BP make fresh bid to cap oil well

Oil giant BP sliced off a pipe with giant shears in the latest bid to curtail the worst oil spill in US history in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, the the cut was jagged and placing a cap over the gusher proved to be a challenge.

Video footage last night showed an inverted funnel-like cap – slightly wider than the severed pipe – being manoeuvred into place over the oil spewing from the well.

But the gushing oil made it very difficult to tell if the cap was fitting well. BP spokesman Toby Odone said he had no immediate information on whether the cap was successfully attached.

A rubber seal on the inside will attempt to keep oil from escaping, though engineers acknowledge some crude will still come out.

The placement of the cap was a positive step to contain the leak, but not a solution, said US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.

He added: “Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix and we must continue our aggressive response operations at the source, on the surface and along the Gulf’s precious coastline.”

BP turned to the giant shears after a diamond-tipped saw became stuck in the pipe halfway through the job, yet another frustrating delay in the six-week-old spill. The cap could be set over the gusher as early as Thursday night.

If the cap can be put on successfully, BP will siphon the oil and gas to a tanker on the surface.

“It’s an important milestone, and in some sense, it’s just the beginning,” BP chief executive Tony Hayward said.

An estimated 500,000 gallons to one million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

On East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast, workers found birds coated in thick, black oil, while some images reveal brown pelicans in a similar state, struggling and flailing in the surf.

Anywhere between 21 million gallons and 46 million gallons of oil has spewed into the Gulf, according to US government estimates.

Mr Hayward promised that the company would clean up every drop of oil and “restore the shoreline to its original state.”

“BP will be here for a very long time. We realise this is just the beginning,” he said.

Yesterday, the firm came under attack from US president Barack Obama, who said he was “furious” about the oil spill.

The president added in an interview on CNN’s Larry King Live that BP has not moved fast enough to respond to the incident.