jws01us posted on 4/23/2010
Initial analysis of ROV images show no evidence of oil escaping from a Gulf of Mexico subsea well that was being temporarily P&A'd when the Deepwater Horizon caught fire and sank, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard said Friday, 23 April 2010.
Coast Guard petty officer Ashley Butler said search and rescue operations continue for 11 crew members missing since Tuesday night, when an explosion and fire forced evacuation of the rig.
The Horizon, a Transocean rig under contract to BP, sank Thursday after burning for 36 hours. Crews were conducting exploratory drilling operations at the Macondo prospect in Mississippi Canyon block 252, in 5,000 ft of water about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast, when the explosion occurred.
'The Coast Guard remains hopeful, and we are not putting a cap on the time for the search,' Butler said of ongoing search and rescue efforts.
On Thursday, however, Coast Guard rear admiral Mary Landry confirmed reports that the missing crew members were likely in the vicinity of the blast.
Butler said six skimming vessels and a barge were on the scene to help contain an estimated 200 barrels of oil on the water surface. An additional 181 barrels of oil and water mix had been recovered, she said.
A two-mile by eight-mile sheen covered the water surface at the site. Butler said officials were 'hopeful and upbeat' about efforts to prevent pollution from reaching Louisiana's ecologically sensitive coastline.
Officials had still not determined the fate of an estimated 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board the rig, Butler said.
By: Russell McCulley,
rmcculley@offshore-engineer.com