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(Reuters) - Ships and workers moved back into BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill site Sunday as seas calmed, and the company could begin pumping mud into the blown-out well later this week in a bid to plug the gusher.
As remnants of Tropical Depression Bonnie dissipated over the Gulf Saturday, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, head of the U.S. spill response, said a "static kill" operation to plug the well by pumping in heavy drilling mud and possibly cement could start in three to five days.
"The 'static kill' could go very quickly," Allen said.
The rig drilling a relief well intended to permanently stop the leak was back in place at the spill site, although Allen said the storm could push back BP's mid-August target date for completing it back seven to nine days.
BP sealed the leak July 15 with a tight-fitting containment cap, choking off the flow of oil for the first time since an April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers and sent crude spewing into the Gulf, soiling coastlines in five U.S. states and devastating tourism and fishery industries.
The spill also damaged the reputation of the British energy giant and led to speculation it would cost CEO Tony Hayward his job. On Sunday, London media reported BP and Hayward were negotiating a severance package and could announce his departure before BP second quarter results come out Tuesday.
Hayward has been under pressure to resign over BP's early response to the spill. A BP spokesman contacted by Reuters did not rule out the board was discussing Hayward's departure, something the company has denied in recent weeks.
As the bad weather passed in the Gulf, the independent administrator running a $20 billion fund set up by BP to compensate people for financial losses from the spill said the British energy giant was holding up payments to economic victims.
"I have a concern that BP is stalling claims. Â… I doubt they are stalling for money. It's not that. I just don't think they know the answers to the questions" from claimants, Kenneth Feinberg told reporters Saturday in Alabama.
Thousands of businesses in Gulf Coast states have been crippled by the spill, the worst in U.S. history. BP agreed to set up the $20 billion fund under pressure from President Obama.
At a town hall meeting in southern Alabama, fishermen and other business owners told Feinberg of their frustration and anger at what they say is a slow and complex claims process that lacks transparency.
"After today there will be no more business as usual. I learned today the depth of frustration in people here on the coast," Feinberg told the meeting.
The weak remnants of Bonnie were on course to make landfall over southeast Louisiana or southern Mississippi early Sunday. The ruptured deep-sea well -- a mile under the ocean surface -- is off the coast of Louisiana.
Though toothless in the end, Bonnie had prompted oil and natural gas producers to evacuate many offshore workers, halting more than half of the oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf and about 25 percent of gas output.
Several oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Anadarko Petroleum Corp said Saturday they were returning workers to offshore operations in the Gulf as the storm threat faded and planned to restart production of oil and gas.
Copyright Reuters 2010
As remnants of Tropical Depression Bonnie dissipated over the Gulf Saturday, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, head of the U.S. spill response, said a "static kill" operation to plug the well by pumping in heavy drilling mud and possibly cement could start in three to five days.
"The 'static kill' could go very quickly," Allen said.
The rig drilling a relief well intended to permanently stop the leak was back in place at the spill site, although Allen said the storm could push back BP's mid-August target date for completing it back seven to nine days.
BP sealed the leak July 15 with a tight-fitting containment cap, choking off the flow of oil for the first time since an April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers and sent crude spewing into the Gulf, soiling coastlines in five U.S. states and devastating tourism and fishery industries.
The spill also damaged the reputation of the British energy giant and led to speculation it would cost CEO Tony Hayward his job. On Sunday, London media reported BP and Hayward were negotiating a severance package and could announce his departure before BP second quarter results come out Tuesday.
Hayward has been under pressure to resign over BP's early response to the spill. A BP spokesman contacted by Reuters did not rule out the board was discussing Hayward's departure, something the company has denied in recent weeks.
As the bad weather passed in the Gulf, the independent administrator running a $20 billion fund set up by BP to compensate people for financial losses from the spill said the British energy giant was holding up payments to economic victims.
"I have a concern that BP is stalling claims. Â… I doubt they are stalling for money. It's not that. I just don't think they know the answers to the questions" from claimants, Kenneth Feinberg told reporters Saturday in Alabama.
Thousands of businesses in Gulf Coast states have been crippled by the spill, the worst in U.S. history. BP agreed to set up the $20 billion fund under pressure from President Obama.
At a town hall meeting in southern Alabama, fishermen and other business owners told Feinberg of their frustration and anger at what they say is a slow and complex claims process that lacks transparency.
"After today there will be no more business as usual. I learned today the depth of frustration in people here on the coast," Feinberg told the meeting.
The weak remnants of Bonnie were on course to make landfall over southeast Louisiana or southern Mississippi early Sunday. The ruptured deep-sea well -- a mile under the ocean surface -- is off the coast of Louisiana.
Though toothless in the end, Bonnie had prompted oil and natural gas producers to evacuate many offshore workers, halting more than half of the oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf and about 25 percent of gas output.
Several oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Anadarko Petroleum Corp said Saturday they were returning workers to offshore operations in the Gulf as the storm threat faded and planned to restart production of oil and gas.
Copyright Reuters 2010
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