Washington, July 13: BP has successfully installed a new sealing cap on the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well to stop the leak and capture all the oil before it can pour into the sea.
But BP warned the cap system had never been deployed at such depths and said “its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured”.
It also said that the two relief wells being drilled remain the only way permanently to seal the leak.
That process is due to be completed by mid-August.
Meanwhile, the US government issued a new deep-water drilling moratorium to replace one struck down in court.
The new moratorium applies to any deep-water floating facility but is not based on the water depth where drilling occurs.It will end by 30 November or sooner
US Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar issued a revision of a disputed May 27 moratorium that had been aimed at enacting a six-month freeze on offshore deepwater drilling.
A New Orleans judge shot down the May 27 moratorium in June, ruling it was too far reaching. A three-judge federal appeals panel has rejected the government request to suspend that decision pending the outcome of the appeal.
The newest moratorium brought cries of protest from the American Petroleum Institute, which warned it would cost jobs and ‘weaken our nations energy security.’ It said 33 deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are sitting idle even though they have passed government inspections.
It is unclear whether a federal court in Louisiana will look at the new moratorium more favourably.
‘President Barack Obama, who has visited the area several times, has labelled the spill the nation’s worst-ever environmental disaster.
Coastal communities from Florida to Alabama rely on fishing and tourism, and many people believe the spill will wipe out their livelihoods.
BP says it has spent $3.5bn (£2.3bn) on the response effort so far.
In addition, the firm has also set aside a $20bn fund to pay for the clean-up operation and other costs.
The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April killed 11 people. Since then, thousands of barrels of oil have been spilling into the the sea every day.
The British firm has been under heavy criticism in the United States as the spill reached US shores and wreaked havoc with wildlife.
APIs President and CEO Jack Gerard said the new moratorium would cause ‘enormous harm to the nation and to the Gulf region.’
–Agencies