BP has today managed to lower a containment cap onto its ruptured deep-sea wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico in a bid to siphon off some of the oil billowing from its gusher.
President Barack Obama cancelled his trip set for this month to Australia and Indonesia to deal with the ongoing oil spill crisis and other matters, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. The oil spill, which began in April, is causing an ecological and economic disaster along the US Gulf Coast.
Mr Obama is to visit the Gulf Coast today in his third visit to the region.
The US Coast Guard in a statement said British energy giant BP had successfully attached the cylindrical well cap onto the jagged top of the crippled wellhead assembly using underwater robots.
"The placement of the containment cap is another positive development in BP's most recent attempt to contain the leak, however, it will be some time before we can confirm that this method will work and to what extent it will mitigate the release of oil into the environment," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in the statement.
"Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix and we must continue our aggressive response operations at the source, on the surface and along the Gulf's precious coastline," he added.
BP aims for the containment cap placed over the gushing well pipe in the Gulf of Mexico to stop at least 90 per cent of the flow of oil spilling into the ocean, an official with the British energy giant said today.
"I'd like to see us capture 90 plus per cent of this flow. I think that's possible with this design," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles told the CBS Early Show. "Of course what we have to do is work through the next 24 or 48 hours to optimise that. But that would be the goal. . . . We want to stop this oil from spilling to the sea."
Mr Suttles told CNN of the containment cap: "It should work."
Once the containment cap is firmly in place over the wellhead, the plan is to start funneling at least some of the escaping oil and gas into a large hose that would carry it from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to the surface, where it would be collected in ships and safely removed.
Earlier, a live video feed of the blowout site, located on the ocean floor about a mile down, showed the device being placed as oil and gas continued to billow up.
The latest attempt to collect at least some of the escaping crude oil and siphon it safely to collection ships on the surface offers the most immediate hope of gaining control over the worst oil spill in US history.
Earlier yesterday, BP's robot submarines sheared away the oil-spewing well pipe after two days of attempts, clearing the way for the lowering of the cap. Following the success, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said the next 12 to 24 hours would determine whether the capping operation will succeed.
Oil has been pouring into the Gulf unchecked at a rate of up to 19,000 barrels a day since an explosion April 20th that demolished a BP-contracted drilling platform off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 crewmen and unleashing an environmental disaster.
BP has said it does not expect to be able to fully halt the oil flow until August, when two relief wells are due for completion, despite mounting pressure from the public and the US government.
The Obama administration yesterday said it had sent a preliminary bill for $69 million to BP and "other responsible parties" to cover oil spill costs.
The president told CNN's Larry King Live broadcast last night that he is "furious at this entire situation" in the Gulf because "somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions." Mr Obama said he has not seen enough of a rapid response from BP.
He also cited research suggesting that a powerful hurricane could help break up the far-flung oil slick, and that a smaller tropical storm could be worse for the spill because it might leave the slick more intact while washing it further inland.
Reuters