'Orphaned,' Breached Well Could be Capped Soon

A well leaking oil and gas after being struck by a vessel off the southeastern Louisiana coast Tuesday could be capped Wednesday if all goes as planned, Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts told CNN.

Crews from Wild Well Control, a Houston, Texas-based company that caps wells, were assessing the situation in the Barataria Waterway Wednesday morning and devising a plan to deal with it, Roberts said.

The wellhead "is emanating a mixture of oil, natural gas, and water into Barataria Bay," with the resulting sheen covering more than six square miles, said a Coast Guard statement released Wednesday.

"Our priorities remain securing the source and containing and recovering the oil," said Coast Guard Capt. John Arenstam, the federal on-scene coordinator. "We are concerned about the safety of personnel, transiting vessels, and the environment. Therefore, marine traffic has been restricted by a two-mile safety zone established around the wellhead. This was put in place to prevent a possible ignition of the gas."

Arenstam said more than 150 people and 31 boats from several federal, state and local agencies were working on the incident.

Kyle Plotkin, a spokesman for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, described the well as "orphaned." He said Tuesday it had been owned by Cedyco Corp. of Houston but was declared abandoned by the state in November 2008. Plotkin said the state does not own the well and added that the designation does not absolve Cedyco of responsibility for the well.

Arenstam has issued an administrative order to Cedyco directing the company to stop the well from discharging oil and gas. In addition to hiring Wild Well Control to secure the source at the wellhead, the Coast Guard said Environmental Safety and Health Inc., a company that cleans up spills, had been contracted for containment and cleanup.

The tug vessel Pere Ana C was pushing the dredge barge Captain Buford Berry when the dredger hit the wellhead around 1 a.m. Tuesday, and the Coast Guard is investigating the cause, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard has tapped the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which the federal government makes available for natural resource damage assessments.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the man in charge of the federal Gulf of Mexico oil crisis response, said crews were able to take advantage of the "significant resources" -- vessels of opportunity, skimming equipment and booms -- already in the area to work on the Gulf oil spill. He said the breached well was surrounded by boom -- floating material that restricts the spread of oil on the surface.

"The Coast Guard is also beginning oil spill response actions at the site -- deploying hard and sorbent boom both north and south of the oil release," Jindal said Tuesday. "Air assets have also been deployed to ensure response personnel are not working in a flammable atmosphere. Once the leak source is secured, the Coast Guard will ramp up their skimming operations to collect free-floating oil.

"We know this well is close to important marshes in the Barataria Bay area, so it is important that this well is cut off quickly and the oil is contained and removed," he said.