[B]BP Ship Catches Fire After Lightning Strike, Causing Halt to Oil Retrieval[/B]
BP Suspends Oil Spill Recovery After Ship Fire (Update1)
By Jim Polson
June 15 (Bloomberg) – BP Plc said it temporarily stopped collecting oil from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico after a fire aboard the collecting vessel.
There was no damage as a result of the fire, said Toby Odone, a BP spokesman. Recovery is expected to resume today, he said.
Collection stopped as a safety precaution because of the fire, which was observed at 10:30 a.m. New York time and may have been caused by lightning, London-based BP said today in an e-mailed statement. The company said there were no injuries.
The fire was atop the derrick of the Discoverer Enterprise, the drillship that’s been collecting about 15,000 barrels a day from the well for the past week. The drillship is capturing oil from a well that began leaking after an April 20 explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf.
The fire today occurred as crew prepared to begin collecting oil and gas aboard a second vessel, a step aimed at reducing the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf.
Operations may begin today on the floating rig Q4000, expected to increase the oil-capture capacity more than 50 percent to 28,000 barrels a day, Robert Wine, a BP spokesman, said earlier today.
[I]To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 15, 2010 15:02 EDT[/I]