BP says Thunder Horse platform begins straightening

BP said on Friday that its $1 billion (Bt42 billion) Thunder Horse oil and natural gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico has made a slight progress in straightening from its 20-degree tilt after workers secured pumps to remove water from ballast tanks.

BP discovered on Monday that the semi-submersible platform - the world's largest - was tilting after Hurricane Dennis struck the gulf. The company does not know the reason that led to the tilt and has said that Hurricane Dennis may not be to blame.

As Hurricane Emily could veer further north and inch closer to the offshore oil and gas installations in the gulf, BP has hired the services of the Dutch towage firm SMIT International to take the lead in the platform's recovery.

BP estimated on Friday that the side of the platform that had slumped into the ocean had risen on Thursday by about 1.5 to 3 metres from the 17 metres it had fallen.

Chappell says the platform seems to have risen a bit. He, however, could not furnish the exact measurements. He said the company has made an estimate of the platform's rise through observations from a working boat adjacent to the platform.

Ocean waves and currents also add to difficulties in gauging the progress of the work, he says. Thunder Horse was expected to produce up to 250,000 barrels of oil per day. It is the biggest planned boost in oil production in the Americas and is viewed by the United States as the biggest of a handful of offshore gulf projects that could help stop a decline in crude oil production.

The Gulf of Mexico, home to a quarter of US oil production, currently produces about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Chappell could not estimate when the platform would be fully level.