BP
PLC's (BP,
BP.LN)
oil collection efforts dropped on Wednesday after spending much of the
day reinstalling a containment cap on a leaking well in the Gulf of
Mexico, the company said in a statement Thursday.
BP
collected 16,830 barrels of oil, down nearly 40% from the day before.
Earlier on Wednesday, a robot submarine collided with the containment
cap, jostling it loose and forcing the company to halt the flow of oil
up to the Discoverer Enterprise rig on the surface.
The containment cap, which can collect up to 18,000 barrels a
day, was reinstalled on the well's blowout preventer at 7:30 p.m. EDT on
Wednesday, the company said. Another vessel, the Q4000, continued to
capture oil throughout the day at a rate of about 10,000 barrels a day. BP
needs both containment systems working to meet its promise to the U.S.
Coast Guard to collect 53,000 barrels a day by next week.
BP
made that pledge as the company and the federal government have come
under increasing political pressure to halt the flow of oil from the
well, which has leaked since April. The spill was triggered when the
Deepwater Horizon rig working on the well for BP
caught fire and sank.
BP
and the U.S. Coast Guard have raised estimates of the amount of oil
gushing into the Gulf many times since the accident. BP's
promised collection rate totals more than 50 times the initial estimate
of the flow rate from the well.
The federal government estimates that anywhere from 35,000 to
60,000 barrels a day are escaping into the Gulf. Meanwhile, the Coast
Guard is working with the oil industry on contingency plans in case more
oil begins spilling from a new leak, or if a storm disrupts containment
efforts on the surface.
Oil companies are considering a plan to divert oil to nearby
platforms and pipelines, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Tuesday.
The first major storm since the Deepwater Horizon sank may
reach the Gulf of Mexico as early as next week. The National Hurricane
Center is tracking a tropical wave making its way through the Caribbean
Sea, which the latest forecast gives a 40% chance of strengthening to
become the first named storm of the 2010 hurricane season.
In Washington, officials are looking for ways to keep an
offshore drilling ban in place after U.S. District Court Judge Martin
Feldman overturned the six-month moratorium on Tuesday. Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar outlined plans on Wednesday to implement a new ban
that allows some drilling.
However, the department is now reviewing BP's
Liberty project off the coast of Alaska. BP
is drilling from a man-made island, allowing work to continue despite
the offshore moratorium. "We want to keep the moratorium in place until
we get to a level where we can provide a sense of safety to the American
people that drilling can, in fact, continue," Salazar told the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. "How that will all
come together is something that we're working on."