US casts doubt on BP's fix for oil leak

Despite signs of scepticism by the administration, Lamar McKay, BP America chairman, said that the company had a "high level of confidence" that the relief wells would ultimately solve the problem.
Questions over the efficacy of the relief wells were raised as BP said it hoped that temporary emergency measures would capture up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day from the leaking well in the Gulf by the end of the week.
The British oil giant said it was catching 1,000 barrels a day after the attachment of a 10cm-wide tube to the broken pipe that is the main source of the leak. If BP manages to siphon off 5,000 barrels a day it would represent the full volume it said it believed was leaking from the well.
Many analysts believe this to be an underestimate, based on video footage of the oil escaping from the well. The siphoning is the first significant success by BP since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20. Despite the initial success, lawmakers and top Obama administration officials expressed scepticism about BP's response to the continuing crisis, and the prospects of a permanent fix to the problem.
Asked by lawmakers whether she believed the relief wells were a "sure thing", Janet Napolitano, homeland security chief, said: "You might want to ask BP," but did not offer any alternative solutions.
The Obama administration also played down reports over the weekend that scientists on a research ship had found pools of contaminated water under the surface of the sea as big as 16km long and 5km wide in some parts.
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the reports were "misleading, premature and in some cases inaccurate".
The New York Times first reported that scientists on the research ship Pelican, which is backed by government grants, discovered the plumes of oil, raising further questions over BP's claims that the leak was gushing just 5,000 barrels of oil a day.
Richard Charter, a senior marine analyst at Defenders of Wildlife who said he believed the accounts, said such large pockets of sub-surface oil, which were not traceable by satellite, could be caught in what is referred to as a "loop current", which had the capability of carrying the oil pools to the Florida Keys.

"The Financial Times"