Jul. 21, 2010 (United Press International) -- Four oil company giants say they plan to design and manufacture equipment to respond to spills such as the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
They also plan to reassure members of Congress worried about future deepwater drilling, The Washington Post said.
The Wall Street Journal said the four companies are pooling $1 billion to underwrite the joint venture.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Chevron are set to unveil the plan Thursday, which would prepare much of the equipment that BP only began to design and assemble after the disaster, the Post report said.
The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. The rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico two days later. Oil gushed from the crippled well a mile below sea level for almost three months until it was temporarily stopped last week.
The Post said the new plan focuses on how to stop the flow of oil from a leaking subsea well quickly and how to channel the oil to vessels nearby. Sources in the industry told the Post the plan will probably include a containment cap.
The Journal said the joint venture's equipment will include a containment vessel, capable of capturing up to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and other high-tech equipment.
"This will be state-of-the-art response equipment," one company told the Journal. "In the event the unthinkable happens, we will be able to respond within 24 hours of the incident."
The plan surfaces as Congress is considering new requirements for deepwater offshore drilling, halted by a six-month moratorium imposed by the Obama administration.
