After 24 hours, company estimates 1,000 b/d is now being sucked up by RITT
Sunday, May 16, nearly four weeks after the sinking of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the company has put into place the riser insertion tube tool (RITT) containment system in the end of the leaking riser at well MC252 and commenced drilling of a second relief well.
Operations on the RITT began during the day to allow oil and gas to flow through the tool up to the drillship Discoverer Enterprise on the surface 5,000 feet above. Produced oil is being stored on the drillship while produced gas is being flared.
After nearly 24 hours in place, BP’s COO Doug Suttles told CNN that nearly 1,000 barrels of oil per day is being sucked up by the RITT. 
BP also continues to develop options to shut off the flow of oil from the well through interventions via the well’s failed BOP.
Plans for a “top kill” operation where heavy drilling fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by cement to seal the well, continue to be developed.
A second relief well was also started this weekend. The GSF Development Driller II semisub initiated the relief well Sunday, nearly two weeks after the May 2 spudding of the first relief well. BP is drilling the relief wells to intercept the original wellbore above the oil reservoir at approximately 16,000 feet.
This second well will serve as a backup should BP have any problems reaching the target with the first. Each of these wells is estimated to take some three months to complete from the commencement of drilling.
Work continues to collect and disperse oil that has reached the surface of the sea. Over 650 vessels are involved in the response effort and BP estimates some 151,000 barrels (6.3 million gallons) of oily liquid have been removed from the water’s surface.
Who will be held responsible for Deepwater Horizon?
Oil spill causes huge shake-up at MMS
BP battling financial disaster
