A year after the Macondo disaster, the industry has pulled together in the US and built not one, but two spill containment systems. These systems are really state-of-the-art and aimed at containing a massive spill in the deep water.
The first one, the Containment Response System, cost $1bn and is designed to be trucked to anywhere along the Gulf of Mexico, loaded onto a vessel, shipped out to a drill site and dispatched under water to contain oil spilling from a runaway well.
The system, complete with capture vessels, was developed by ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips. It took several months to build and testing has shown it can operate in 8,000 feet of water, capturing 60,000 barrels of fluid per day at pressures of 15,000 pounds per square inch. A more comprehensive system, which can operate in 10,000 feet of water, and capture 100,000 barrels of fluid a day, will be available by the middle of next year.
