Happiness Is An Oil Well That Doesn't Leak: So Far So Good On The Well Test

From the BP website, today at 6:00 pm. CDT

Subsea operational update:

* The well integrity test on the MC252 well commenced today; full closure of the choke valve occurred at approximately 2:25pm.
* Currently the well remains shut-in with no oil flowing into the Gulf; any significant change to this operation will be announced via a press release.
* For the first 12 hours on July 15 (midnight to noon), approximately 5,875 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 3,430 barrels of oil and 22.5 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.
* For the last 12 hours on July 14 (noon to midnight), approximately 2,040 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 1,230 barrels of oil and 7.4 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.
* We anticipate the next update will be provided at around 9:30am CDT on July 16, 2010.


OS was in the car and followed the announcement on NPR.
The gist of the news is: So far, so good. This is a test, one event on the way to getting this thing resolved, so don't get too excited yet. If it holds, we'll know in a few days. If it doesn't work perfectly, they can shunt oil from it to the surface ships. Of course, if they're doing that, and a hurricane occurs, we'll be back to the oil spill. In the meantime, progress is being made on the relief wells, with the final aim being to shut down this well permanently.

But again, this is a test, not the solution, yet.

*****

Yes, BP deserves its trip to the doghouse for getting complacent and allowing the tragedy to occur. And, they did not do a good job responding at first, and there are multitudinous problems still in getting things cleaned up, getting checks to people and businesses that have been totally upended by this colossal demonstration of Murphy's Law. It's a mess, and they created it, and its incumbent upon them to clean it up.

But they have every incentive to fix it, clean up the damage, and regain their reputation around the world. They have bondholders, and shareholders, employees and customers to answer to. Any and all of those people can turn on their heel and walk away on any given day, never to return. They, unlike the US federal government bureaucracy, and the White House that sits atop it, live in an atmosphere of accountability. Their shares trade daily. On the New York exchange, they traded at $60 before the spill, went to the high 20's a couple of weeks ago. They had to suspend the dividend to pay for the costs incurred, and will end up selling some profitable operations off. It will be some years before we see BP at 60 and a generous dividend.

Has it occurred to anyone that the contrast between BP and the Obama White House is growing? Who is a pro here, and who is an amateur?

Who was it that didn't even bother to pick up the phone to call BP for weeks after the oil spill began?

Who was it, when the meeting finally occurred (weeks overdue), that made the agenda essentially a Chicago-style 'This-is-a-nice-little-oil-company-you-got-here-so-hand-us-20-billion-or-else' event.

Who decided to shut down the entire economy of the Gulf Coast from the Panhandle all the way to Galveston, just to prove they could, even though the courts keep saying 'no', and the vast majority of the people in that part of the world are screaming 'no' at the top of their lungs?

Who has made it damned-near-impossible for the states and communities to protect themselves from the oil spill, citing 'environmental concerns'?

Who speaks in government-ease, and who communicates in straightforward English?

Who designed, built, and installed a 75 ton containment dome to cap the well in under eighty days? Who decided to delay the tests for two days, just 'cuz they could, only informing the engineers of their intentions after the well cap was installed?

Who installed cameras at the well head, and let the world watch oil spill into the Gulf from their well for some eighty-five days? Who is being informative, and who is using the occasion to shift blame and play to the cameras?

Who are the pros, and who are the amateurs? Where is the moral hazard? Who has a stake in success, and who has a stake in failure?