Click here for a bigger picture of the updated map of the oil spill's projected path
NEW ORLEANS -- Since four hours after the oil rig explosion that has sent several hundreds thousands gallons of oil towards Louisiana'a coast, British Petroleum has been working every possible angle to stop the flow of oil, said Bill Salvin, a British Petroleum spokesman.
"We’re still working every possible angle we can to stop the flow of this spill and minimize the impact to the people of the Gulf Coast,” Salvin said.
The blow out preventer, Salvin said, failed during the oil rig explosion, though BP doesn’t know why. The automatic systems for the preventer failed, and though the crew activated a manual shutdown switch for the preventer, that failed as well.
“Given those two failures, there’s really no way to know if that remote control would have also worked, because clearly that piece of equipment had failed,” Salvin said.
Salvin said every time they’ve tried to approach the valve, they haven’t been able to get the blow out preventer to engage. “We know how frustrating that is for people. It’s frustrating for our team, and we’re going to keep on working on this to stop the flow.”
There are now six robotic vehicles working to help control the spill at the source of the leaks.
“It’s just an amazing effort, truly an Apollo 13 effort 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean trying to stop this spill.”
Salvin said the best case scenario in capping off the oil spill is today. Their fall back option is to have to drill a relief well .
“Absolutely, it’s a possibility that every day the efforts we’re making will stop the flow today,” Salvin said. “But we don’t know that. So what we’re doing is making sure we work the containment system. That will be ready to be deployed in about six to 10 days. That’s our backup position.”
The challenge with drilling a relief well, Salvin said, is that the process could take up to three months. But if they can contain the oil with their three containment systems – 40-feet tall “small buildings,” as Salvin described them, that would stand over the three oil release points – that at least that would prevent more oil from reaching the surface of the sea.
Salvin said they’ve had “substantial progress” in protecting the coast. He said they’ve deployed 300,000 feet of boom and trained 1,500 people on how to clean up the oil spill, including some who will hit the shoreline when the oil hits Louisiana’s coast.
“We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made in the past 24 hours,” Salvin said.
