http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/us/31brfs-WAVESDELAYWO_BRF.html

August 30, 2010

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
High seas have forced further delays in BP’s efforts to permanently plug the well that leaked millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is leading the government’s response effort, said in a conference call on Monday that waves six to eight feet high had prevented crews from replacing equipment on the seabed in preparation for the final plugging of the well through a relief well. The removal of a capping stack, which was installed atop the well last month, and the original damaged blowout preventer will eventually be replaced by another blowout preventer that can manage pressure changes resulting from the final plugging procedure. Admiral Allen said the bad weather would probably delay work for two to three days, pushing the completion of the relief well to the end of next week.

Good morning! And welcome to the Daily Briefing for Monday, August 30. To stay on top of Earth-friendly news all day, visit us at Mother Nature Network.

TILL DEPTH DO US PART: The 2010 Gulf oil spill may have been the largest such disaster in history, and hobbled BP’s race to the frontiers of oil exploration, but it was only a speed bump for the industry overall, the New York Times and Guardian report today. The Times takes a front-page look at how a new generation of futuristic, far-flung oil rigs are digging deeper and more remotely than ever to reach the Gulf’s remaining crude, while the Guardian looks ahead to how a similar bonanza might affect the Arctic. A $3 billion rig named “Perdido” (pictured) serves as the Times’ main example of the ongoing Gulf push, since Shell’s “giant steel octopus” – and the world’s deepest-reaching rig – can pump oil from 35 wells two miles deep and 200 miles from shore, all while simultaneously drilling new ones. Although accidents like the one that sunk the less sophisticated Deepwater Horizon are rare, the risks inevitably pile up as oil exploration and production becomes more complex and more remote. Perdido is a 20-hour boat trip from shore, for example, meaning a fire could run wild before rescue crews arrive; its deepwater wells also must be serviced by robots, since humans can’t dive that deep – a challenge made infamous by this summer’s BP spill. And while BP has been boxed out of the most recent rush for black gold in Greenland, the Guardian points out that rivals such as Shell, ExxonMobil and StatOil will have no trouble filling the void as vast new oil fields open up across the Arctic. Environmental advocates warn that a BP-style spill in the Arctic could drag on for years due to the region’s remote and rugged location, and Greenpeace has vowed to “make a real fight of this.” But as one senior manager at Shell tells the Times, the industry will get to that oil one way or another. “We’ve proven over the years, and the decades, that if the reserves justify it, we will find a way to do it,” he says. “The trick is how to do it safely.” (Sources: New York Times, Guardian)

Special thanks to Richard Charter