New cap raises hopes for end to Gulf oil spill

Robots have attached a new, tighter-fitting cap on top of the gushing BP Gulf of Mexico oil leak, raising hopes the flow of crude polluting the coast can be stopped for the first time in nearly three months.

Placing the cap on top of the leak was the climax of two days of delicate preparation work and a day of slowly lowering it into position one mile below the sea.

The capping project – akin to building an underwater Lego tower – is just a temporary fix, but is the oil giant's best hope for containing the spill.

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The next unknown is whether the 18ft high, 150,000lb metal stack of pipes and valves will work.

BP started tests on Monday, gradually shutting the valves to see if the oil stops or if it starts leaking from another part of the well.

Residents have been sceptical whether BP can deliver on its promise to control the spill, but the news was still welcome on the coast.

Shrimper Dwayne Touchet, 44, from Welsh, Louisiana, said he was relieved to hear the cap was on and could only pray that it worked.

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He is working in the Vessels of Opportunity programme, where BP employs local boat owners and fishermen out of work because of the spill.

"It's not over, there's still a lot of oil to clean up. We don't know how it will affect it (the water) in the years to come, all we can do is trust in the Lord," he said.

At about 6.30pm (2330 GMT) on Monday, live video streams trained on the wellhead showed the cap being slowly lowered into place, 11 hours after BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the company was close to putting the seal in place. BP officials said the device was attached at around 7pm (0000 GMT).

The cap will be tested and monitored to see if it can withstand pressure from oil and gas starting this morning for six to 48 hours, according to national incident commander Thad Allen.

On his Facebook page, Mr Allen also shared news of the

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development. "Getting there," he wrote in a status update shortly after the cap landed on the well.

The cap will be tested by closing off three separate valves which fit together snugly like pairs of fists, choking off the oil and blocking it from entering the Gulf.

BP does not want the flow of oil to stop instantaneously, said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, director of professional geosciences programmes at the University of Houston. Shutting the oil off too quickly could cause another explosion, he said.

"Rather than like a train running into a brick wall, it'll be more like putting the brakes on slowly," he said. "That's what they're aiming for. You can keep the brakes on and everyone arrives alive, or you hit the wall and have big problems."

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Engineers will be watching pressure readings. High pressure is good, because it would mean the leak has been contained inside the wellhead machinery. But if readings are lower than expected, that could mean there is another leak elsewhere in the well.

Even if the cap works, the blown-out well will still be leaking. But the newer, tighter cap will enable BP to capture all the oil, or help funnel it up to ships on the surface if necessary.

One of those ships, the Helix Producer, has begun operating and should be up to its capacity operation in a few days.

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