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Deepwater Horizon: BP's Macondo well capped at last
Oil has stopped flowing from BP's blown-out well in the US Gulf, but the company is at odds with the government over what to do next
OIL HAS stopped flowing out of control from BP's blown-out Macondo well in the deep water Gulf of Mexico. At 2:25 pm US Central Time, on 15 July, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) closed the last of three valves on the newly installed containment cap, an 80 tonne, 40 foot-tall series of valves and pressure-monitoring gauges, fitted atop the well, in about 5,000 feet of water. Engineers in shipboard control rooms and at BP's headquarters in Houston began monitoring pressure levels inside the cap for signs that the structural integrity of the well, which extends about 13,000 feet underground, is sound. Pressures that failed to climb above 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi) would indicate that oil could be leaking through cracks in the well bore or casing. Response crews hoped for at least 7,500 psi, the figure initially thought to signify that the sealed well would be strong enough to contain ...Click here to continue reading Deepwater Horizon: BP's Macondo well capped at last
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