BP has said it expects to attach a new containment cap today that should more than triple the amount of oil being collected from the energy giant's leaking Gulf of Mexico wellhead.
Once the new and larger cap is installed, BP will shut down two vessels siphoning oil from the leak - one of which is expected to start up today - to monitor pressure and check the integrity of the blown-out well.
Those tests could last 48 hours or longer. If the cap works as intended, all crude oil should be contained and 'there would be no flow,' a spokesperson said.
But he stressed that even if the cap can shut off the flow 1,600m below the surface, BP must still finish the relief well at even greater depths so it can pump in heavy drilling fluid and then cement to permanently plug the leak.
Today, the first of two relief wells, begun on 2 May, was about 58m from intercepting the blown-out well that is 3,960m beneath the seabed.
While the relief well could intercept the blown-out well by the end of July, BP says it remains on target to stop the leak by mid-August.
The siphoning vessel, the Helix Producer, was due to start up on Sunday but problems with two systems emerged during tests.
A second siphoning vessel, the Q4000, collected and burned off 8,235 barrels of leaking oil yesterday.
