BP still deciding how best to deploy 'top hat' to contain Gulf of Mexico oil spill

By Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune
May 12, 2010, 3:04PM BP will decide which of two “top hat” solutions it will use to try to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by midday Thursday, a company spokesman said Wednesday. The containment box, 5 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter, arrived in the Gulf above the Macondo well blowout early today. BP said it is deciding between two uses for the box. In the first, a pipe attached to the box would suck up the oil escaping from the leak in the crumpled riser pipe — as well as any other contents captured within the box including water — and dump it in a drill ship waiting on the surface for separation and treatment. In the second, a pipe would be placed directly inside the gash on the riser pipe. That version, BP officials said, would result in the collection of only oil, not water and other elements. The distinction between the two methods is important to note because BP’s first attempt at capturing the escaping oil was stymied when the containment box failed because frozen crystals, called hydrates, blocked the pipe opening where oil would come out after being sucked from the well. The hydrate crystals form in cold temperatures and under high pressure where water combines with gases. One of the two methods will be deployed late Thursday or on Friday, a BP spokesman said.