U.S. concerned over seep near BP well

The federal government is worried about a substance seeping near BP’s sealed oil well, and is demanding that the company intensely monitor the Gulf of Mexico sea bed and be prepared to reopen the well at a moment’s notice if new oil leaks spring up around the wellhead.

The demands were included in a letter written by Thad Allen, the federal oil-spill response chief, to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley late Sunday evening. Allen gave the company until 9 p.m. Eastern Time to respond to them.

The letter does not note which substance is seeping near the well. Federal and BP officials were unavailable for comment.

“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours,” Allen wrote. “I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed.”

Meanwhile, a top BP official said Sunday that the full seal on top of the company’s well in the Gulf of Mexico could remain in place for a few weeks until the well is permanently plugged by a relief well deep underground -- meaning there is a chance, if all goes well, that the last of the oil has flowed into the gulf.

The well was fully sealed Thursday using a massive, custom-built cap, which stopped the oil flow for the first time in 85 days. But government and other experts worried about the consequences of the seal: If the well’s underground pipes were cracked, they said, the seal could force more oil out of the cracks and up to the ocean’s surface, creating multiple new leaks.

In an attempt to see if the well was cracked, BP and federal officials began a 48-hour pressure test inside the well Thursday. On Saturday, Thad Allen, the national leak response leader, announced the test would be extended for another day so experts could continue to study the results.

Since Friday, BP officials have asserted that results seemed to indicate that the well is not damaged. That point was reiterated Sunday morning by Doug Suttles, BP chief operating officer.

Most significantly, Suttles also said that the “test” could in fact continue for a number of weeks, until the company permanently plugs the well deep underground with concrete and mud pumped into it by a relief well. That solution will most likely come in mid-August, company officials say.

“We’re hopeful that if the encouraging signs continue, we’ll be able to continue the integrity tests all the way to the point that we get the well killed,” Suttles said Sunday. “So right now, there is no target set to open the well back up to flow. But that remains a possibility if we saw signs during the tests that requires us to.”

In a prepared statement Saturday evening, Allen did not mention keeping the full seal in place until the relief well was completed.

Allen did say this: “When this test is eventually stopped, we will immediately return to containment.”

That presumably means that the well would be reopened, and oil would again gush into the gulf -- although BP has devised a system that it believes will eventually be able to collect all of the up to 60,000 barrels of oil using a series of pipes and containment ships.

Federal officials on Saturday and Sunday declined to elaborate on Allen’s statement.