BP Spill Costs at $2.65 Billion as Relief Well Work Continues

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc said the cost of battling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has reached $2.65 billion as work continues to drill two relief wells to plug the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

The first of two relief wells aiming to intercept and plug the leak has reached a depth of 16,546 feet (5,043 meters) and detected the metal casing of the Macondo wellbore, London-based BP said today in a statement. The company made a second ranging run to help more precisely locate the well.

“Drilling and ranging operations will continue over the next few weeks as the well progresses toward the target intercept depth of approximately 18,000 feet,” BP said. “Once intercept has occurred, operations are expected to begin to kill the flow of oil and gas from the reservoir by pumping specialized heavy fluids down the relief well.”

The company has lost about 53 percent of its market value since the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 crew members and triggered the spill. BP has agreed to deposit $20 billion in an independent account to pay for the Gulf restoration and compensation claims.


Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-28/bp-spill-costs-at-2-65-billion-as-relief-well-work-continues.html

Isn't it great the way they saved themselves money on Deepwater Horizon? Geniuses, I tell you.

x(

:(

Not only in $, but in irreversible damage. ;(

The oil and Corexit has covered an unimaginable sector of the ocean floor in the gulf, and destroyed coastline and marshes that are needed every year at this time as breeding grounds for eggs and larvae of many different species of fish and crustaceans. Summer
habitats for many all kinds of marine mammals are there. The oil+corexit is already up and down the west coast of Florida down to
the Keys, and Keys shrimpers have already been pulling useless catches of oil-covered shrimp.

If there is a way to guarantee that this stuff will not get to the Caribbean and into the North Atlantic, carried as far as the
rich fishing waters of Iceland by the Gulf Stream, I haven't heard of it.

Greed and a "schedule" determined by "the guys in the corner offices" have unleashed an eco-catastrophe the likes of which have
probably never been seen since the dawn of recorded history. If a few tropical storms manage to pick up enough of this toxic goo
during the hurricane season, it could ruin fruit and vegetable crops from Baton Rouge to New Brunswick. It could turn Cape Cod
and the Islands into desert and render their abundant seafood unsafe for consumption.

$20 billion won't solve all that. $2 trillion won't make it right.

This is not a case of how much money is needed. This is "all the King's horses and all the King's men." The damage is done.

We can only hope our grandchildren will see the beginnings of a restoration.

I saw today that on the Alabama coast there was a prayer meeting to ask God to clear things up. If they really think
that is the solution, there will be a whole generation of Atheists in the deep south very soon.

I understand why Gulf Cost governors think it's OK to drill some more. If something goes wrong, who's going to notice
at this point?

Mary Landrieu---yes, she's in the deep pockets of BigOil, too.

The only one who's looking good to me down there is Crist.

Plus, as usual, the Republicans will leave behind a problem with no solution, and then blame any and all
Democrats for not being able to solve the problem. Hell, they're already trying to do that, and there isn't
a Democratic governor in sight down there.

;(

I don't really care about some bullshit accounting assertion. By damage metrics, I'd say, they haven't quite begun yet since the damage is still growing.

;(

And who plans on footing the bill?

My friend. :hi: I'm trying to keep track of this tragedy, though I fear that this is only the beginning... ;(