BP seeks solution after dome problem occurs

BP Plc engineers will search for a solution on Sunday after suffering a setback in an attempt to contain oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico with a huge metal dome, dashing hopes for a quick, temporary solution to a growing environmental disaster.

The company was forced to move the four-story containment dome off to the side on the sea floor after a buildup of crystallized gas forced it to suspend the effort. Covering the leak with the structure was seen as the best short-term way to stem the flow from a ruptured oil well.

BP expects to take up to two days plotting its next move, Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet. What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work because these hydrates plugged up the top of the dome," Suttles said.

"What we're currently doing, and I suspect it will probably take the next 48 hours or so, is saying, 'Is there a way to overcome this problem?'"

The problem is gas hydrates, essentially slushy methane gas that would block the oil from being siphoned out the top of the box. As BP tries to resolve it, oil keeps flowing unchecked into the Gulf in what could be the worst U.S. oil spill ever.

The company, under pressure from the Obama administration to limit the damage to the Gulf and coastlines of four states, expected hydrates, but not the volumes encountered after a crew lowered the dome nearly a mile to the sea floor.

Possible solutions may involve heating the area or adding methanol to break up the hydrates, Suttles said.

Officials had already warned there was no guarantee the technology would work at such water depth. It hopes to attach a pipe to the 98-tonne dome to pump oil to a tanker, with the aim of capturing about 85 percent of the leaking crude.

Oil has been gushing into the Gulf at a rate estimated at a minimum of 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) a day since the well ruptured last month.