Royal Dutch Shell
PLC said Monday it had temporarily abandoned a deepwater well in the Gulf of
Mexico after it spilled 319 barrels of fluid used to drill the well.
A company spokeswoman said the leak on its Deepwater Nautilus rig occurred
Sunday while drilling the well in about 7,200 feet of water
southeast of New Orleans. Shell said it has stopped the leak and will
temporarily abandon the well while it makes repairs, said spokeswoman Kelly op
de Weegh. She did not have an estimate of how long the repairs would take.
Shell
said federal regulators have approved its plan, which involves removing an
underwater pipeline that connects the rig to the blowout preventer on the
seafloor.
Shell
wasn't involved in the Deepwater Horizon spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico,
but the Deepwater Nautilus rig it is using has the exact design and is
considered a "sister" rig of the Deepwater Horizon.