BP 'confident' of oil spill success

OIL giant BP said it was confident its latest experiment using a mile-long pipe would capture much of the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, even as the firm admitted yet another setback in the environmental disaster.

Engineers hit a snag when they tried to connect two pieces of equipment a mile below the water's surface.

BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said one piece of equipment, called the framework, had to be brought to the water's surface so adjustments could be made to where it fitted with the long tube that connected to a tanker above.

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The framework holds a pipe and stopper and engineers piloting submarine robots will try to use it to plug the massive leak and send the crude through the lengthy pipe to the surface.

"The frame shifted, so they were unable to make that connection," said Mr Suttles, who believes the adjustments will make the device work.

At least 210,000 gallons of oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20 and sank two days later. Eleven people were killed in the blast.

BP's latest idea seemed to have the best chance for success so far, said Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University professor of environmental studies. At the surface this would be easy, he said, but using robots at that depth with oil gushing out of the pipe made things much more difficult.

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"It's something like threading the eye of a needle. But that can be tough to do up here. And you can imagine how hard it would be to do it down there with a robot," Prof Overton said.

The tube could capture more than three-quarters of the leak; BP also must contend with a smaller leak that is further away. If the tube works, it would be the first time the company has been able to capture any of the oil before it fouls the Gulf waters.

A week ago, the company tried to put a massive box over the leak, but icelike crystals formed and BP was forced to scrap that plan.

As crews worked to limit the environmental hazards, homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano pressured BP to make clear whether the company would limit how much it would pay for the clean-up and compensation to those hurt by the spill.

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In a letter to chief executive Tony Hayward, she noted that he and other executives had said they were taking full responsibility for cleaning up the spill and would pay what they call "legitimate" claims.

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