Iran Says Stopping Gulf Oil Leak Is No Big Deal

The U.S. government is losing confidence in BP’s ability to get a handle on the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that the company would be sidelined if it is unable to plug the leak. Meanwhile, Iran continues to offer assistance to the United States.

A high-level manager at Iran’s national oil drilling company said that plugging the leak in the well is no big deal. Iran, he says, has already had considerable experience with that, especially in the wake of the 1980s war with Iraq, when its oil-drilling rigs were bombarded. The United States is unlikely to accept the Iranian offer, however, since it is locked in an apparently permanent struggle with Iran over its nuclear program.

The USA has threatened BP that it might be replaced in the project by other oil companies. If BP is unable to follow up its words with actual deeds and finally bring an end to the leak, Interior Secretary Salazar has said the company would be replaced. He made the remarks during a visit to BP’s headquarters in Houston.

Salazar said BP had missed one deadline after another, and that other oil companies might be brought in to take the lead in fighting the pollution. That threat on Monday caused the value of BP stock to slump by some 3.8 percent on London markets, placing it among the biggest losers of the day.

Worries about the spreading oil contamination have grown. BP admitted on Monday that their attempt at capturing oil leaking from the well had proven more difficult than anticipated. According to BP’s own figures, they had been able to capture slightly less than 320,000 liters (about 2,000 barrels) per day. Prior to that, BP had estimated they would be able to capture more than double that figure. BP’s public information practices came under criticism once again, with accusations that they had downplayed the extent of the oil contamination and had attempted to cover up the facts.

It still remains unclear just how much oil is being discharged daily into Gulf waters since the oil rig explosion on April 20. BP sources claim it’s around 800,000 liters (176,000 gallons) per day, but some experts say it’s probably far greater than that. On Tuesday, BP will attempt to plug the mile-deep leak using underwater robots to pump drilling mud into the opening. If that proves unsuccessful, BP intends to try pumping in an aggregate mixture consisting of golf balls, rubber tire chunks and other materials.

The oil pollution has now reached Louisiana’s coastal marshlands. More than 65 miles of shoreline is covered by a film of oil. Interior Secretary Salazar will visit the afflicted area on Monday, accompanied by Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano and a group of U.S. Senators.

Experts refuse to rule out the possibility that ocean currents could spread the contamination to Florida, Cuba and up the eastern coast of the U.S. Salazar said that BP had agreed to pay more than the legally mandated costs of coastal cleanup, currently capped at $75 million. Experts, meanwhile, say the final bill to BP could run into billions of dollars. Salazar alluded to the immense costs, saying, “This is an existential crisis for one of the world’s largest companies.”

If the government excludes BP from the cleanup effort, it’s not clear what would happen. Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, said the government itself couldn’t solve the problem because only BP and other oil concerns have the technology and equipment to successfully cap the well. Allen refused to join in the chorus of blame being directed at BP and commented, “I trust Tony Hayward. When I talk to him, I get an answer.” Allen leads the American efforts against the spreading oil contamination.

President Barack Obama expressed unusual anger on Saturday concerning the catastrophe, calling it “a failure of responsibility” shared by BP, Halliburton and Transocean. The president said, “We will draw the relevant companies to account. Not only in making the facts in the threads related to the leak transparent, but also help to close the leak to get the damage done in order and make payment of the Americans who have suffered a financial loss.”

Transocean is a Swiss-based oil drilling company hired by BP to carry out operations from the now-sunken platform. The American Halliburton company was engaged to perform cementing of the borehole. Despite the catastrophe, President Obama does not intend to suspend deep-sea oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico because it is essential to U.S. energy production. Obama did say, however, that deep-sea drilling would only resume when it’s apparent there will be no repeat of the current catastrophe.