Exxon says Gulf oil spill response system ready

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A rapid-response system of ships and deepwater equipment designed to stop or contain a future oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is ready for use, an Exxon Mobil Corp executive said on Thursday.

Clay Vaughn, vice president of deepwater projects at Exxon's development arm, told reporters the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), a $1 billion nonprofit organization backed by Exxon and other oil majors, has a system ready for deepwater oil and gas producers as required to get drilling permits approved by U.S. regulators.

He said MWCC has worked with the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, providing necessary documentation while readying the system.

BOEM has not approved a permit for a new deepwater exploratory well since it lifted its temporary ban on drilling at depths of more than 500 feet last October.

"We believe what we provided is sufficient and meets the intent of the regulation and can be included in permit applications today," Vaughn said. "The ultimate test will be those permit approvals."

The system resembles the collection of seabed equipment and surface vessels BP PLC used last summer to contain and cap its Macondo well that ruptured and spewed more than 4 million barrels of crude and ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Post-Macondo, regulators require deepwater operators to provide worst-case oil and gas flow scenarios if a blowout occurs and they must have access to and be able to deploy a spill containment system.

"We're open for business today," Vaughn said.

BOEM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The MWCC system includes a huge "capping stack" of valves and pipes, controlled by underwater robots, that can be placed atop a spewing well in 8,000 feet of water to stop the flow.

If that's not enough, a series of ships, pipes and hoses can be hooked up to seabed equipment to channel up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day to the surface.

BP provided some of the pipes, valves, and seabed equipment used at the Macondo well, Vaughn said.

The Macondo well was in 5,000 feet of water, and a government team estimated that it spewed between 62,000 and 53,000 barrels per day from the April 20 blowout until it was capped in July.

An expanded system, which Vaughn said would be ready next year, will be able to handle flows of up to 100,000 barrels per day from wells in up to 10,000 feet of water.

The MWCC systems also will have metering equipment that can measure the flow, Vaughn said. The Macondo systems lacked a meter and government scientists had to estimate its flow.

Exxon's partners in the MWCC are Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips. BP became a member shortly after the final kill of the Macondo well last September.

Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc has a separate response and containment system available to Gulf producers. It centers on two vessels that BP used in the Macondo response that collected and processed or burned off some of the spewing crude.

(Editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)

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