ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — Engineers prepared to abandon their vigil over BP’s broken oil well Friday as ships and rig workers evacuated the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie.
The mechanical plug that’s throttled the oil for a week will be left closed, even if the undersea robots monitoring the well’s stability leave. The only way BP would know if the cap had failed would be satellite and aerial views of oil gushing to the surface.
But retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said he’s confident the cap will hold, despite a few leaks that raised concerns last week. Scientists say even a severe storm shouldn’t affect the plug, nearly a mile beneath the ocean surface 40 miles from the Louisiana coast.
Bonnie made landfall in Florida south of Miami on Friday morning with top sustained winds of 40 miles per hour. The storm was on a track to pick up strength as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, reaching the site of the massive oil spill by Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the eye of Bonnie came ashore Friday midday near Cutler Bay, about 20 miles south of Miami. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The rough weather could delay by 12 more days the push to plug the broken well for good using mud and cement, Allen and BP officials conceded. Even if it’s not a direct hit, the rough weather will push back efforts to kill the well by at least a week.
“Preservation of life and preservation of equipment are our highest priorities,” Allen said.
The rigs working to plug the well were pulling up a mile of pipe and will start moving to safer waters later Friday, Allen said.
Ships carrying the robotic submarines watching the well will be the last to leave — likely for about two days — and the first to return.
“If conditions allow, they will remain through the passage of the storm,” Allen said.
Audio surveillance gear left behind could tell BP whether the well is unstable, but they won’t be able to listen to the recordings until the ships get back into the area.