Storm Still Fouling BP Oil Spill Response In Gulf Of Mexico

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Rough seas and winds continue to disrupt spill responders' efforts to contain the oil gushing from BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) well in the Gulf of Mexico two days after Hurricane Alex made landfall hundreds of miles away from the spill site, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.

The storm, which ranked as a Category One, or the weakest possible hurricane, has delayed by about six days the hookup of a third containment vessel. If all goes well the Helix Producer, which is already at the well site, should be on line July 7 and should be able to produce about 20,0000 to 25,0000 barrels of oil a day, Retired Admiral Thad Allen, the federal response commander, said during a news conference.

The delay means that between 120,000 to 150,000 barrels of oil could go uncollected because of a storm that hit the northern tip of Mexico about 110 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.

The storm's rough seas and winds are also the likely the cause in the reduction in the capacity of the another containment ship, the Q4000. The ship can normally flare off 10,000 barrels of oil a day but has been achieving about 25% less than its average rates during the storm.

On Thursday, BP recovered a total of 25,150 barrels of oil. About 16,915 of those barrels were collected by the Discoverer Enterprise, the main containment vessel. The Q4000 flared off about 8,235 barrels of oil. About 57 million cubic feet of natural gas was flared as well. Government and independent scientists estimate that about 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are flowing from the well. The gusher started in late April when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 people.

The remnants of Alex also continue to halt near-shore skimming operations, Allen said. However, he could not immediately quantify how much oil is going uncollected because of the halt on skimming. Skimmers are not effective in waves greater than four feet.

Meanwhile, Allen said he and other responders are closely watching what the National Hurricane Center calls a weak low pressure area off the coast of Florida.

"There is a low chance, 10%, of this system becoming a tropical or subtropical cyclone during the next 48 hours," the NHC said in a statement Friday.