US oil spill containment firms may work together-BP

* Marine Well Containment Co may want to work with Helix

* Both containment systems developed after BP oil spill

* Both systems "bring something to the table"-Interior

By Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - Two competing oil spill
response systems developed for the Gulf of Mexico in the
aftermath of the massive BP (BP.L) oil spill may eventually
join forces, a BP executive said on Monday.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and other oil majors formed the
non-profit Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) to develop a
system to rapidly respond to major spills after BP's oil spill
exposed the lack of equipment available to contain a deepwater
spill.

Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc (HLX.N) also developed a
separate response and containment system for Gulf producers
after the BP drilling disaster.

At the first meeting of a new government advisory panel on
offshore drilling issues, the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory
Committee panel questioned whether having two separate safety
systems was practical when there was limited design expertise
in that area.

The 15-member panel made up of industry, government and
academic experts was set up by the U.S. Interior Department to
provide guidance on offshore drilling research and practices
after last year's explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed
11 workers and unleashed nearly 5 million barrels of oil from
the Macondo well.

"I think at some point and time in the future...these
things will hopefully come together,"James Dupree, Gulf of
Mexico regional president for BP, told the panel.

BP joined MWCC after it capped its ruptured Macondo well
last year.

At the advisory committee meeting, held two days before the
one-year anniversary of the Gulf spill, Dupree discussed some
of the lessons BP learned after being involved in the largest
offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Dupree said the two containment systems were designed to
address different needs, with Helix an option for smaller firms
who may not want to make a large commitment up front.

"One of the goals potentially of the MWCC group is to see
how we can work together with the Helix group to try to
accommodate solutions for all of the Gulf of Mexico," Dupree
said.

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 oil
flow.

The Helix system involves placing a subsea shut-off device,
valves and pipes atop a blowout preventer or well production
equipment at the seabed. It would contain and channel oil and
gas to production and storage vessels at the surface.

"They both bring something to the table at this point,"
said Lars Herbst, of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management.

(Editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)