BP says it’s closer to oil containment

BP engineers moved a few steps closer Sunday to installing a snug-fitting cap on the broken Gulf of Mexico well that may finally allow the collection of all the oil leaking from it — estimated at up to 60,000 barrels a day.

The achievements involved a few preparations necessary for the installation of the cap — including the unbolting and removal of a large flange — that served as reminders that the gulf’s fate rested in part on a high-stakes plumbing job. If all goes well, the cap is expected to be installed between Wednesday and Sunday. That would eventually allow BP to direct 60,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day to four different containment ships floating 5,000 feet above the leak on the ocean floor.

White House senior advisor David Axelrod, appearing on “ Fox News Sunday” and ABC’s “This Week,” called the spill the “greatest environmental catastrophe of all time,” but said the administration was “reasonably confident” that all of the oil could be contained by the end of July.

“We have every reason to believe that this will work,” he said. “…We think there is a very, very good chance that this will provide the kind of relief that we need.”

But Axelrod also sounded a note of caution: “Obviously,” he said, “this thing is uncharted waters.”

BP has chalked up a number of failures in its attempt to solve the crisis since the April 20 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the Louisiana coast. In this case, the stakes are particularly high: To install the new sealing cap, it was necessary to remove an older cap installed in early June which, although imperfect, had been able to capture about 15,000 barrels of oil a day, at best.

Since the old cap’s successful removal Saturday, the uncorked well has been gushing anew, making every moment crucial for the crews in the gulf working on the undersea fix.

Extra skimming boats swarmed the surface near the spill site to take up the extra oil Sunday, and crews used undersea robots to yank six 52-pound bolts from the existing structure and remove the large flange. That allowed them to begin installing a 12-foot high, 15,000-pound piece of equipment called a transition spool.

Resembling a giant yellow pipe joint, the spool will eventually attach at one end to the existing hardware on the ocean floor, and — a bit like an electrical outlet or headphone adapter — allow for the installation, on the other end, of an 18-foot high, 150,000-pound series of hydraulic seals that BP officials hope will allow them to fully control the flow of the oil, directing it to the collection ships.

According to BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells, it is possible that the cap could also “shut in” the well, stopping the flow of oil altogether.

But even then BP would continue working on what company and government officials say is the best long-term solution: plugging the well from far beneath the earth’s surface using one of two relief wells. The closest of two relief wells being drilled near the leak site is now at a depth of 17,800 feet, and could be used to plug the well permanently with mud and concrete by mid-August.

On Sunday, the only oil being collected was flowing through the well’s old choke line to a ship called the Q4000, which is collecting about 8,000 barrels of oil a day and flaring it off.

Wells said a new ship called the Helix Producer would soon be hooked to the well — perhaps as early as Sunday evening — with the ability to take up 20,000 to 25,000 barrels of oil a day. It will take about three days for that system to be fully functional, Wells said.

He said BP was pleased with the progress. “The challenge will come with something unexpected,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to forecast what that is.”

On Sunday out on the Rigolets — the strait northeast of New Orleans that connects Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Borgne and the gulf, Steve Kloor, 56, was trying to enjoy a weekend on his dock, even though tar balls were found in the vicinity last week.

Kloor said he had no choice but to root for BP and hope for the best.

“Do I have confidence?” he said. “Sure, I have to — it’s the only hope I have.”

richard.fausset@latimes.com

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com

Katherine Skiba in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.