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Storm Puts Oil Leak Crews on Guard in Gulf of Mexico

   Brian Wagner | Miami 22 July 2010
   Vessels  at  the  Deepwater  Horizon oil spill site, off the Louisiana
   coast, 20 Jul 2010

Photo: AP

   Vessels  at  the  Deepwater  Horizon oil spill site, off the Louisiana
   coast, 20 Jul 2010

   Oil  crews  were readying for a possible evacuation from the site of a
   damaged  well because of a storm in the Caribbean Sea. Storm threatens
   to delay the final work of sealing off the well.
   U.S.  weather  forecasters upgraded the storm to a tropical depression
   early Thursday, as the system dumped heavy rain on the Bahamas.
   Experts   with  the  National  Hurricane  Center  in  Miami  said  the
   depression  had  maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour and
   may strengthen more in coming days.
   Senior  hurricane specialist Richard Pasch says wind shear may prevent
   the storm from developing into a hurricane.
   "We expect this to become a tropical storm, but not to strengthen that
   much  more  beyond  that  over  the next few days as those unfavorable
   upper  winds  are  expected  to  continue  to affect it," said Richard
   Pasch.
   Forecasters  say  the  storm  is moving northwest on a track that will
   take  it across southern Florida and near the site of oil crews in the
   Gulf.
   Officials in charge of sealing the damaged oil well have been watching
   the  storm  for  days  and  have yet to decide on whether to halt work
   completely.
   Some  skimmer  boats began returning to port to escape strong wind and
   waves,  which make it nearly impossible for crews to skim oil from the
   surface of the water.
   Drilling  crews had been preparing to lay the final segment of pipe in
   a  relief  well  that will be used to permanently seal off the damaged
   well.
   Late  Wednesday,  BP  oil officials said crews halted drilling work to
   insert  a  temporary plug in the relief well. BP senior Vice President
   Kent  Wells said the plug will enable crews to abandon the site safely
   if the storm approaches.
   "It  is  just  another  barrier,  so,  if we do have to leave, we have
   multiple barriers in the place of the well," said Kent Wells. "This is
   standard procedure, something we would do on any well."
   Wells  said crews had hoped to finish drilling the relief well by late
   July.  It is unclear how bad weather may affect the job of sealing off
   the well, which began leaking nearly three months ago when a drill rig
   exploded and sank. Eleven workers died in the accident.

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