A mile-long tube has been successfully deployed to slow most of the flow of oil blasting out of a broken undersea pipe in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP spokesman announced Sunday.
Mark Proegler said that one end of the tube was slipped inside the larger, broken pipe on the seafloor, which has been spewing crude oil into the water for three weeks. The surface end of the tube was hooked up to a tanker which began capturing oil almost immediately, he said.
This is the first time crews have gained even partial control over the leak since a BP-owned rig exploded, caught fire and sank three weeks ago, killing 11 people.
Proelger said the tube began siphoning off most of the oil spilling from the leak soon after it was carefully placed into the ruptured 21-inch piping on the seafloor by engineers gingerly steering deep-sea robots.
Top U.S. officials warned the tube "is not a solution" to the devastating spill and said they would continue to monitor the situation.
"We will not rest until BP permanently seals the wellhead, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a joint statement.
BP has spent three weeks trying to contain the leak that's been fouling the Gulf of Mexico and the latest effort had several setbacks.
Engineers said on Saturday that they had initially failed to connect two pieces of equipment deep below the water's surface.
BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles said one piece of equipment, called the framework, had to be brought to the surface and adjusted to fit with the long tube that connects to a tanker above.
"The frame shifted, so they were unable to make that connection," said Suttles.
Positioning the mechanism in 1,500 metres of water was difficult enough on its own, but the force of the oil rushing out of the pipe made the work even tougher.
The tube is capturing more than three-quarters of the crude leaking out of the well. The company also must contend with a smaller leak that's farther away.
A week ago, BP workers tried to put a massive box over the main leak, but ice-like crystals formed inside and the plan had to be scrapped.
The best chance to permanently stop the leak comes from a relief well that is currently being drilled. But although the work is about halfway done, it's likely months away from being completed.
To deal with the oil already spilled, BP began this weekend to spray undersea dispersants at the leak site. It reported that the chemicals appeared to have reduced the amount of surface oil.
Federal regulators on Friday approved the underwater use of the chemicals, which act like a detergent to break the oil into small globules and allow it to disperse more quickly into the water or air before it comes ashore.
But with the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology suggesting that the undersea plumes it's spotted might be the result of those dispersants, it's unclear what environmental impact the chemicals will have.
The decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to use the dispersants has angered local fishermen, who complained regulators ignored their concerns about the effects on fish.
"The EPA is conducting a giant experiment with our most productive fisheries by approving the use of these powerful chemicals on a massive, unprecedented scale," John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said in a news release.
'Shocking amount of oil'
Scientists announced Sunday they'd found huge plumes of oil lurking under the surface.
Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said they had detected three or four large plumes under the water. One is at least 16 kilometres long and a 1.6 kilometres wide. Some of the plumes are just below the surface, while others have been spotted at depths of more than 1,200 metres.
Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia told the New York Times that the find suggests "a shocking amount of oil" in the deep water relative to what has been seen on the surface.
"There's a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column," she told the newspaper.
Joye and fellow researchers were testing the effects of large amounts of sub-sea oil on oxygen levels in the water. Oil can deplete oxygen in the water, which is expected to threaten populations of plankton and other tiny creatures that serve as food for a wide variety of sea creatures.
Oxygen levels in some areas have dropped 30 per cent, and should continue to drop, Joye said. She said it could take years -- possibly decades -- for the system to recover from an infusion of this size of oil and gas.
"We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact," she said.
At least 790,000 litres -- or 5,000 barrels -- of oil has gushed into the Gulf of Mexico each day since an oil rig exploded April 20.
With reports from the Associated Press
