Officials encouraged by oil-cap tests

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The flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico might be permanently halted with the installation of a 75-tonne cap on BP's busted well, senior officials say.

"Is it a possibility? Yes, it's a possibility," said Kent Wells, a BP senior vice-president, in a conference call with reporters early Friday evening.

The cap was fully closed on Thursday afternoon, the first time in almost 86 days since the April 20 explosion unleashed the environmental disaster. The current work is being done ahead of a relief well permanently halting the oil flow by mid-August.

BP and U.S. government officials are overseeing a two-day test on the cap, set to end Saturday, to monitor subsurface pressure in the well to determine whether there are any undetected leaks.

As of Friday afternoon, the test was considered a success by the government and BP. The plan had been to reopen the cap and connect it to four surface vessels, which would be able to collect all of the estimated maximum flow of 60,000 barrels a day.

Admiral Thad Allen, the U.S. national incident commander, on Thursday had insisted the surface vessel approach would likely be used. On his conference call Friday afternoon, he was less insistent. He was still somewhat worried about slightly lower-than-expected pressure readings, which appear attributed to the somewhat depleted oil reservoir.

"We need to be careful not to do any harm or create a situation that cannot be reversed," Adm. Allen told reporters. "We've been in intense conversations with BP."

President Barack Obama at the White House again counselled against thinking the dark episode has ended.

"It's important that we don't get ahead of ourselves here," Mr. Obama told reporters. "One of the problems with having the camera down there is that when the oil stops gushing, everybody feels like we're done, and we're not."

The first of two relief wells will soon start drilling again - it had been halted as a safety precaution. It has about 10 metres to go to intercept the original well. The job is slow but almost always successful. An intercept is planned for late July. Concrete will then be poured into the original well for up to two weeks to seal it. The second relief well is a backup option.

The President indicated that no decisions have been made on what will happen.

"Either we will be able to use [the current cap]to stop the flow or we will be able to use it to capture almost all the oil until the relief well is done," Mr. Obama said.

While oil pouring into the Gulf has been halted, at least temporarily, the disaster will soak the region for years. For some, recovery will never come.

In Orange Beach, Ala., where pea-sized tar balls lapped the shore on Friday, the local mayor had mixed feelings about the capped well.

"I'm watching people moving away, people losing their jobs, everything they've got. How can I be that happy when that's happening to my neighbour?" Mayor Tony Kennon told the Associated Press.

Mr. Kennon also complained that BP has paid just $50,000 (U.S.) of Orange Beach's $1.9-million in claims for damage and spill-response costs.

On Friday, BP said its payments to residents and businesses on the Gulf Coast have reached $201-million. About 32,000 claimants have received money, for one or more claims. Fishermen have received the most - $32-million.

Almost half of the claims were not paid out. BP said out of 114,000 claims submitted, 48,000 did not include enough information and 13,000 could not be reached by phone. BP has sent out secondary requests.

In all, BP as of July 12 had paid $3.5-billion for the blowout and has committed to a $20-billion government fund to cover costs.

And while all eyes are on halting the disaster, and focused on the arduous and long cleanup of the Gulf, never mind the long legal entanglements ahead, the question of the bounty of the oil BP discovered is unanswered.

"This is a great find - and obviously a disastrous well," said James Williams, a veteran oil industry consultant in Arkansas. "Any place BP could cut corners, they did, and often at the cost of safety."

Normally, a well wouldn't be allowed to flow uncontrolled as BP's blowout well has, because it unnecessarily reduces subsurface pressure, which helps get out oil in the years after initial production. But Mr. Williams said the reservoir is likely undamaged and other wells could access the oil away from the current site.

The well is one of the best five, Mr. Williams calculated, out of more than 3,000 oil wells in the Gulf, a significant discovery for oil-hungry United States.

Back at the broken well, BP and U.S. government scientists are monitoring the test of the containment cap at six-hour intervals. A half-dozen or so remotely operated underwater vehicles are among the tools being used to spot any leaking oil or natural gas.