BP says oil-siphoning tube not working as well as before [View All]

Source: Associated Press

BP says oil-siphoning tube not working as well as before
By The Associated Press
May 23, 2010, 11:07AM

COVINGTON, La. -- Three top Obama administration officials are returning to the Gulf Coast to monitor the massive oil spill that seems to have no end in sight, as BP PLC officials said Sunday that one of their efforts to slow the leak wasn't working as effectively as before.

BP spokesman John Curry told The Associated Press on Sunday that a mile-long tube inserted into the leaking well siphoned some 57,120 gallons of oil within the past 24 hours, a sharp drop from the 92,400 gallons of oil a day that the device was sucking up on Friday. However, the company has said the amount of oil siphoned will vary widely from day to day.

Engineers are working furiously to stem the growing ooze as more wildlife and delicate coastal wetlands are tainted despite the oil-absorbing booms placed around shorelines to protect them.



Oil booms and dead fish, bottom, are seen in a marsh impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Pass a Loutre, along the coast of Louisiana, Saturday, May 22, 2010.



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