With a tight new cap freshly installed on its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP planned gradual tests starting Tuesday to see if the device can stop oil from pouring into the sea for the first time in nearly three months.
The next step will be to slowly close the valves on that cap to see if it can withstand the pressure of the oil pushing out of the seabed.
“The goal is to slowly close that down and understand the changes in pressure.” — National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen
Some scientists, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Geological Survey’s Marcia McNutt are worried that when the new cap is tightly fitted, the pressure of oil trying to escape will cause tiny ruptures in the pipeline and cause oil to leak through rock formations in the seabed.
Update
A pivotal moment in the Gulf oil crisis hit an unexpected snag Tuesday evening when officials announced they needed more time before they could begin choking off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea.
