BP INSTALLS NEW SEALING CAP ON LEAKING GULF OIL WELL
Baku, July 13 (AZERTAC). BP has successfully installed a new sealing cap on the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, company officials say.
It is hoped the new cap will stop the leak and capture all the oil before it can pour into the sea, BBC reported.
But BP warned the cap system had never been deployed at such depths and said "its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured".
It also said that the two relief wells being drilled remain the only way permanently to seal the leak.
That process is due to be completed by mid-August.
Meanwhile, the US government issued a new deep-water drilling moratorium to replace one struck down in court.
The moratorium was reworked by the US interior department in the hope of gaining the approval of a federal court that rejected the Obama administration`s earlier ban, saying it was too broad.
The new moratorium applies to any deep-water floating drilling facility but is not based on the water depth where drilling occurs. It will end by 30 November or sooner.
It is unclear whether a federal court in Louisiana will look at the new moratorium more favourably.
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