U.S. gives BP deadline to find oil spill solutions

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - The federal government has given BP until the end of the weekend to find ways to speed up efforts to contain huge amounts of oil gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a letter released Saturday, as large globs of brown crude coated Alabama's white sand beaches.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. James A. Watson sent a letter to BP officials on Friday expressing frustration with the overall pace of the effort and ordered the company to identify ways to expedite the process in the coming days.

"Recognizing the complexity of this challenge, every effort must be expended to speed up the process," Watson wrote in the letter, sent to Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.

BP has struggled with several efforts to contain the oil. The latest cap installed on the blown-out well is capturing about 650,000 gallons of oil a day, but large quantities are still spilling into the sea.

Scientists have estimated that anywhere between about 40 million gallons to 109 million gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf since a drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The Coast Guard initially sent a letter to BP last Wednesday asking for more details on its plans to contain the oil. BP responded, saying a new system to trap oil spewing from the well should be complete by mid-July.

That system's new design is meant to better withstand the force of hurricanes and could capture about 2 million gallons of oil daily when fully built, the oil giant said.

But Watson said he was concerned that BP's plans didn't maximize resources or "go far enough to mobilize redundant resources" in the event of an equipment failure or another problem.

The letter and deadline comes just before President Barack Obama is to visit the Gulf Coast Monday and Tuesday. Saturday, Obama reassured British Prime Minister David Cameron that his frustration over the oil spill was not an attack on Britain, the British government said.

The two leaders spoke by phone for 30 minutes to soothe trans-Atlantic tensions over the spill. Cameron also has been under pressure to get Obama to tone down the criticism fearing it will hurt the millions of British retirees that hold BP stock.

Cameron's office said the prime minister "expressed his sadness at the ongoing human and environmental catastrophe," but stressed BP's economic importance to Britain, the U.S. and other countries.