5 leaks found, but test of BP cap will continue

WASHINGTON — Federal and BP officials have found five leaks in and around the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico, but they're "drips" and the test of an experimental cap will continue, the government's point man on the disaster said Tuesday.

"We've found nothing that would be consequential," retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said in a news conference, The Times-Picayune reported on its website.

Allen said that the federal government had authorized another 24 hours of tests, The Times-Picayune said.

Scientists had been huddling to analyze data from the ocean floor as they weighed whether the leaking well cap was the latest sign that BP's broken oil well was buckling.

Oil and gas started slowly seeping into the Gulf of Mexico again Sunday night and scientists aren't sure whether the leaks mean the cap that stopped the flow last week is making things worse.

Allen said Monday the amount of oil leaking was so far inconsequential. But ever since the flow of oil was closed off Thursday, engineers have been glued to underwater cameras and pressure and seismic readings, trying to determine whether the cap is displacing pressure and causing leaks underground, which could make the sea bed unstable and cause the well to collapse.

Seepage from the sea floor also was detected over the weekend less than two miles away, but Allen said it probably has nothing to do with the well. Oil and gas are known to ooze naturally from fissures in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, an employee on BP's blown-out oil well told government investigators he reported a leak of hydraulic fluid from a critical safety device but doesn't know if federal regulators were notified.

Government investigators are trying to determine whether BP missed the leak in the blowout preventer, which could have averted the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and loosed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Ronald Sepulvado, a BP well site leader, told a panel of government investigators Tuesday in suburban New Orleans he told his supervisor about the leak weeks before the explosion.

But Sepulvado said he doesn't know if the supervisor told federal regulators, as required.

'Like chocolate'
At a Monday afternoon briefing in Washington, Allen said BP could keep the cap closed at least another 24 hours, as long as the company remained alert for leaks.

Since the cap was closed Thursday, beachgoers have reported less oil fouling the shore.

Bob Broadway, 41, of Huntsville, Ala., said his vacation spot in Orange Beach, Ala., has improved from a month ago.

Then, he said, the oil was thick "like chocolate" and the beach smelled like "an old mechanic's garage."

"The beach looks better now than before," he said Monday.

BP and the government had been at odds over the company's desire to simply leave the cap in place and employ it like a giant cork in a bottle until a relief well being drilled deep underground can be used to plug up the well permanently.

Allen initially said his preference was to pipe oil through the cap to tankers on the surface to reduce the slight chance that the buildup of pressure inside the well would cause a new blowout. That plan would require releasing millions more gallons of oil into the ocean for a few days during the transition — a spectacle BP apparently wants to avoid.

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On Monday, Allen budged a bit, saying unless larger problems develop, he's not inclined to open the cap.

Also on the table: Pumping drilling mud through the top of the cap and into the well bore to stop up the oil flow. The idea is similar to the failed top kill plan that couldn't overcome the pressure of the geyser pushing up.

BP said it could work now because there's less oil to fight against, but it wasn't clear how such a method would affect the cap's stability. Allen said the relief well was still the plan for a permanent fix.

BP and the government are still trying to understand why pressure readings from the well are lower than expected. Allen offered two possible explanations: The reservoir the oil is gushing from is dwindling, or there is an undiscovered leak somewhere down in the well.

Well kill plans
Work on a permanent plug is moving steadily, with crews drilling into the side of the ruptured well from deep underground. By next week, they could start blasting in mud and cement to block off the well for good. Killing the well deep underground works more reliably than bottling it up with a cap.

Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have gushed into the Gulf over the past three months in one of America's worst environmental crises.

BP said the cost of dealing with the spill has now reached nearly $4 billion. The company said it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle claims for damages. Almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made. BP stock was down slightly Monday.

"I'm hoping that they'll get everything cleanup with the next one to two years. Let's things will get back to normal," said Terry Lash, manager of Doc's Seafood Shack & Oyster Bar in Orange Beach, Ala. "We're hurting really bad, but there are other restaurants that are worst than we are."