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I wanted to give everyone a quick update on the situation in the Gulf.
As we all know, a new cap was fitted over the BP oil well earlier this week.
This larger, more sophisticated cap was designed to give us greater control over the oil flow as we complete the relief wells that are necessary to stop the leak.
Now, our scientists and outside experts have met through the night and continue to analyze the data from the well integrity test.
What they're working to determine is whether we can safely shut in the well using the new cap without creating new problems, including possibly countless new oil leaks in the sea floor.
Now, even if a shut-in is not possible, this new cap and the additional equipment being placed in the Gulf will be able to contain up 80,000 barrels a day, which should allow us to capture nearly all the oil until the well is killed.
It’s important to remember that prior to installation of this new cap, we were collecting on average about 25,000 barrels a day.
For almost 90 days of this environmental disaster, all of us have taken hope in the image of clean water instead of oil spewing in the Gulf, but it is our responsibility to make sure that we’re taking a prudent course of action and not simply looking for a short-term solution that could lead to even greater problems down the road.
So, to summarize, the new cap is good news.
Either we will be able to stop the flow, or we will be able to use it to capture almost all of the oil until the relief well is done, but we’re not going to know for certain which approach makes sense until additional data is in, and all the American people should rest assured that all of these decisions will be based on the science and what’s best for the people of the Gulf.
The final solution to this whole problem is going to be the relief wells and getting that completed, but there’s no doubt that we have made progress as a consequence of this new cap fitting on, and that even if it turns out that we can’t keep the containment cap on to completely stop the oil, it’s going to allow us to capture much more oil and we’ll see less oil flowing into the Gulf.
Now, in the meantime, obviously we’ve still got a big job to do.
There’s still a lot of oil out there, and that’s why we’ve got more skimmers out there, there’s better coordination on the ground along the shorelines, there’s still going to be an enormous cleanup job to do, and there’s still going to be the whole set of issues of surrounding making sure people are compensated properly, that the $20 billion fund is set up and is acting expeditiously.
So we’ve got an enormous amount of work to do and people down in the Gulf, particularly businesses, are still suffering as a consequence of this disaster, but we are making steady progress and I think the American people should take some heart in the fact that we’re making progress on this front.
What we’re trying to do right now is to make sure that the technical folks on the ground are making the best possible decisions to shut this well down as quickly as possible, that we’re standing up the fund so that people are compensated quickly. I’m staying in touch each and every day, monitoring the progress and getting briefed by the scientists.
The key here right now is for us to make decisions based on science, based on what’s best for the people of the Gulf, not based on PR, not based on politics, because I know that there were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, well, maybe this thing is done.
We won’t be done until we actually know that we’ve killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place.
We’re moving in that direction, but I don’t want us to get too far ahead of ourselves.
As we all know, a new cap was fitted over the BP oil well earlier this week.
This larger, more sophisticated cap was designed to give us greater control over the oil flow as we complete the relief wells that are necessary to stop the leak.
Now, our scientists and outside experts have met through the night and continue to analyze the data from the well integrity test.
What they're working to determine is whether we can safely shut in the well using the new cap without creating new problems, including possibly countless new oil leaks in the sea floor.
Now, even if a shut-in is not possible, this new cap and the additional equipment being placed in the Gulf will be able to contain up 80,000 barrels a day, which should allow us to capture nearly all the oil until the well is killed.
It’s important to remember that prior to installation of this new cap, we were collecting on average about 25,000 barrels a day.
For almost 90 days of this environmental disaster, all of us have taken hope in the image of clean water instead of oil spewing in the Gulf, but it is our responsibility to make sure that we’re taking a prudent course of action and not simply looking for a short-term solution that could lead to even greater problems down the road.
So, to summarize, the new cap is good news.
Either we will be able to stop the flow, or we will be able to use it to capture almost all of the oil until the relief well is done, but we’re not going to know for certain which approach makes sense until additional data is in, and all the American people should rest assured that all of these decisions will be based on the science and what’s best for the people of the Gulf.
The final solution to this whole problem is going to be the relief wells and getting that completed, but there’s no doubt that we have made progress as a consequence of this new cap fitting on, and that even if it turns out that we can’t keep the containment cap on to completely stop the oil, it’s going to allow us to capture much more oil and we’ll see less oil flowing into the Gulf.
Now, in the meantime, obviously we’ve still got a big job to do.
There’s still a lot of oil out there, and that’s why we’ve got more skimmers out there, there’s better coordination on the ground along the shorelines, there’s still going to be an enormous cleanup job to do, and there’s still going to be the whole set of issues of surrounding making sure people are compensated properly, that the $20 billion fund is set up and is acting expeditiously.
So we’ve got an enormous amount of work to do and people down in the Gulf, particularly businesses, are still suffering as a consequence of this disaster, but we are making steady progress and I think the American people should take some heart in the fact that we’re making progress on this front.
What we’re trying to do right now is to make sure that the technical folks on the ground are making the best possible decisions to shut this well down as quickly as possible, that we’re standing up the fund so that people are compensated quickly. I’m staying in touch each and every day, monitoring the progress and getting briefed by the scientists.
The key here right now is for us to make decisions based on science, based on what’s best for the people of the Gulf, not based on PR, not based on politics, because I know that there were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, well, maybe this thing is done.
We won’t be done until we actually know that we’ve killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place.
We’re moving in that direction, but I don’t want us to get too far ahead of ourselves.
