that in the well that they were working on. so they have to remove that. that could take another day, day and a half before they can get started on this kill, this latest kill process. what does that involve? well, it s sort of several phases here. one is through the temporary cap, the static kill as they are calling it. you know, pumping more mud in there and hopefully sealing that with cement. and thn the second phase, the more permanent phase would be the bottom kill in the relief well. that, too, would permanently plug that well. that could still take many weeks. they re still giving an estimate of that of late august. okay. michelle, scaling back the operations has been discussion there from the head of bp, mr. dudley. but on the surface is what he s talking about. what about what s happening underneath the water? reporter: you know, they had a hard time since that temporary cap went into place of finding oil on the surface. a little bit of sheen here and there. not like the
the well bore, then eventually run the rest of the liner and cement that. that process is basically a five to seven-day process. until that is complete, they can t start the static kill process. that would put us at about a week from now. they tell me that i asked, why the static kill, if it ain t broke, don t fix it, let s wait until the leaf well is drilled. but they are emphatic the static kill operation will make the bottom kill from that relief well much, much quicker an much, much easier. that s where we are right now. as far as oil that was affected by the storm, it is getting more difficult to see significant oil because that cap s been on there for ten days now. but there were a couple of spots that did see an infiltration of oil because of bonnie. it wasn t a strong storm but we can pretty good strong onshore winds for a good 24 hours and there was significant oil offshore of grand isle that was getting closer an closer. but here in the mississippi sound, no reports of seei
not such a big threat to lives or profit along the gulf coast. but this adds delay to the agony of the oil spill. we were so close to beginning the kill process on this well this weekend, and now it s been delayed by at least 48 hours, perhaps as long as a week in order to get those vessels back on-site and reconnect the process of killing this well. that s the known process that has to take place to end the crisis in the gulf of mexico. the good news is that that cap remains on top of the well, so no oil is leaking into the gulf of mexico. but everyone is tense until that well is actually killed. and that process has been delayed by bonnie. so what are we talking here? how much is this going to set us back? and when are those boats going to be able to get back to the site and get working again on the relief wells? reporter: well, the coast guard has said it will take about 48 hours for some of the vessels to get back. it ll take perhaps a week or so for some of them to reconnect t
tonight, tomorrow, those ships will return to the area and begin the relief well process, which was supposed to begin today. today we would have been telling you about the beginning of the end of the kill process for this well, but that will have to wait a couple more days. veronica? regardless, though, this is going to impede the progress being made there, charles. how much progress will it be impeded? reporter: well, by several days. the good news is, that cap is in place. there s no oil of appreciable amounts of oil flowing into the gulf of mexico. and haven t been for the last eight to ten days. that s the best news of all because out in the gulf of mexico, there are still large pockets of oil, but they re shrinking in size and they re becoming harder to find according to the coast guard. that s why they pulled many of the skimming vessels off ahead of the storm. charles hadlock, live for us this morning in venice, louisiana. thank you so much. and for the latest on the tro
to a point where it could intercept the corrupted well but they have to put in a steel reinforced casing the. that is the last step. they won t begin that until they get an all-clear from the forecasters who are watching the storm. they don t want to start this process and then have to disrupt it and move off scene for up to 10 to 14 days, the admiral says, if a storm does come through. they re watching this system and they have everything in place right now to begin it. if the storm goes away, here s the scenario. they will put the casing in and t they will intercept the well this weekend and then begin the top kill. they will pour in mud and push the oil back into the reservoir. they will put cement down at the bottom of that casing and then let that dry for seven to ten days and then begin the kill process at the bottom of the well. so, if everything remains online, we should be out of this disaster, at least worrying