Falling once again into the category of who is running this show:

Scientists have expressed concern about a seep and possible methane seen near BP’s busted oil well and both of these could be signs of that much feared leak, the reason BP is doing all these integrity tests. According to the source, the government is demanding more testing, but BP is refusing to comply. If a leak is occurring, this means the integrity of the piping in the well has been compromised and the oil will be much more difficult to contain, thus compromising severely BP’s July 27th shareholders meeting. If there is a leak, maintaining the cap’s seal could make the leak much worse and possibly render the relief wells ineffective, yeah…BP’s final solution a solution no more.

Whose Gulf?

BP’s Gulf!

BP refused comment except to say, “we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this,” despite not listening to the scientists or the government, on this.

Interestingly enough, BP held a conference earlier on Sunday, “We’re not seeing any problems, at this point, any issues with the shut-in,” said Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, referring to the closure of the well. Because of that, Suttles said, “we’ll continue to leave the well shut in.”

Whose Gulf?

BP’s Gulf!

The Federal Government had previously stated they wanted piping hooked up to the cap to funnel oil to waiting barges on the surface. Whereas BP was originally in agreement with this plan, they made in about-face this Sunday morning, instead opting to simply keep the well sealed. So why the suddenly diverging plans? One explanation could be – hooking the well up to those pipes would finally provide the government with the exact flow rate from the oil well, something which would be used to give an accurate count as to how many barrels BP has allowed into the Gulf; this count would then be used to determine BP’s total fine.

As long as there is no count, there is no exact fine; it is something that can be negotiated.

So, much as BP is now bucking federal scientists regarding the possibility of a leak by denying it and refusing more testing, previously they had changed course on the piping which would relieve pressure inside the cap, but would also give that flow count they don’t want got.

Whose Gulf?

BP’s Gulf!

The AP article goes onto state that Thad Allen of the Coast Guard will be making the  next decision on what to do with testing the well, but if BP is not listening, it is unclear how he is supposedly making the next decision.

Yeah, that last sentence doesn’t make sense to me either…

Read the article for yourself:

AP says oil may be seeping from the well

Have a nice day.