BP deploys second containment box

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- BP is lowering a second oil containment box in an effort to stop a weeks-long oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company said.

A larger containment vessel was unsuccessful in stopping the flow of oil from the gusher about 5,000 feet underwater. The spill is sending 210,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day.

Called "top hat," the 5-foot-tall, 4-foot-diameter structure weighs less than two tons. The structure is being deployed by the drill ship Enterprise.

BP built the smaller dome after a much larger, four-story containment vessel designed to cap the larger of two leaks in the well developed glitches Saturday. Ice-like hydrate crystals formed when gas combined with water and blocked the top of the dome, making it buoyant.

The new device would keep most of the water out at the beginning of the capping process and would allow engineers to pump in methanol to keep the hydrates from forming, said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production. Methanol is a simple alcohol that can be used as an antifreeze.


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/12/oil.spill.main/