BP Tube Captures 'Some' Oil

BP engineers captured some oil gushing from the Gulf of Mexico by plugging a huge tube into the seabed hole and on Monday sought new ways to stem the disaster.

The tube was the first tangible sign of success in more than three weeks of efforts to stop the sea of oil moving slowly toward the coast.

BP senior executive vice president Kent Wells confirmed that after a temporary hitch in which the tube became dislodged, siphoning operations were running.

"At this point, we don't know what percentage we will capture" by the process, in which the oil was sucked up as if through a straw to the giant ship, he told reporters in Houston, Texas.

A BP statement said the four-inch (10-centimeter) diameter tube inserted into the 21-inch leaking pipe using undersea robots had captured "some amounts of oil and gas."

WATCH VIDEO: In the hours before the Gulf oil spill hit the Louisiana Coast, James Williams discovered what Gulf Coast experts were most worried about.

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If all goes as planned, a flow of nitrogen in the tube will lift the oil to the ship, experts said. Methanol will be added to help prevent the formation of hydrates, and heated sea water will promote the flow of oil.

President Barack Obama administration seemed unimpressed however, saying BP's efforts, even if they manage to slow the leak, would not permanently stop the underwater geyser.

"This technique is not a solution to the problem, and it is not yet clear how successful it may be," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

In recent days, the administration has assembled its own team of top experts in robotics, physics, and X-ray technology to try to stem the leak.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a physicist who won the Nobel Prize, last week promised that the "intellectual horsepower of the country is engaged in solving this problem."

The Deepwater Horizon rig, leased by BP from Transocean, has been gushing oil since an explosion on April 20 ripped through the drilling platform and caused it to sink two days later. Eleven workers were killed.

Fresh analysis of enormous plumes of oil under the surface suggest the spill may be far worse than previously estimated.

One was reported to be 10 miles (16 kilometers) long, three miles wide and 300 feet thick.

Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said the plumes were "perhaps due to the deep injection of dispersants which BP has stated that they are conducting."

Response crews have so far used some 560,000 gallons of controversial chemical dispersants, spraying them onto surface oil and also directly into the leak in a bid to break up the oil.

"The oil still exists, it's just spread in smaller pieces," Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network, a coalition of environmental groups, told AFP. "It could have a significant impact on the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico."

University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, who is on a scientific mission to gather details about the looming environmental disaster, told The New York Times that oxygen levels have dropped 30 percent near the plumes, in an "alarming" trend that is endangering marine life.

But Andrew Gowers, head of group media for BP, dismissed reports that "speculate" on the giant plumes. He said officials "had no confirmation" of oil clumping together in mid-ocean areas.

On Sunday a large concert in New Orleans drew crowds to support Gulf fishermen, whose livelihoods are threatened by the oil spill, with rocker Lenny Kravitz heading the line-up.

"This is a catastrophe," Kravitz told CNN television. "I love this place. And this place has been through so much in the last several years," he said referring to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Officials said some 19,000 personnel and more than 650 vessels had been deployed to try to mitigate the negative effects of the spill on the Gulf shoreline and wildlife.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard told AFP that oil was washing ashore in at least two new locations -- Whiskey Island, La. and Long Beach, Miss.

The main leak has spewed out an estimated five million gallons so far, according to the most conservative estimates.

A relief well that would divert the flow and allow the well to be permanently sealed may not be ready until August.