Relief well rig preparing to move to BP spill site

A rig drilling a relief well intended to permanently plug BP Plc’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well and other vessels dealing with the spill are preparing to return to the site after moving out of the path of a storm, BP said on Saturday.

“The rig is preparing to return to the spill site as quickly as it can,” Jessie Baker, a spokeswoman for BP, said.

She could not say when the rig would begin work again. The deep-sea well is located off the coast of Louisiana.

That rig and other vessels had been moved to avoid Tropical Storm Bonnie. But that storm has weakened into a tropical depression and appeared less likely to to gain strength as it moved into the U.S. oil patch in the Gulf.