US authorities insist BP completes drilling of relief wells

LONDON, August 14 (Itar-Tass) -- U.S. authorities insist the BP oil
company should complete the drilling of relief wells in the Gulf of
Mexico, the BBC quoted U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen (retired) as
saying. Allen coordinates the efforts of U.S. authorities and BP in the
operation to eliminate the oil leak at the field Macondo.
Teams of specialists will have to continue drilling an additional well
underground at an angle until it reaches the damaged one. This will allow
for injecting extra amounts of cementing compositions and plugging the
well forever.
The relief well will be completed and the damaged one will be sealed,
Allen said with certainty.
In the meantime, drilling can be resumed technically no earlier than
96 hours after the relevant decision has been made. It can be expected
only when the safest way has been identified of how to go ahead with the
work, said Allen.
Earlier this week, the work to drill the last meters of one of the two
relief wells, which had been underway since last May, had to be suspended
due to bad weather in this part of the gulf. BP experts previously said
that possibly further drilling might prove unnecessary. The amounts of
cement and drilling mud injected into the well last week may prove enough
for clogging the well, they said.
The BP-leased oil platform Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of
Mexico off the coast of the United States on April 22 after a 36-hour fire
in the wake of a powerful explosion. As a result of the accident 11 people
died.
The causes of the explosion and of the failure of automatic equipment
that had been expected to instantly cut off the flow of oil are still to
be established.