Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, said Thursday that a semi-submersible drilling rig was expected to be up and running early next week and would capture and burn about 420,000 gallons of oil daily.
BP opted to burn the oil because storing it would require bringing in even more vessels to the already crowded seas above the leaking well.
"It was going to become too congested, it was not the safest way to do it," Wells said. A drill ship already at the scene can process a maximum of 756,000 gallons of oil daily that's sucked up through a containment cap sitting on the well head.
Testing on the oil-burning system should begin over the weekend, and full production should start early next week, Wells said. Work is also expected to begin this weekend to build a more robust containment system meant to better withstand the force of Gulf hurricanes.
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20100609/US.Gulf.Oil.Spill/
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