Days after failing to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with a giant dome, BP said Monday it will make a second attempt this week using a smaller version dubbed the "top hat."
A four-story, 100-ton box was lowered Friday to the seabed to try to capture most of the oil and allow it to be funneled up to a ship on the surface, but it was rendered useless on Sunday when ice crystals formed in its domed roof.
BP experts believe the smaller "top hat" containment box would not suffer the same problem as it would not hold so much freezing cold seawater, and they are preparing to drop it into the inky depths to carry out a similar fix to what is unfolding as one the worst oil spills in US history.
The company's chief executive Tony Hayward told reporters he hoped the smaller container would be in place "within 72 hours" and officials said it should be up and running this week after some last-minute modifications.
Hayward admitted the smaller size meant it "will be less efficient at capturing" the leaking oil than the larger dome, which had been expected to swallow up to 85 percent of the crude.
Days after failing to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with a giant dome, BP said Monday it will make a second attempt this week using a smaller version dubbed the "top hat."
A four-story, 100-ton box was lowered Friday to the seabed to try to capture most of the oil and allow it to be funneled up to a ship on the surface, but it was rendered useless on Sunday when ice crystals formed in its domed roof.
BP experts believe the smaller "top hat" containment box would not suffer the same problem as it would not hold so much freezing cold seawater, and they are preparing to drop it into the inky depths to carry out a similar fix to what is unfolding as one the worst oil spills in US history.
The company's chief executive Tony Hayward told reporters he hoped the smaller container would be in place "within 72 hours" and officials said it should be up and running this week after some last-minute modifications.
Hayward admitted the smaller size meant it "will be less efficient at capturing" the leaking oil than the larger dome, which had been expected to swallow up to 85 percent of the crude.
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