Coast Guard Still Sees Mid-Aug Finish For BP Spill Relief Well

By Susan Daker Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. government is sticking with its forecast for a mid-August finish for a relief well that could kill the broken Macondo well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The government's point man on the spill-recovery effort, Ret. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, told reporters in a teleconference that while drilling of the relief well is running ahead of schedule, he needs to "under promise and over deliver." Allen declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report saying BP (BP) was aiming to complete the relief well by July 27--weeks ahead of the original schedule--in time for the release of the British oil giants earnings report. In the Journal's report, BP's head of the Gulf Coast restoration unit, Bob Dudley, said that "in a perfect world with no interruptions," such as hurricanes, it would be possible to kill the leak between July 20 and July 27, though this "perfect case" is unlikely. "I don't want to speak for BP on how they deal with their board of directors. My board of directors is the American people," Allen said Thursday. Both Allen and Dudley said they foresee a window of good weather of at least seven days starting Friday that could help the spill responders increase their collection of oil. In the last month the operations have been delayed by lightning strikes and Hurricane Alex, which made landfall last week near border between Texas and Mexico. A tropical depression that is expected to make landfall later Thursday near Brownsville, Texas has been closely watched by responders but on Thursday Allen made no mention of it affecting the operation on Friday or over the weekend. The expected calm weather should allow for the completion of the hook-up of a third containment vessel, the Helix Producer, in the next 24 hours to 48 hours, Allen said. BP had originally planned to have the vessel connected by the end of June. With the Helix Producer, BP should be able to capture up to 53,000 barrels of oil a day. On Wednesday, BP collected about 16,655 barrels of oil and flared about 7,920 barrels of oil. The operation also flared 57.6 million cubic feet of natural gas. These numbers are in line with the system's typical daily rate. Federal-government and independent scientists estimate that between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil a day are flowing from the well. The spill, the worst offshore leak in the U.S. history, started in April after explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of Louisiana. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208; susan.daker@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 08, 2010 11:46 ET (15:46 GMT)