BP plans to thread tube into pipe spewing oil

WASHINGTON - BP officials said Thursday they would thread a small tube into a jagged pipe on the sea floor to suck oil to the surface before it can spew into the Gulf and add to a disaster apparently set in motion by a long list of equipment failures.

Engineers will have to make sure the 6-inch-wide tube is inserted deep enough into the 21-inch-wide pipe so gas and seawater don't mix. If that happened, crystals could form and clog the tube.

They will also have to thread the tube into the pipe without hitting debris around the riser.

The tube will be surrounded by a stopper to keep oil from leaking into the sea. The tube will then siphon the crude to a tanker at the surface, though BP declined to estimate how much oil the tube will be able to collect.

Company spokesman Bill Salvin said engineers hoped to start moving the tube into place last night, but it will take 12 hours to get the tube fully hooked up.

Another option is a small containment box called a "top hat," which is already on the sea floor and also would siphon oil to a tanker on the surface.

Officials are waiting to use the box until they know whether the tube works, and how well it's working, Salvin said. Engineers still might consider trying to fill the leak with golf balls and other debris, though that won't be until at least next week. And a relief well is being drilled, but that is at least two months away.

BP's updates came a day after hearings in Washington and Louisiana uncovered a checklist of unseen breakdowns on largely unregulated aspects of well safety that apparently contributed to the April 20 blowout aboard the Deepwater Horizon: a leaky cement job, a loose hydraulic fitting, a dead battery.

BP officials insist what caused the accident isn't yet clear.

The trail of problems highlights the reality that, even as the U.S. does more deep water offshore drilling, some key safety components are left almost entirely to the discretion of the companies doing the work.