The United States is seeking foreign help as it prepares BP's ruptured oil well for the hurricane season that began Tuesday, the national incident commander Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said.
Allen noted that the US is "reaching out to foreign governments" such as the Netherlands, Canada and Mexico for added equipment and help as the worst oil spill in US history enters its seventh week. Allen said such help will be needed "with the relief wells to be finished in the midst of hurricane season."
On Saturday, BP gave up on stopping the oil gusher with its "top kill" approach, and is now working on a new way to capture the outflow and siphon it to tanks in a drill rig on the surface, DPA reported.
"We're not talking about capping the well any more, we're talking about containing it," Allen said.
This time, BP is cutting off the longer leaking pipe, called the marine riser, at the ruptured well head and putting a small cap on top that will be connected to the siphon. The operation could take another 24 to 36 hours, Allen said.
BP was on Tuesday in "the middle of a shear cut" and would soon start a refined "wire" cut to level it off. The spill cam video showed a round saw operated by underwater robots hacking through the pipe.
Allen repeated risk warnings that this approach - called the "lower marine riser package" (LMRP) - could increase the oil flow by 20 per cent before BP engineers manoeuvre the cap into place.
The only hope for permanently closing down the well lies in two relief wells being drilled parallel to the damaged one. One of the wells would be used to pump cement directly into the oil reservoir which lies some 6 kilometres beneath the Gulf surface. The second well is for backup.
The relief wells won't be ready until August, the peak of hurricane season, which forecasters predict could be worse than normal this year.
Allen is worried that the current drill rig tanks now receiving some of the siphoned oil won't withstand the rigors of a hurricane.
The Coast Guard admiral said a larger platform that would be a "floating production facility" was being considered "for a more stable arrangement through the hurricane season." US officials and BP were also working on backup plans to determine "how long we stay out there" in a hurricane.