Gulf of Mexico Tank Runs into Problem

It was the first time for the giant tank to go deep into the depths of the Gulf of Mexico to reach the leaking oil rig. Unfortunately, the frigid temperatures led to ice-like methane crystals building up in the tank so it couldn't funnel oil to a surface tanker. Now BP is building a smaller box in hopes the smaller box won't run into the icy problems. The smaller box may be ready by midweek.

Deepwater Horizon Cleanup Efforts

The biggest challenge in finding solutions is that they haven't been tested in 5,000 feet below the surface where it's pitch black and freezing. BP hasn't given up on its 100-ton tank as it's exploring workarounds along with other solutions. One possibility is cutting the riser pipe and connecting it to a larger pipe send the oil to a surface ship. The downside is the increased flow that comes with cutting the pipe.

Another option BP is investigating is the "junk shot." This involves shooting mud and concrete into the blowout preventer that failed. Currently, the Gulf of Mexico has over 10,000 people working to cleanup and repair the rig. The project to drill relief wells remains active, but it'll take a couple of months before they finish. To date, BP's cleanup bill is costing the company over $350 million.

Air and surface teams keep skimming and spraying dispersants. Another possibility is the dropping of sandbags from helicopters to five areas over four miles on the coastline. These would block the oil, which has arrived at some Louisiana beaches.

Alabama has one of the busiest seaports, so it's creating a lock system on the four-mile bay's mouth by installing oil-blocking booms. This set up sends ships through the first gate for scrubbing and then exit the second gate.

Explosion Investigation

The Deepwater Horizon explosion happened on April 20 and killed 11 workers. The cause may be a methane gas bubble that burst broke through a fault cement seal. This may have caused seawater to enter the riser. The methane bubble grew while speeding up and made it pass the failed blowout preventer, which is a cutoff valve.

An Associated Press investigation reports that blowout preventers have failed on over 14 instances in other wells. These started occurring after federal regulators loosened testing requirements. Blowout preventers are supposed to guard the tip of the wells as the last measure in the line of defense.

On May 11, U.S. Minerals Management Service and U.S. Coast Guard will begin investigating the cause of the explosion. So far, the amount of spilled oil is around 3.5 million gallons. At this pace, it will pass the Exxon Valdez' 11 million gallons by June.