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William E. Gale, Jr.

From: "Deepwater Horizon Response External Affairs" To: Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 2:00 PMSubject: Press Briefing by National Incident Commander June 3, 2010

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6/3/2010

DATE: June 03, 2010 15:47:58 CST

Press Briefing by National Incident Commander June 3, 2010

METAIRIE, La.- Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander for the Deepwater BP oil spill response, briefed national and

international media today on developments in the ongoing response. The briefing took place at 9:15 a.m. at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans.

Click hereto listen to an audio file of the briefing.

The entire transcript follows.

U.S. COAST GUARD ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN: Good morning, folks.

For the first time in a couple of days, I have some good news. We have just cut the riser pipe off lower marine package and we got the word from

Houstonthey had to use the shear cutters, which are the ones they used to do the other riser pipe cut yesterday. As you know, the other saw

that we were attempting to use was not successful in getting through the riser pipe in the internal drill pipe, so we replaced it with the shears,

Key contact numbers

Report oiled shoreline or request volunteer information: (866)448-5816

Submit alternative response technology, services or products:(281) 366-5511

Submit your vessel for the Vessel of Opportunity Program: (281)366-5511

Submit a claim for damages: (800) 440-0858

Report oiled wildlife: (866) 557-1401

Medical support hotline: (888) 623-0287

Deepwater Horizon IncidentJoint Information Center

Phone: (985) 902-5231

(985) 902-5240

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exactly a perpendicular fit.

And they have a couple of others that are stored on the sea floor down there, so they have other options, but given the type of cut they have right

now, this is the best containment cap to be used and it is not like the one that was used earlier.

Q: OK. All right. Thank you.

ADM. ALLEN: Yes.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from the line of Susan Baker.

Q: Hi, Admiral. This is Susan Baker with Dow Jones. Since the diamond shear cut didnt work, will this essentially make the spill worse in the

short term?

ADM. ALLEN: It will not make the spill worse. There are two issues related to oil coming out while were doing this. Number one, no matter what

type of cut we would have made, there was a potential, at least in the minds of our technical flow rate team, that we could increase the number of

hydrocarbons coming out or oil coming out by about 20 percent and that was an estimate based on the fact that if the kink was actually holding

back some of the oil, it could be release.

Q: Okay.

ADM. ALLEN: So thats one issue. The other issue is once any containment cap is on, since its not a perfect seal, there is a chance some oil

could escape. In a perfect world, we would want an absolute seal where you put two pipes together with flanges and you bolt it so theres

absolutely no way where anything could escape. And you do know with these rubber seals in an irregular fit, theres a chance that the pressure of

the oil going up through the pipe will be more than what the pipe can tolerate at a particular time, it would spill over and maybe get out through the

seals. We intend to treat that with subsea dispersants and the amount of oil that might get through that seal is something were just going to have

to determine as they put this thing down over the riser pipe and get the best fit they can.

Q: Okay.

ADM. ALLEN: Next question.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from the line of Karen Zidevogel. Karen , your line is open.

Q: Sorry. I think that might be, but it was nothing like my name. Its Karen Zidevogel from AFP. I have a question. You just mentioned subsea

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commander?

ADM. ALLEN: Well, you know this word trust comes up a lot so why don't we have like a frank, an honest discussion about this. There are a lot

of ways to define trust. When I have a discussion with anybody, including Tony Hayward, and I create an expectation as the national incident

commander, my expectation is they will do what I ask.

They comply with my requests and they continue to do that and theyand they are responsive. I don't know how you'd characterize thatif it's

trust, if it's partnership. Whatever it is, there is a need to cooperatively proceed forward and address these problems for the American people.

Requests we have made to British Petroleum for live video feeds, for technical briefings, for a hydrocarbon management plan, the dispersant

plans associated with top killevery time I've asked for those they've been given to me.

There are issues from time to time with logistical coordination on cleanup operations, ordering a boom and how fast that gets there. They tend to

be more issues of how we coordinate and how we actually work together out there in creating unity of effort.

I don't know how to state it any more clearly than the fact that when I deal frankly and openly with Mr. Hayward and I make a request, I get an

answer. When I ask for action, it is taken. Next question.

LT. CMDR. RUSSELL: Operator, last question.

ADM. ALLEN: Last question.

OPERATOR: Your last question comes from the line of Jessica Resnick-Ault

Q: Hello, Admiral Allen. This is Jessica Resnick-Ault with Bloomberg News. I had a few questions, but I guess the most pressing thing goes back

to this issue of the oil that could push out from the rubber seals as you described it earlier.

I'm curious as to how much oil you see leaking out. I understand it's obviously very preliminary but what arewhat are the scientists seeing? I

mean, at this point we knew, for example, that cutting into the riser pipe could cause a 20 percent increase in flow. What kind of a percentage

increase do they see from this? Howor what kind of percentage do they see not being trapped in this cap?

ADM. ALLEN: What's happening, the containment cap is going to capture the oil being brought up through the wellbore by the pressure in the

reservoir that's down below.

g

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Q: Right.

ADM. ALLEN: We know the pressure in the reservoir is somewhere around 9,000 psi, and the pressure readings taken just before the top kill

operation began last week indicated that the pressure at the blowout preventer was around 3,500 psi.

In other words, that's the pressure of the oil coming up through the wellbore. It is counter-balanced by the hydrostatic pressure of the water at

5,000 feet. There was pressure for the oil to come up into the pipe and rise up to be produced at the vessel on the top and theand the natural

gas flared off.

The question is, will the pressure of the oil going up into a much smaller pipe, and the drilland the pipes you're looking at are smaller than the

wellbore themselves, if they completely fill up and more pressure is created there, will enough pressure be created where it'll force the oil around

the sides and back down and out the oil seals?

And the answer is, I don't think we know until we know how the containment cap is seated on there and how well the rubber seals have done their

job. And we actually have some video that takes a look and tells us how much oil, if any, is coming out around it.

We could be lucky. There could be close to none. There could be some. I don't think we know until we actually see how the seal fits with the

more jagged cut out there than what we anticipated with the fine cut. We'll have to wait and see and we're going to have the video. We'll be

talking very frankly and openly about it when we know. Thank you.

Q: Thank you.

ADM. ALLEN: (Inaudible), everybody. Thank you.

LT. CMDR. RUSSELL: That's it.

ADM. ALLEN: Back to the office.

OPERATOR: This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.

END

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For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

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6/3/2010