BP (NYSE:BP) Confirms Suspicions They May Drill in Same Oil Well Again

With BP (NYSE:BP) backing off its original strategy of performing a bottom kill on the Macondo oil well, it has raised questions as to whether or not they're thinking of making money off the well again, and that has been confirmed as a very strong likelihood by COO Doug Suttles.

Suttles said at a press briefing, "There's lots of oil and gas here. We're going to have to think about what to do with that at some point."

The recent success of the "top kill" offered the option to BP, and it looks like it is definitely part of their goals going forward.

There is approximately 45,000 barrels of oil still in the well, estimated to be valued at just under $4 billion, depending on the price of oil per barrel at the time it's being calculated.

Government point man Thad Allen said this about it, "I would assume that's a policy issue related to the management of the lease. Frankly, it hasn't been raised to my level at this point. I'm not sure I can comment on it."

While it may be true of Allen, it can almost be counted on that the U.S. government isn't surprised at the comments of Suttles, and have more than likely been talking privately with the company about it.

The Interior Department does refute that idea, with spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff saying, "The well is almost dead. Under no circumstances are we going to allow them to reopen the well to extract oil and gas."

That remains to be seen. But the operative word here is "them," as far as Barkoff's comments. It could easily be interpreted that another company besides BP could come in and extract the oil, if BP sold the asset to them.

Either way, this part of the story isn't over, and the relief wells could be used to plug the well, but also could be used to access the oil as well.

It does confirm what we've been talking about the last couple of days at Commodity Surge that it looks like this is what BP has been planning, and now we know it is.

BP (NYSE:BP) Acquires 32 Kevin Costner Oil Cleanup Devices

Actor Kevin Costner asked lawmakers and BP (NYSE:BP) to give his oil cleanup machines a try, a venture inspired from images viewed by Costner when the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska.

Costner has invested $20 million of his own money into the project, starting a company named Costner Industries, which worked with Ocean Therapy Solutions who developed the machines.

Initial tests failed when BP viewed the machines, but that was evidently from the thickness of the oil which changed from the dispersants used on it.

After the devices were adapted to be used with a thicker consistency, they worked as they were supposed, resulting in BP ordering 32 of the machines from Costner.

"We were confident the technology would work but we needed to test it at the extremes. We've done that and are excited by the results," said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer. "We are very pleased with the results and today we have placed a significant order with OTS [Costner's Ocean Therapy Solutions] and will be working with them to rapidly manufacture and deploy 32 of their machines."

The largest of the devices can clean water at 200 gallons of oil a minute, and for the day it can capture 2,000 barrels of oil.

BP (NYSE:BP): Oil Will Become Trickle

In the boldest statement from BP (NYSE:BP) yet on their attempt to stop oil from flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the flow of oil should be reduced "to a relative trickle" by as early as Monday or Tuesday.

Suttles reiterated that a second vessel is on its way to help with the processing of the oil, which the current tanker is oil to do at a 15,000 barrel-a-day pace. The new one should process oil at between 5,000 to 10,000 barrels a day.

Next month a new containment cap currently being built is expected to even better seal the oil well, reducing the oil leakage even more.

With oil reaching the shores probably coming from the day of the accident, Suttles said we'll probably see oil following up by about that same number of days once the leak is mostly contained.

BP (NYSE:BP) Cap Successfully Capturing Oil

In good news for all involved and affected, BP (NYSE:BP) said their cap they put in place to siphon oil from the leaking oil well to oil tankers on the surface is successfully working, and they said they have a goal of capturing 90 percent of the oil as they go on with the process.

“I’d like to see us capture 90-plus percent of this flow,” said Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production. That’s possible with this design. We have to work through the next 24 to 48 hours to optimize that.”

Estimates from BP have the rate of oil capture at 1,000 barrels a day at this time.

In a shareholders conference call today, BP CEO Tony Hayword said, “My number one priority is to steer BP through this crisis, and that is exactly what I intend to do.”

It seems they've finally taken a first successful step toward doing that.

BP (NYSE:BP) Cap Successfully Capturing Oil

In good news for all involved and affected, BP (NYSE:BP) said their cap they put in place to siphon oil from the leaking oil well to oil tankers on the surface is successfully working, and they said they have a goal of capturing 90 percent of the oil as they go on with the process.

“I’d like to see us capture 90-plus percent of this flow,” said Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production. That’s possible with this design. We have to work through the next 24 to 48 hours to optimize that.”

Estimates from BP have the rate of oil capture at 1,000 barrels a day at this time.

In a shareholders conference call today, BP CEO Tony Hayword said, “My number one priority is to steer BP through this crisis, and that is exactly what I intend to do.”

It seems they've finally taken a first successful step toward doing that.

BP (NYSE:BP) "Top Kill" a Failure?

Hope is dimming for the attempt by BP (NYSE:BP) to quickly plug the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico through Top Kill, as BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles confirms they haven't been able to stop the oil spill yet.

With maybe 24 hours left to determine whether it will succeed or not, Suttles added BP is already looking toward their contingency plan of attempting to put a cap over the well, something that has already failed once, but obviously is worth the attempt, as the only sure way to stop it will take probably till August before it's in place, which would be a disaster for everyone involved, and would bring incredible political pressure on Obama and the oil industry in general.

This isn't to say the Top Kill or Junk Shot has failed, but the longer they go on the less likely it'll be they will be successful.