BP (NYSE:BP) Relief Well Finally Intersects Macondo

The "bottom kill" is close to being on, as the National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen said in a statement that the relief well drilled by BP (NYSE:BP) has finally intersected the Macondo oil well.

Allen said, "The aggregate data available supports the conclusion that the two wells are joined," adding, “We intend to proceed with preparation to cement the annulus and complete the bottom kill of the well.”

Confirmation of reaching the targeted destination came from pressure and sensor tests performed by BP engineers.

The next step in the process will be to pump cement into the well, which starts with the annulus; the space between the walls of the well and the pipe.

After the cement is poured and cured, a series of tests will be performed to confirm the well has been killed.

Estimates are it will take up to four days to complete.

BP (NYSE:BP) Relief Well Probably Intercepting Macondo Well Today

Sometime today the relief well of BP (NYSE:BP), which will finally and permanently plug the Macondo well, should reach the targeted section and begin its final steps to that end.

On Wednesday they were reportedly about 30 feet away from the intersection point.

National Incident Commander Thad Allen said, “Four days from now it could be all done. We’re within a 96-hr window of killing the well."

Killing the well is different than the intersection talked about here. That will take, as Allen mentioned, up to several days.

At that time the "bottom kill" should be completed and the final injection of cement and mud finished.

BP (NYSE:BP) Ready to Resume Relief Well Drilling

Drilling on the relief well which will be used to perform the final step to permanently plug the Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, is ready to be resumed by BP (NYSE:BP).

After the final step of removing the failed blowout preventer and replacing it with a new one, the way is cleared for the drilling to begin to reach the annulus of the well where cement and mud will be injected into the well to perform the "bottom kill," which will be the final step in the overall ordeal, which began April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and spewed oil into the Gulf.

Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) and Mitsui were also partners in the project, with Anadarko owning a 25 percent stake and Mitsui (Nasdaq:MITSY) a 10 percent stake through their majority-owned MOEX company.

Government lead man in the Gulf cleanup, Thad Allen, says the damaged well is now "secured," preparing the way for the resumption of drilling of the relief well, which is a short distance from its destination.

BP (NYSE:BP) Replaces Damaged Blowout Preventer with New One

One of the final steps in the process toward permanently plugging the damaged oil well by BP (NYSE:BP) has been achieved, as they have replaced the failed blowout preventer with a new one on Friday, setting the stage for the final stage of the "bottom kill," which will pour cement and mud into the well to complete the job.

The removed blowout preventer was taken on a journey of about one mile to the surface, where it has been taken possession of by government authorities who will eventually have it examined in order to find out the reasons it failed to stop oil from being released into the Gulf of Mexico.

Thad Allen, the government lead on the response, said the process went smoothly, and there was no discernible oil which leaked while the exchange was being performed.

"During the period of time between the removal of the damaged BOP and installation of the replacement BOP, there was no observable release of hydrocarbons from the wellhead," Allen said.

A new blowout preventer was decided to be put in place in order to ensure it can handle the pressure when the bottom kill is being done. Pressure will result from the relief well intersecting the damaged well, and they wanted that covered to be sure there wasn't a new oil spill into the Gulf.

BP (NYSE:BP) Successfully Puts New Blowout Preventer in Place

The highly anticipated replacement of the failed blowout preventer has been successfully replaced by BP (NYSE:BP) Friday with a new one, while the failed preventer is being slowly pulled to the surface.

Once it reaches the surface authorities will take possession of it in order to have it checked out to see the reasons why it failed and who was liable for that failure. Potential billions could be at stake in what those results are.

The blowout preventer exchange was performed because of concerns over whether or not things in place could handle the pressure when the relief well intersects the original oil well. This ensures the best equipment is in place for when that happens.

With that in place, experts now believe whatever pressure arises from the increase in pressure can be handled while the "bottom kill" procedure is enacted.

According to federal spill response head Thad Allen, the relief well is about 50 feet vertically and 3 ½ feet horizontally from the point of intersection, and should take about four days to finish the drilling, and another several days to complete the rest of the task of injecting the mud and cement, and then conduct tests on the pressure and officially close the case.

BP (NYSE:BP) May Resume Blowout Preventer Removal Sooner than Expected

Changing his time-frame for the continuation of removing the blowout preventer and replacing it with another, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said BP (NYSE:BP) may begin operations again within 24 to 36 hours.

The waves in the Gulf of Mexico had stopped the process from moving forward, and it was thought things could be put on hold all the way into next week.

Now Allen sees preparations to remove the blowout preventer by Friday and through the weekend, and the new preventer in place by Wednesday at the latest. That assumes the weather cooperates.

Once the new blowout preventer is put in place, the final steps for the "bottom kill" can begin, which would permanently plug the well. That is scheduled for September 7, according to Allen. It could take up to four days to complete, he added.

BP (NYSE:BP) Won't Resume Blowout Preventer Removal Till Friday at Earliest

Government point man Thad Allen said BP (NYSE:BP) won't be able to resume the effort to remove the blowout preventer until at the earliest: Friday. It's more likely it'll be later than that.

Large waves continue to hamper the salvage efforts, and until that changes, there's nothing the oil company will be allowed or able to do.

Allen added it could even be next week before work can start up again.

The blowout preventer is the key piece of equipment which should be able to shed light on what caused the explosion which killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April.

BP's challenge is to remove it in a way where no damage could compromise the preventer, so a conclusion can be drawn concerning liability.

BP (NYSE:BP) to Start Removing Well Cap Today

Today BP (NYSE:BP) begins the difficult task of removing the temporary cap used to stop the oil from entering into the Gulf of Mexico, while at the same time attempting to remove the blowout preventer which didn't work as it should have to prevent oil from spilling into the water.

Most of the determination of who will be fined or liable is centered primarily around the blowout preventer, and it continues to be the key piece of physical evidence in the case.

The trick will be to remove it while not allowing the approximate 1,000 barrels of oil trapped to release into the Gulf, while also not damaging the vital piece of evidence.

When the company performed the "top kill," they inadvertently trapped the oil in the well, making it difficult to remove the blowout preventer without some of the oil entering the Gulf.

Expectations are the process will be performed without the oil leaking into the Gulf, but BP will be on standby to collect the oil in case it does.

Government point man Thad Allen gave the go ahead to start the operation today.

BP (NYSE:BP) Hiding Something with Relief Wells?

In another instance which seems to point to BP (NYSE:BP) always having something else in mind besides using the relief wells for the "bottom kill," which would be a guaranteed permanent sealing of the oil well.

When asked about this by federal investigators looking into the causes of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells skirted around the issue and didn't commit to anything.

Wells said, there are "multiple options" to stop the flow of oil and the relief wells are "the ultimate backup if everything else fails."

Some think this represents a behind the scenes battle between government point man Thad Allen and BP, but if you've followed this story, Allen had been speaking in similar terms not that long ago.

I think all parties involved want to be able to extract the remaining gas and oil in the well to help pay for the liabilities incurred by the spill.

It seems they're hoping as the process advances that people will be more open to having that be the case, as it makes sense to do that and not waste the resource because of the bad circumstances surrounding it.

BP (NYSE:BP) Bottom Kill Could be Delayed by Stuck Pipe

With the blowout preventer probably being the key evidence on what happened to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resultant oil spill, it's imperative to successfully retrieve it without doing any damage, so there is no uncertainty if it is found to be the major culprit in the accident.

Another snag has emerged in the situation, as a 3,000 foot long pipe is connected to the blowout preventer, and BP hasn't been able to remove it so far.

National Incident Commander Thad Allen said if that continues to be the case, BP will have to come up with an alternative plan on how they're going to do it without damaging it, sometime today.

Allen said, “Our goal was originally to complete this in three days. It may go a little beyond that because of the diagnostics on the blowout preventer.”

“Technically it’s feasible to do it but it’s obviously harder if the pipe is still in the blowout preventer,” Allen added. “That’s the reason we’ve asked BP for an additional procedure if for some reason it becomes a problem removing a pipe.”

BP (NYSE:BP) Gets Approval, Starts Removing Drill Pipe

Late Friday BP (NYSE:BP) received approval to remove the drill pipe and other items from the damaged wellhead of the oil well, preparing to replace the blowout preventer valve with a new one, in preparation of the bottom kill pushed back to September.

Thad Allen, the government representative over the oil spill response, gave the okay after a pressure test was successfully conducted which confirmed there would be no oil leak while the drill pipe was being removed.

The blowout preventer, which presumably failed, is at issue, and the drill pipe may be held by it. The preventer is a must to be recovered to determine the cause and further liability for the Gulf oil spill.

BP also had to submit by Sunday their plan for removing the blowout preventer without damaging it, so there are no uncertainties when the damage happened to it and why.

BP's (NYSE:BP) First Step to Permanently Kill Oil Well

BP (NYSE:BP) has started the process of killing off the Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are a number of steps they have to take before successfully accomplishing the task.

In this article we'll talk about the first step, which sets the stage for the rest.

On Thursday pressure testing began, which deals with finding out if the equipment on top of well has in fact been sealed. That includes the blowout preventer, which many assume is the cause of the ordeal in the first place.

Concern over damaging the damaged blowout preventer is what has been the major cause of the delay in proceeding with operations. If it is damaged by the bottom kill, there could be a lot of difficulty proving what other damage may have happened before.

Before starting the test, BP flushed or cleaned out the equipment and injected seawater into it in order to check whether the pressure inside is the same as that which is beneath the surface of the Gulf.

What that did is determine if the "top kill" did completely seal the well on August 5. This is important because of the possibility the approximate 1,000 barrels of oil still inside the well could be pushed out into the Gulf from the bottom kill procedures and if the equipment on top of the well is removed.

This test should last for two days.

Government representative Thad Allen must give approval for each step of the bottom kill process.

BP (NYSE:BP) Date to Kill Oil Well Pushed Back to Week of September 6

Originally BP (NYSE:BP) thought they would be able to kill the Macondo well by the middle of August, but weather and technical difficulties caused them to miss that timeline, and now they're looking at the week of September 6 as the period they'll be able to complete the job.

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is the government representative watching over the ordeal, said this, "In the last 40 hours we've agreed to a sequence of actions that I'm going to direct BP to take, starting with flushing out the current blow-out preventer, actually looking for material that might cause us a problem, and actually move to put a new blow-out preventer on and then do the bottom-kill.

"This will ensure that we can withstand any pressure that may be generated," he added. "If all that lines up, we should be looking somewhere at the week after Labor Day."

Technical concerns relate to the top kill procedure, which resulted in approximately 1,000 barrels of oil being trapped in the space between rock layers and the well pipe.

There's a possibility that the bottom kill operations, which entail pumping cement and mud through the relief, could push the oil up out into the Gulf, or possibly break the original blowout preventer which a lot of liability concerning the accident is tied into.

Obama Administration Puppet for BP (NYSE:BP) Says Spike Lee

In an effective strategy for getting attention, filmmaker Spike Lee said in an interview last night that the Obama Administration is a puppet of BP (NYSE:BP).

Lee is marketing a documentary he put together called, "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," which debuts on HBO on August 23.

Here's what Lee said in the interview about the Obama administration:

"... I feel — and a lot of those people feel down here — that BP was dictating [to] the United States government what to do. BP dictated [to] the FAA who could fly over the site. BP dictated to the Coast Guard and Thad Allen which boats can come and go. And BP dictated [to] the EPA — the EPA sent a letter to BP saying we have serious concerns about your dispersant, Corexit. They sent back [one] saying, we're going to use it anyway. So BP's been running things."

Lee asserts it's greed which caused the incident: "We have people in office appointed and voted in and people in big business positions who only care about the dollar bill, and there are people [who] get harmed, people [who] die. They say that's the cost of doing business."

Obviously this will be another anti-business rant by Lee, but he does know how to garner attention.

BP (NYSE:BP) to Miss "Bottom Kill" mid-August Goal

If things were to proceed without any major problems, the "bottom kill" by BP (NYSE:BP) would have happened in the middle of August, but that won't be the case, as concerns over trapped debris have put things temporarily on hold until officials figure out how to deal with it.

While the oil has stopped leaking from the oil well, it can't be pronounced officially dead until the bottom kill is completed.

The decision to perform a "top kill" first resulted in the possibility cement being caught between a couple of layers of casing, which then trapped oil that had leaked inside.

Former Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said, "When we do the intercept well and commence pumping mud and cement... it will create pressure," Allen said. "We want to make sure before I give the order and direct BP to do that, that we know the implications of that pressure, and how we will deal with it."

Two potential solutions would be to work with the existing sealing cap on top of the well using what is called a "pressure relief method," or place a new blow-out preventer in place which would be able to handle any pressure coming from the blocked area.

Once a decision is made and Allen gives the go ahead, it's expected to take about a week to complete the operation.

Government's Thad Allen Screws Up BP (NYSE:BP) Relief Well Efforts

It was puzzling to a number of petroleum engineers when BP (NYSE:BP) was told to attempt a "top kill" on the leaking oil well, while foregoing the "bottom kill," which is the only sure way to permanently plug the well.

This had to be a decision by government officials to attempt to save the approximate 45,000 barrels of oil left in the well, along with the natural gas.

What appears to have been the strategy was to attempt a top kill which may also have also plugged the annulus, a space between the production casing and the outer casing that runs all the way to the top of the well. That is what the purpose of a bottom kill is.

That's why a pressure test was performed, in order to see if in one blow they were able to kill the well, while leaving the option of extracting oil and gas in the future via a relief well already in place.

While it's certain BP wouldn't have had any qualms about this, the decision was National Incident Commander Thad Allen's, and those who gave him the instructions to proceed in that manner.

Because it makes little sense, it is obvious there is something else in play, and that could only be the attempt to salvage the oil and gas in the well for the short term.

Now another unnecessary problem has arisen from attempting the top kill in this way. About 1,000 barrels of oil are trapped below the top, and performing a bottom kill could push it out into the Gulf of Mexico.

But if the bottom seal were to now break, a new avenue for the oil to be released into the Gulf would be created.

Somebody must have wanted this oil and gas awfully bad to take this kind of risk.

Now Allen said today he may order BP to perform the bottom kill like it originally planned to, and accept the fact that more oil will be released into the Gulf.

Has BP (NYSE:BP) Already Plugged Well Permanently?

According to National Incident Commander Thad Allen, BP (NYSE:BP) may have "accidentally" killed the oil well, making the bottom kill from the relief an unnecessary action.

The recent top kill could have resulted in cement moving into the annulus, which is what the "bottom kill" goal would have been to do, and which is the definition of the well permanently and safely being killed.

Allen said in a briefing, "A bottom kill finishes this well. The question is has it already been accomplished?"

He added that BP is now putting into play a pressure test on the well to determine whether or not the annulus has been reached by the cement. If so, the pressure tests will reveal it.

The question does arise as to whether this was really inadvertent or not, or an attempt to have it happen this way in order to allow the oil giant to either resume drilling in the future or sell the assets to another energy company.

We'll probably never know, but it's highly doubtful the government or BP ever had the idea in their mind to just let the oil sit underneath the Gulf floor. This gives them a nice out and reason to use the relief well for 'other purposes.'

BP (NYSE:BP) Shrinks South Florida Cleanup as Oil is No-Show

BP (NYSE:BP) had set up a command center in Miami, Florida, on the possibility oil would be caught in underwater currents and spread to the Florida Panhandle and ultimately up to the eastern coast of the United States.

Concerns were based on NOAA scientists saying in a report there was an 80 percent chance oil would eventually reach Miami and head up the eastern coast. That never materialized, and in the latter part of July, Thad Allen, the point man for the government for the crisis, said the chances of it affecting the South Florida or the Keys area was "very,very low."

Right after that NOAA revised their findings in saying oil from the spill wasn't a threat to the area, although they used the term "surface oil" when making the assertion.

The oil threat really never materialized in this region, and the issue was more the perception than anything else which hurt the area.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Lee Schlesinger said "We never had the big oil problems that everybody thinks we had. It's just been a perception that's really hurt the industry."

As a result, the size of the force set up in the area to help coordinate efforts if the oil did come has been reduced from about 120, to approximately 45 at this time.

BP (NYSE:BP) Stops Drilling Relief Well As Storm Approaches

Just 30 feet away from their destination, BP (NYSE:BP) has been forced to suspend drilling operations in relationship to the relief well, which will permanently plug the well.

The operation could be delayed up to three days while the company waits for the latest Gulf storm to move out of the region.

How it works is a temporary object called a storm packer, which is a type of plug, will be placed in the casing, according to Thad Allen.

Allen added, "They are just going to wait out the storm. We expect the weather to be choppy enough...we are taking these steps as a precaution."

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.