Oil spill system for U.S. gulf enhanced

HOUSTON, June 15 (UPI) -- An interim response system meant to handle a potential oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico can work in water depths of 10,000 feet, a containment company said.

The non-profit Marine Well Containment Co. was set up in the wake of the oil spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico to respond to disasters like the incident at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

MWCC announced that it increased the abilities of its capping system. It can work in water depths of 10,000 feet, an increase of 2,000 feet.

"This increase in our capability demonstrates our commitment to providing a comprehensive deepwater well containment system for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico," MWCC Chief Executive Officer Marty Massey said in a statement. "Our goal is to continually advance deep-water well containment technology to keep pace with our member companies' needs."

Members include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Apache, Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess. Those companies operated approximately 70 percent of deep-water wells drilled in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from 2007-09.

An interim response system developed by the MWCC could contain as much as 60,000 barrels of fluid per day in the event of a spill. A system set for 2012 could capture up to 100,000 barrels and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

More than 50,000 barrels of oil per day was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico last year before a failed well was capped in July. The failed well was situated in about 5,000 feet of water.