BP cap captures '10,000 barrels' a day in US Gulf

A containment cap on a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is now funnelling off 10,000 barrels of oil a day, BP's chief executive Tony Hayward says.

The amount has risen since Saturday, and implies more than half the estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels leaking each day is now being captured.

The spill has been described as the biggest environmental disaster in US history.

Mr Hayward told the BBC that BP would restore the Gulf to its original state.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Hayward said: "As we speak, the containment cap is producing around 10,000 barrels of oil a day to the surface."

Asked what amount of the estimate that represented, the BP chief executive said it was expected to be "the majority, probably the vast majority" of the oil gushing out.

"We have a further containment system to implement in the course of this coming week which will be in place by next weekend so when those two are in place, we would very much hope to be containing the vast majority of the oil."

His company, he said, was going to stop the leak and take care of the consequences.

"We're going to clean up the oil, we're going to remediate any environmental damage and we are going to return the Gulf coast to the position it was in prior to this event. That's an absolute commitment, we will be there long after the media has gone, making good on our promises."

But the man in charge of the federal efforts to cope with the spill said no-one should be pleased "as long as there's oil in the water".

Coast Guard Adm Thad Allen told CNN the spill was "an insidious enemy that's attacking our shores".

'Nightmare'The Deepwater Horizon rig sank on 20 April after an explosion, killing 11 workers.

Both BP and the US government have been criticised for the response so far. ...

via BBC News - BP cap captures '10,000 barrels' a day in US Gulf.