BP siphoning more oil in effort to stem Gulf crisis

Florida's pristine coast braced for the impact of an oil slick from a Gulf of Mexico leak borne by powerful ocean currents as efforts by BP Plc to capture the flowing crude showed progress on Wednesday. According to private forecasters at AccuWeather, tendrils from the massive rust-coloured oil slick have already entered the powerful Loop Current curling around the Florida Peninsula, which could take it east to the Florida Keys and possibly to Miami and Cuba within eight to 10 days.
British oil giant BP, its reputation on the line in an environmental disaster that could eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, has marked some progress at siphoning some of the oil from the mile/(1.6 km)-deep well to an ocean vessel on the surface. BP is now siphoning about 3,000 barrels per day of oil, said Tom Strickland, an assistant interior secretary. BP declined to comment on Strickland's new estimate, which is up from about 2,000 barrels (84,000 gallons/318,000 litres) a day that BP said it is capturing.
BP has estimated that 5,000 barrels per day has been gushing out of the well since shortly after an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers. US lawmakers and scientists say the figure is unreliable and probably much higher.
The development may still be welcome news for the company and its battered share price. BP shares closed down nearly 2 percent in London on Wednesday, extending recent steep losses. Florida's tourism gained a respite when tar balls found on Keys beaches were shown not to come from the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, but officials said the $60 billion-a-year industry was already taking a beating from the unchecked month-old spill.
The spill has already dumped oil debris ashore, especially in Louisiana but also on the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, threatening fisheries and wildlife refuges. The Obama administration is grappling with a widening environmental and economic disaster for which it holds BP responsible. Wildlife and environmental groups accused BP of holding back information on the real size and impact of the growing slick, and urged President Barack Obama to order a more direct federal government role in the spill response.
To the relief of Florida officials, the Coast Guard said laboratory tests had shown that 50 tar balls found this week on the Lower Keys - a mecca for divers, snorkelers, fishermen and beach goers - were not from the Gulf spill. Local tourism authorities said damage had already been inflicted by the negative publicity linked to the spill.