BP announces difficulties with new well cap
Engineers have detected seepage and a possible methane gas leak on the seabed in the region of the Gulf of Mexico oil well which is causing so many problems for the company. This is a hammer blow for BP which had initially thought that the new cap was enough to stop the leak and effectively bring to an end a disastrous period in the company's history. However, engineers are now moving back to the drawing board and the US government has already requested that the new cap is removed and replaced with a more secure tool.
As a consequence, the share price of BP has fallen sharply this morning although it has to be said that slowly but surely progress is being made and the situation has improved dramatically from that of just two weeks ago. However, when the leak will be "plugged" forever is open to debate and we await details of a new timescale. The cost to BP, both in terms of cleanup costs and compensation, continues to grow on a daily basis and nobody is quite sure how high this will go and the consequence for the company in the longer term. After a few days of high hopes we are yet again moving towards another period of uncertainty.
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