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![Plans to Stop Oil Crisis]()
This undated graphic depicts BP's plan to drill two wells designed to intersect the original wellbore above the oil reservoir and allow heavy fluid to be pumped into the well and stop the oil from flowing (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The box was about 4,000 feet underwater before dawn Friday, with another 1,000 feet to go, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
Seen here is the 100-ton concrete-and-steel box that is to be placed over a blown-out well on the Gulf floor in an unprecedented attempt to capture gushing oil (AP).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The quest took on added urgency as oil reached several barrier islands off the Louisiana coast, many of them fragile animal habitats (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The containment vessel that will be used to try to contain the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is loaded onto a barge to be transported to the rig collapse site in Port Fouchon, La. (AP).![Unprecedented Effort]()
Crewmen aboard the motor vessel Joe Griffith guide a pollution containment chamber onto the deck as the ship is prepared to depart Wild Well Control off Port Fourchon, LA. (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
Oil washes onto the sides of a pollution containment chamber as the mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000 lowers it into the Gulf of Mexico over the site of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Reuters).![Unprecedented Effort]()
This type of procedure is unprecedented, and BP could be taking a risk by implementing it. BP spokesman David Nicholas said, "We haven't done this before. It's very complex and we can't guarantee it." (AP).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The crew of the semi-submersible drilling vessel Helix Q4000 waited hours longer than expected to hoist the contraption from the deck of the Joe Griffin supply boat because dangerous fumes rising from the oily water on a windless night had delayed the work (AP).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but never at such extreme depths -- 5,000 feet down, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine (AP).![Unprecedented Effort]()
The dropping of the box is just one of many strategies being pursued to stave off a widespread environmental disaster. BP is drilling sideways into the blown-out well in hopes of plugging it from the bottom. Also, oil company engineers are examining whether the leak could be shut off by sealing it from the top instead (AP).![Shipping_Out_the_Dome_3]()
The barge Joe Griffin turns around in a channel after a crane loaded a chamber, center, that will be used to help contain oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform in Port Fourchon, La., Wednesday, May 5, 2010.![Shipping_Out_the_Dome]()
A containment dome made for the leak created by the recent collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is loaded by crane on to a ship, at the Port of Fourchon, La., Wednesday, May 5, 2010.![Shipping_Out_the_Dome_2]()
A containment dome, left, made for the leak created by the recent collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is loaded by crane on to a ship, at the Port of Fourchon, La., Wednesday, May 5, 2010.![Building_the_Dome_4]()
April 26: A welder fabricates a portion of the BP subsea oil recovery system chamber at Wild Well Control, Inc. in Port Fourchon, La. The chamber will be one of the largest ever built and will be used in an attempt to contain an oil leak related to the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon explosion.![Building_the_Dome_3]()
April 26: The base of a pollution containment chamber is moved to a construction area at Wild Well Control, Inc. in Port Fourchon, La., April 26, 2010. The chamber will be one of the largest ever built and will be used in an attempt to contain an oil leak related to the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon explosion.![Building_the_Dome_2]()
Workers at the Wild Well Control company work on a containment chamber that will be used to help contain the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Port Fourchon, La., Monday, May 3, 2010. The chamber will be lowered onto the well and capture the oil that is spilling into the Gulf Of Mexico.![Building_the_Dome]()
Workers at the Wild Well Control company work on a containment chamber that will be used to help contain the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Port Fourchon, La., Monday, May 3, 2010. The chamber will be lowered onto the well and capture the oil that is spilling into the Gulf Of Mexico.BP's Big Gamble to Contain Gulf Oil Spill
BP aims to lessen environmental disaster through a 100-ton concrete-and-steel box it will place over a blown-out well on the Gulf floor -- an unprecedented attempt to capture gushing oil.
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- BP's Big Gamble to Contain Gulf Oil Spill
