BP has stopped one of three oil leaks from its well in the Gulf of Mexico as efforts continue to stem a spill after a drilling rig sank last month.
Crews successfully closed a valve installed yesterday, stopping leakage near the well head, a US coast guard spokesman said. There is no change in the official estimate that the well is leaking 5,000 barrels of oil a day, he said.
BP is planning to have an underwater containment structure on the well working within five days that would capture oil from the largest leak and pump it to a ship on the surface.
The Deepwater Horizon rig, which BP leased from Geneva- based Transocean, exploded on April 20th and sank two days later.
Oil leaking from the well may by the third week of June surpass the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.
The leak that has been successfully stemmed is upstream from the primary leak at the end of the broken drill pipe.
BP and the US coast guard have warned there is potential for greater leakage from the well because something has kept it from flowing at a full rate. A partially closed valve or a kink in the pipe may be causing the constriction.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is backing "significantly" higher limits for damages that BP might face for the oil spill and has said it will not rule out scaling back plans to expand offshore drilling.
"Beyond clean-up and containment, BP must be held responsible for the damages this spill causes," White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the White House website.
The administration "strongly supports" a move in Congress to raise an existing $75 million cap on damages under the Oil Pollution Act.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward said yesterday he expects that limit will be exceeded. The company will honour all "legitimate" claims from those harmed, such as the region's fishing and tourist industry, he said after meeting Gulf Coast politicians in Washington.
Bloomberg