A gas well leaking in the Gulf of Mexico has been temporarily blocked – but stormy weather conditions have hampered efforts to permanently stop it.
The 40-year-old Ship Shoal 225 well, around 75 miles from the Louisiana coast, began leaking on Sunday night during efforts to shut it down.
Specialists pumped drilling mud into the well late last night, temporarily stopping the flow of gas to the surface.
“The flow from the well was completely stopped yesterday evening before dark,” David Blackmon, a spokesman for well operators Energy Resource Technology, told Fuel Fix.
“They’ve been monitoring the well overnight, per guidance from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.”
During the leak, the well discharging around 3.6barrels of condensate a day – enough to produce a four-mile rainbow sheen on the water, though that has largely evaporated off.
Regulators at the Interior Department bureau could give the go-ahead to permanently seal the well with cement later today, although thunderstorms in the area could slow operations.