NEW ORLEANS — Oil had spewed uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico for much of the day Wednesday before engineers reattached a cap being used to contain the gusher and direct some of the crude to a surface ship. The cap was disconnected after an undersea robot bumped into it.
The logistics coordinator onboard the Discoverer Enterpriser, the ship that has been siphoning the oil, said that after more than 10 hours, the system was again collecting the crude. The crewmember, speaking from the bridge of the ship, said the cap was placed back on the gusher around 8 p.m. CDT.
BP later confirmed the cap was back in place, but said it had been hooked up about an hour and half earlier. The coordinator said it would take a little time for the system to “get ramped back up.”
Most recently, the system, which has been in place since June 4, was sucking up about 29,000 gallons an hour, crude that spewed back into the Gulf on Wednesday unabated. At that rate, it could mean about 290,000 extra gallons escaped into the water before the system restarted. Another ship was still collecting a smaller amount of oil and burning it on the surface.
BP engineers removed the cap after the mishap because fluid seemed to be leaking, creating a possible safety hazard because of the flames above, and they were concerned ice-like crystals might clog it.
The latest problem with the nine-week effort to stop the gusher came as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida and the Obama administration sought to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.
In court papers, the Justice Department said it has asked a judge to delay a court ruling by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans that overturned the moratorium. The Interior Department imposed it last month after the disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.
Under the worst-case scenario, as much as 104,000 gallons an hour — 2.5 million gallons a day — is flowing from the site where the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.
When the robot bumped into the equipment just before 10 a.m., gas rose through a vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the machinery, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.
Crews were checking to see if the crystals called hydrates had formed before attempting to put the cap back on.
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