BizNomic

BP’s evacuation of the Gulf of Mexico was called off Saturday and ships headed back to resume work on plugging the leaky well as remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie breezed past.

The temporary plug that has mostly contained the oil for eight days held, and the real-time cameras that have given the world a constant view of the ruptured well apparently never stopped rolling. Dozens of ships evacuated the Gulf, but the storm had weakened to a tropical depression by the time it hit the spill site Saturday morning.

Thad Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral running the government’s spill response, called it “very good news.” But the setback was still significant. Work came to a standstill Wednesday and will take time to restart. Allen said drill rig workers who spent Thursday and Friday pulling nearly a mile of segmented steel pipe out of the water and stacking the 40-to-50 foot sections on deck would have to reverse the process.

It could be Friday before workers can start blasting in heavy mud and cement through the mechanical cap, the first phase of a two-step process to seal the leaking oil well for good.

Dozens of ships that evacuated BP’s oil spill site ahead of the storm should be back on the scene within 24 hours as Bonnie weakened into barely a tropical depression, Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told reporters Saturday. “We’re going to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for the remainder of the hurricane season,” Allen said Saturday morning.

Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said waves near the well head could reach eight feet by Saturday evening.

She said no significant storm surge was expected along the coast, and that the wave action could actually help dissipate oil in the water, spreading out the surface slick and breaking up tar balls. “I think the bottom line is it’s better than it might have been,” Lubchenco said.

It could be Monday before BP resumes drilling on the relief well and Wednesday before they finish installing steel casing to fortify the relief shaft, Allen said.

By Friday, workers could start blasting in heavy mud and cement from the top of the well, which could kill it right away. BP will still finish drilling the relief tunnel — which could take up to a week — to pump in more mud and cement from nearly two miles under the sea floor.

The U.S. Coast Guard estimated about 5.4 million barrels of oil has spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 rig explosion and, of that, about 2.6 million barrels have evaporated or biodegraded. That was based on U.S. scientists’ estimates that the Macondo well had spewed up to 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million liters) a day before being sealed on July 15.