Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico - Deepwater Horizon Rig - Aerial Footage

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Although initially the undersea wellhead appeared to be contained, on April 24 it was found that the wellhead was damaged and was leaking oil into the Gulf. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry described it as "a very serious spill, absolutely." BP, which was leading the cleanup, employed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), 700 workers, four airplanes and 32 vessels to contain the oil. They planned to use ROVs to close the well at depth; up to 1000 barrels of oil a day were estimated to be leaking from the wellhead according to BP, but other sources using satellite imagery have put that number as high as 5,000 to 10,000 barrels a day. The valve closing procedure was estimated to take 24 to 36 hours as of April 25; oil cleanup was being hampered by high waves on April 24 and 25. By April 25, the oil spill covered 1500 square km, and was only 50 km from the Chandeleur Islands, ecologically sensitive barrier islands, damaged in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.

If unable to close the blow out preventer (BOP) valves on the well head 5000 feet below the surface of the water using the ROV two other options remain to secure the source. The first and fastest is to place a dome over the well head capturing the oil and piping it to the surface to a storage vessel, this operation will take some time as the dome will have to be fabricated. The next option would be to bring in another drilling rig and either re-drill the well straight down, (as done in Australia), or cross drill from a little ways away and tap into the original borehole. Once the second drilling operation reaches the original borehole the operators could then pump drilling mud into the well to stop the flow of oil.

Source:Wikipedia