More than a third of federal waters are still closed and off-limits to commercial fishermen.

“I love to fish,” said Brittany Lawson, hanging her line off a pier beside the Grand Isle Bridge. “I love to come out here.”

Lawson and her boyfriend’s family were catching redfish, mullet and flounder, but mostly hard-head catfish, a throwback fish. They planned to keep the catches they could take home.

“It is encouraging. We’re getting bites. I mean, it’s catfish. But it’s bites. It’s something,” she said.

And even though it was only days since the oil was turned off, the naked eye could spot improvements on the water. The crude appeared to be dissipating quickly on the surface of the Gulf around the Deepwater Horizon site.

Members of a Coast Guard crew that flew over the wellhead Saturday said far less oil was visible than a day earlier. Only a colorful sheen and a few long streams of rust-colored, weathered oil were apparent in an area that was covered by huge patches of black crude weeks earlier. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

Kendra Sanders was buying Creole tomatoes at a produce stand in Jesuite Bend. “At least we still got these. Until a hurricane comes along and blows the oil in here. Then it’ll be no shrimp and no vegetables,” she said.

The one certainty is this: No new oil has been added to the mess for two days now since BP’s experimental cap was holding, at least for now.

Wells said engineers glued to an array of pressure, temperature, sonar and other sensors were seeing no evidence of oil escaping into the water or the sea floor. Undersea robots were also patrolling the well site for signs of trouble.

The cameras showed some activity midday Saturday. The robots passed a wand-like object back and forth, and appeared to be digging dirt-like debris out of a pipe. Meanwhile, a glowing globe appeared on the sea floor as bubbles swirled around. BP didn’t explain what they were doing, and to a viewer, it was like watching a foreign film without subtitles.

A new breach underground was a major concern going into the cap evaluation, because oil breaking out of pipes in the bedrock would be harder to control and could endanger plans for a permanent plug. That’s seeming less likely, BP said.

BP shut valves in the cap Thursday, stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf for the first time since the April 20 explosion on the leased oil rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet below the sea.

Pressure readings Saturday morning were 6,745 pounds per square inch and rising slowly, Wells said. The figure was on the lower range, below the 7,500 psi that would have meant the well was not leaking, but still high enough that it could be all right. He said pressure continued to rise by around 2 psi per hour. A low pressure reading, or a falling one, could mean the oil is escaping.

The most likely scenario is that more oil has been bled out than estimated, experts say. Last week, when an old cap was removed allowing oil to flow unimpeded into the water, the spew wasn’t as violent as it had been, which likely means it’s already drained partially out.

“Depletion is actually pretty normal,” said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, Director of Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston. “At first it flowed very powerfully, and when you’re producing too much too fast for too long, it takes longer to pull oil the oil.”

Either way, the cap is a temporary measure until a relief well can be completed and mud and cement can be pumped into the broken well deep underground to seal it more securely than the cap. That means the best fix still won’t be completed until later this summer.

BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. Wells said work on the first one was far enough along that they expect to reach the broken well’s casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. Then the job of jamming it with mud and cement could take “a number of days through a few weeks.”

Until then, the limbo may continue.

Weber reported from Houston. Associated Press Writers Allen Breed in Grand Isle, La. Mary Foster in Boothville, La., and Jay Reeves in Gulf Shores, Ala., contributed to this report.