BP siphons 11,000 bbl/day of Gulf spill, adds ship to store oil

HOUSTON --BP siphoned 11,000 bbl from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Sunday, up from 10,500 bbl on Saturday and 6,000 bbl in Friday s initial operations, the US Coast Guard said on Monday.

Moreover, BP was set to bring in another ship to hold oil collected by the containment cap system, raising its storage capacity to 20,000 bbl/day, Admiral Thad Allen said at a White House press briefing. Allen is the US National Incident Commander for the oil spill.

Allen estimated that oil was being collected at a rate of 15,000 bbl/day on Monday, but cautioned that the rate was subject to fluctuations throughout the day. US officials had estimated the leak at 12,000-25,000 bbl/day, and Allen declined to speculate on what percentage of the oil was being captured.

BP was still closing vents in its containment cap in an attempt to increase the siphoning rate while measuring the pressure that the pipe could withstand, Allen said.

Also, officials remained concerned about the formation of crystallised gas hydrates if too much water were to enter the pipe. As a result, Allen said BP was continuing to shoot methanol down the pipe as a de-icer.

BP officials had previously said they hoped to capture 90-plus percent of the flow from the containment cap method, while Allen chacterised it as a "temporary and partial fix".

Allen also cautioned on Monday that BP may be forced to disconnect the containment cap system in the event of a hurricane in the Gulf. The Atlantic hurricane season began on 1 June, with forecasters expecting a very active season.

The only solution to completely shutting the leak remained the drilling of two relief wells, which were not expected to be completed until August.

Oil began spewing from the bottom of the Gulf after a 20 April explosion sank the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon offshore rig.

BP said that cleanup costs had reached $1.25bn ( 1.05bn)