BP oil cap may have spill under control

 Images of the BP oil spill taken from live video on 26 May (top L), 1 June (top R), 13 July (bottom L) and 15 July (bottom R) after the leak was contained.

BP oil cap may have spill under control

BP vice-president says pressure is holding inside cap, but US president Barack Obama warns against premature celebration 

BP held out hope today that it had finally brought America's worst oil spill under control, when a senior executive expressed optimism about a new cap that for the first time since April has stopped oil gushing from a deepwater well.

 The vice-president, Kent Wells, said pressure was holding up inside the cap, indicating that oil was being successfully contained under the 75-tonne device. Valves on the cap were shut late yesterday and pressure will be tested regularly over the next 36 hours. A fall in pressure would indicate another leak. 

BP is also planning to start drilling again on a relief well that will cut into the compromised well and enable it to be sealed permanently. The BP share price, which has lost almost 50% of its value since the original blowout on 20 April, rose almost 4% in London after the developments, although executives and officials were warning that the nightmare wasn't over yet.

From Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and agencies in New Orleans 

Photograph: BP/Reuters
Font: The Guardian