Intent on showing firm command of the deepening crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, US President Barack Obama flew to coastal Louisiana today for his second in-person update on the country’s most devastating oil spill.

US president Barack Obama will return to the Gulf of Mexico coast today, insisting he is in charge of efforts to shut down what is now estimated as the worst oil spill in US history.

THE Gulf oil spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez soill as the worst in US history, according to new estimates released yesterday, but the Coast Guard and BP said an untested procedure to stop it seemed to be working.