the point of intercept. we ll keep everything out here as long as weather permits and as long as it takes until the well is killed and obviously even when that happens, there s still a significant amount of oil out here in the gulf of mexico. reporter: so think of it this way, the cap is a temporary solution t a hurricane comes, it buys time but it could cut the flow the oil to the gulf. the relief well is what you want to work. mid august they say that could be done and killed. shepard: just for clarity, adam, if they try to cap it and the pressure s too great and they blow it out at the bottom, we could have bigger problems than we have now. reporter: you could have bigger problems. they would not cap if the pressure tests start to fail and they ll keep collecting oil at the top, burning it and put thing it in tankers. neil: we ll see. do you have one of these new android phones? you can read more about the
last 48 hours as a precaution. they want to measure the levels, the oil pressure levels, throughout the entire time in six hour increments to make sure they re not approaching dangerous levels that would indicate a breach in the well or a problem with the cap. if it s able to hold up to the pressure during the 48-hour time, at that point, they ll make the decision to either just leave the cap in place as essentially a cork in the well, or if there are signs of weaknesses where they continue funneling oil up to ships on the surface, and contain the oil that way, but in theory, if all goes well, virtually no additional oil will leak into the gulf from this point. shepard: what are they going to do if somewhere between the floor of the gulf and reservoir of oil, some, i don t know, three miles below that, that well core ruptures and oil
crack or weak point. what they could do according to bp, say that did happen. you can then release the valves on the cap, allow the great majority of the oil to flow and bp does have in place at the top of the gulf the facilities to capture oil coming up. the reason bp is going to say this is good news is you have a cap that, if the pressure holds and they don t have leaks, you have a cap that in case of a hurricane, they can shut it down, no oil goes not gulf for 48 hours they can protect everybody and get back out. the other thing they can do, since the cap, if it holds, if the cap works, they can open the valves to take oil to the top but not into the gulf. it goes to the q4000 and they burn it off, put it into containingers. the concern is the rupture, like the garden hose, even in they got that hole, the hose still works and you can get it up. shepard: it would then and