After 85 days, BP finally capped its gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico, sending the company's stock soaring and lifting the spirits of beleaguered coastal communities.
Scientists monitoring the repair said the next 48 hours will be crucial to see if the temporary cap can hold until a more permanent fix is put in place.
President Barack Obama was low-key in his reaction.
"It is a positive sign," he said. "We're still in the testing phase. I'll have more to say about it tomorrow."??BP officials were similarly guarded.
Gov. Charlie Crist also was guarded.
While I am pleased that oil is no longer freely flowing in the Gulf of Mexico, there is more work to do to help families, businesses and communities on the Gulf Coast as they recover from this disaster. Our states economy, environment and future depend on our success in these efforts," he said.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said no one should "jump to the conclusion that the flow won't resume." Still, he called the developments an "encouraging sign, and in a couple of days it could be more encouraging."
Untold millions of barrels of oil have spewed into the Gulf since the Deep Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. Repeated efforts to stanch the flow were unsuccessful until Thursday.
The news pushed BP shares up 7.5 percent in late trading. The oil giant's stock prices had risen 3 percent ahead of today's announcement.
But it wasn't all good news for BP.
On Capitol Hill a congressional committee voted to ban the company from drilling off U.S. shores for at least seven years. The ban does not specify BP, but the new law states that it covers any company that has incurred 10 or more deaths in the past seven years. Only BP fits that bill.
BP officials said that 44,500 personnel, more than 6,563 vessels and 113 aircraft have been engaged in the response effort.
As of July 5, 673,497 barrels (23.5 million gallons) of oily liquid were recovered. In addition, a total of 275 controlled burns have been carried out to date, removing an estimated 238,000 barrels of oil from the seas surface.
BP said almost 95,000 claims have been submitted and more than 47,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $147 million.
The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $3.12 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief-well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs.
National incident commander Adm. Thad Allen, in a statement late Thursday, explained the next steps in the process:
"We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore and options for temporary shut in of the well during a hurricane.
"It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
