BP’s Gulf Oil Well Leak May Take Months to Shut After Rig Sinks
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BP Plc said it may take at least two or three months to drill a relief well to stop a 1,000-barrel-a-day oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico after a drilling rig caught fire and sank last week. The company is also trying to shut the well’s valve with robots.
The oil spill, which covers 600 square miles (1,554 square kilometers), won’t reach a shoreline within the next three days, said Charlie Henry, a scientific support coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during a teleconference today. Henry said it isn’t possible to give estimates beyond three days.