Some oil spill events from Monday, July 26, 2010

Some oil spill events from Monday, July 26, 2010

A summary of events Monday, July 26, Day 97 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 poured into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well until BP managed to stanch the leak Thursday — at least temporarily — with a massive, deep-sea cap.

BYE BYE, HAYWARD

BP is jettisoning CEO Tony Hayward, whose verbal blunders made the oil giant’s image even worse as it struggled to contain the Gulf oil spill, and will assign him to a key job in Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Hayward is set to step down in October and take a post at TNK-BP, the company’s joint venture in Russia, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made by the British company’s board.

CLOSING THE WELL

The move was being made more than three months after an oil rig explosion set off the spill and less than two weeks after a temporary cap finally stopped the oil from leaking. The government’s oil spill chief, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said in Washington on Monday that efforts to solidly seal BP’s busted deep-sea well are set to begin in a week. Allen said the so-called “static kill” — in which mud and cement are pumped into the top of the well — should start Aug. 2. Because the well is now capped, that effort will be more controlled than a previous failed effort, a “top kill” in which mud was shot into the still-spewing well. A relief well is nearly complete for the final stage, a “bottom kill” in which mud and cement are pumped in from deep underground. Allen said that work could begin Aug. 7 and could take days or weeks, depending on how well the static kill works. Delays are possible, though. Tropical storm forecasts last week forced crews to suspend their work about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast for several days. Allen says he’ll order an evacuation again if a similar storm forms.

BABY TURTLES

Hundreds of tiny baby turtles with their dime-sized, paddle-like feet dragged through the sand on Monday heading for a new home in the Gulf of Mexico despite the threat of oil some 400 miles away. Born just days ago, these endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were released off the Texas coast to a perilous life fleeing predators — and now also oil from the BP spill. Unlike a decision to move loggerhead turtles in Florida to safer waters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service decided in June to go ahead with the annual releases of thousands of Kemp’s ridley turtles off the coasts of Texas and Mexico. Loggerheads, which mostly nest and hatch in Florida, are being moved to that state’s eastern coast to get them out of the oil’s path. Federal biologists hope by the time the silver-dollar sized Kemps swim to the spill zone, BP will have cleaned up the toxic gook. They say keeping them in captivity would cause greater harm.

SUCCESSOR

BP executive Robert Dudley, an American who has been overseeing oil spill recovery efforts, is likely to be Hayward’s successor. The company’s board met Monday but it was unclear whether it had made the change official. A statement was expected early Tuesday, when the company files its second quarter results.

WHAT’S TNK-BP?

It’s not yet clear what Hayward’s role will be with TNK-BP, but the job suggests BP still holds more faith in Hayward than much of the U.S. public and political establishment do. Analysts consider the Russian venture one of BP’s crown jewels; it accounts for a quarter of the company’s production and is Russia’s third-largest oil firm. Repeated calls to TNK-BP’s offices in Moscow went unanswered Monday. BP owns half of the oil firm. Moving Hayward gives insiders who believed he was scapegoated for his off-the-cuff remarks — rather than his performance — a chance to keep a highly trained professional in the company.

BP

In New York, BP shares rose almost 5 percent Monday as the stock market anticipated a formal announcement about Hayward. Shares of BP PLC rose $1.79, or 4.9 percent, to close at $38.65 Monday in New York. BP shares closed up 4.6 percent at 416.95 pence ($6.45) in London. BP’s earnings report is expected to include preliminary provisions for the cost of the Gulf disaster, which analysts say could be as high as $30 billion.