Photos: Huge Containment "Domes" for Gulf Oil Spill

Bright Hope for Oil Spill?

Photograph courtesy Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Sparks fly as a welder helps retrofit one of the three giant oil-containment "domes" on April 26 in Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

BP engineers are working with the Wild Well Control corporation to convert structures originally used to cap shallow-water wells damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Deepwater Horizon well is 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface—deeper than any oil-containment chamber has ever gone.

"Because of the weight of the structure and the fact that the sea bottom there is quite muddy, mud flaps have been added to the side of the structure," BP spokesperson Ashford said. "This enables the structure to settle into the sea bottom and really complete the enclosure."

(Related: "Gulf Oil Spill Fight Turns to Chemicals.")

Published May 4, 2010

Men at Work

Photograph courtesy Marc Morrison, BP

Workers handle a section to be added to one of the oil-containment "domes" on April 27 as two of the four-story-tall chambers loom in the background in Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

As of May 4, one of the containment structures had been completed, and two more are under construction.

"Fingers crossed, we are very, very hopeful that it is going to make an impact here. But given that it hasn't been used at this depth, we don't know" if it will be successful, BP spokesperson Ashford said.

The challenge of the next few days will be positioning the containment structure given choppy seas above the Gulf of Mexico seafloor oil spill site, she added. "We are going to try and get it out there and try to get it over this. That's what everybody is 100 percent focused on."

(Pictures: Gulf Oil Spill Hits Land—And Wildlife.)

Published May 4, 2010

Double "Domes"

Photograph courtesy Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

A crane lifts the base of an oil-containment "dome" (foreground) into a construction zone at Wild Well Control in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on April 26. The completed chamber will be among the largest such structures ever built, the U.S. Coast Guard says.

Even if successful, the containment domes won't be able to completely stop the oil leaks, so BP is creating a relief well by drilling at an angle, into the main Deepwater Horizon well, at around 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) below the seabed.

Work began Sunday on the relief well, a months-long project, which is expected to allow engineers to seal the leak for good, BP said Tuesday.

The containment boxes are intended to cover the oil leaks "until that permanent solution can be completed," said BP's Ashford. It's unknown how long, or whether, the boxes will remain in place after the relief well is completed, she added.

(Also see: "Gulf Oil Spill Could Reach East Coast Beaches.")

Published May 4, 2010

Blowout Preventer in Better Times

Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Shown in a file photo, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig's four-story-tall blowout preventer, which has so far failed to live up to its name, currently sits atop the problem well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

The preventer, essentially a gargantuan valve, is designed to stop oil leaks by automatically closing an oil well's pipeline if crude begins surging out of control. Due to the Deepwater Horizon preventer's failure, oil continues to gush from three breaks in the rig's pipe—all of which are expected to be covered by the containment "domes."

Remotely operated vehicles will monitor the installation of the containment boxes and complete connections to the tubing that will funnel the oil up to the surface ship, the Deepwater Enterprise. The ship can process 630,000 gallons (2,390,000 liters) of oil a day, according to BP.

The oil company decided to go with the containment boxes after more than a week of failed attempts to activate the blowout preventer using remotely operated submersibles.

"This is the second stage of trying to deal with the fact that we have a lot of oil coming out right now," BP's Ashford said.

(Related blog post: "Who's Still Spilling Oil in the Seas?")

Published May 4, 2010