BP forged ahead with its latest effort to curb the flow of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico as the US government began criminal and civil investigations into the disaster.
A mile below the ocean surface, BP began a new strategy to tackle the six-week-old drama, using underwater robots to cut away extraneous pipes before trying to contain the leaking oil and channel it to a ship on the surface.
This latest attempted fix actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained. The BP oil spill that began in April is causing an ecological and economic catastrophe along the US gulf coast.
The FBI and other federal agencies are investigating the spill and "if we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be forceful in our response," US attorney general Eric Holder said yesterday
after meeting with state and federal prosecutors in New Orleans.
BP pledged co-operation with these investigations. BP's share price has been pounded following the company's failure to stop the leak over the weekend.
BP lost 2.4 per cent in morning trading in Europe today, extending its 13.1 per cent drop in the previous session. The company has lost more than a third of its market value, or about £46 billion sterling, since the crisis began.
A source close to the company, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the undersea operations to saw through the riser pipe began late yesterday.
The strategy may offer the last best hope of at least curbing the leak before August, when the company expects to finish drilling two emergency relief wells now considered the only option for actually choking off the oil flow altogether.
The containment dome, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship a mile up on the surface.
The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.
But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring non-stop could increase the flow of crude by 20 per cent until the containment dome is lowered into place.
A US coast guard said it could take 72 hours to get the containment cap operational.
As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million litres) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20th explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.
The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in US history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.
Adding to onshore angst over the BP spill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said shifting winds could drive the surface slick, which mostly has hit Louisiana's shores so far, closer to the Alabama and Mississippi coasts.
The warning coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.
President Barack Obama yesterday vowed an overhaul of US laws and regulations needed to prevent a repeat of the rig explosion.
After meeting co-chairs of a commission that will investigate the accident, Mr Obama also raised the prospect of criminal prosecutions.
"If our laws were broken leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region," he said.
Reuters