By cutting off the pipe, BP simplified the capping task because the spill now comes from a single location. With the aid of undersea robots, technicians placed a cap over the top of the old pipe. A new pipe sticking out the top is carrying oil to a drill ship on the surface.
The kinks in the old pipe may have been helping to hold back the oil, so if the cap fails, the leak will likely be worse - an estimated 20 per cent more flow. But as of today, there is reason for hope: the cap is capturing oil at a rate of 1000 barrels per day. It isn't that impressive compared to the estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels believed to be gushing from the well, but BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles says that the cap could funnel over 90 per cent of the petroleum up to the drill ship. Read the full report here.
Source: Kate McAlpine, reporter, NewScientist
