Gulf oil spill latest: Still no answer three weeks on

When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank in the Gulf of Mexico three weeks ago, robotic submarines were sent to initiate a valve to plug the leak. Three weeks and several methods later, BP are planning to stem the flow by blasting mashed up debris into the leaking pipe.

Admiral Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commander in charge of dealing with the crisis called the measure a 'junk shot', and it is the latest desperate measure to plug the 5000 barrels (200,000 gallons) of crude spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

As recently as this past weekend BP employed a 400 ton containment tank that was supposed to embed itself into the sand at the leak site, and siphon 85 percent of the crude spewing into the ocean up to the surface, with the idea of preventing the contamination of the spill and collecting oil for reuse.

Oil spill dome failure

However the similar domes had never been used at 5000 feet below sea level, and ice-like crystallized methane gas inside a 120-ton steel chamber clogged within the dome prevented oil from siphoning to the surface, forcing BP into another corner, and facing an offshore oil catastrophe on a par with the Exxon Valdez spill 20 years ago.

However, with the debris littering the ocean floor making the spillage impossible to plug, BP has suggested it thinks a smaller dome could do the trick.

"We're going to pursue the first option that's available to us and we think it'll be the top hat," the smaller box, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.

The smaller dome will be available within a few days, and if that fails then BP have suggested they may adopt a technique called 'Top Kill', which involves blasting mud and concrete directly into the well's blow-out preventer in a hope of stopping the leak.

BP is under excruciating pressure to prevent the leak, as over 600 marine species are endangered and oil is now being deposited on the Southern beaches of the US.

Crews have laid more than 900,000 feet of containment boom and spread 290,000 gallons of chemical dispersant.

An estimated 85,000 barrels of oil have leaked into the Gulf since the well exploded April 20, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The cost so far is estimated to be in the $35 billion region.

Related articles:

Oil spill latest: The cost of clumsiness | Gulf oil spill latest: Containing the spill | US oil rig sinks and causes oil spill off US coast | BP - Still no answers for oil spill

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