BP Begins 'Flaring' Oil in the Gulf

OIL SPILL -- June 17, 2010 at 6:46 PM EDT

BP Begins 'Flaring' Oil in the Gulf

BP has started flaring, or burning, some of the oil it siphons out of the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico, the company reported this week.

Energy giant BP PLC said it had burned 52,500 gallons of oil by noon Wednesday using a specialized flare system. Oil and gas siphoned from the well first reached a semi-submersible drilling rig on the surface of the Gulf around 1 a.m.

Once that gas reaches the rig, it will be mixed with compressed air, shot down a specialized boom made by Schlumberger Ltd. and ignited at sea. It's the first time this particular burner has been deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. (source: AP)

Embed Code:

BP has been capturing oil on surface ships since June 3, when the company cut the bent riser pipe and lowered a containment dome over the ruptured well. Since then, it has managed to divert around 15,000 barrels of oil a day.

But 15,000 barrels is about as much as one ship can handle, said Toby Odone, a BP spokesman. On Wednesday, BP announced that oil and gas was flowing through a second containment system that transports oil, a ship known as the Q4000, which can burn off the material.

"We don't have the processing capability so there's no way to store [the oil]," he said. "You need to process it when it comes out of the sea."

The oil must be separated from gas and water on the surface, and the gas flared. Odone admitted that burning the oil isn't ideal. "We would prefer to be able to reuse that oil somehow," he said, but offered that it's better than letting the crude flow into the Gulf.

We've updated our Gulf Leak Meter to account for the oil flared, in addition to what is being siphoned. As BP captures, burns or otherwise diverts more oil from the well, you'll see the ticker's rate of increase slow.

As always, you can follow our latest coverage here.

The PBS NewsHour welcomes your original comments. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or e-mails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.