(Reuters) - BP Plc engineers were expected to lower a massive metal containment chamber onto a ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday in an effort to stem the widening slick.
U.S. | Green Business
If all goes to plan, the four storey-tall structure will redirect the flow of crude from nearly 1 mile below the water and pump it up to the surface. But BP officials warned it will be no easy task.
Oil sloshed ashore on a chain of islands off the Louisiana coast on Thursday as the oil slick expanded and oiled birds had been found.
At least 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) have gushed into the Gulf each day since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded two weeks ago off the Louisiana Coast, killing 11 workers.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles had said the dome could be operating by Monday.
The company is drilling a relief well that could take two or three months to complete, making the 98-ton containment dome the centerpiece of the short-term fight against the slick.
On Thursday, the federal government heaped more criticism on BP, and said it would make sure it lived up to its responsibility to limit the damage from what could be the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
After meeting with BP executives in Houston, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the company and its partners made "some very major mistakes" and added: "Its life is very much on the line here."
The spill threatens an environmental catastrophe on the coasts of four states and has forced President Barack Obama to rethink plans to open up more waters to offshore drilling.
The heavier oil remains further off the coast for now, close to the leak site. But the Mississippi Delta, Breton Sound, and Chandeleur Sound are in danger of shoreline contacts over the next few days, officials said.
"It has already hit some of the fishing areas further out," said Leonard Ball, a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi. "There's already a lot of devastation as far as the fishermen go," he said.
In Buras, Louisiana, Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen unable to make their usual living in the Gulf told BP officials that some were excluded from cleanup jobs offered, in part because they are deck-hands rather than boat owners.
By late Saturday or Sunday morning, winds in the Gulf region are forecast to pick up to 15 to 20 knots, possibly making containment efforts more difficult.
More insurers outlined the cost of the disaster.
Munich Re warned on Friday that high payouts for natural catastrophe claims and the U.S. oil spill had placed its 2010 earnings goal in jeopardy.
Munich's nearest competitor Swiss Re said on Thursday that the cost of the spill to the entire insurance industry would be $1.5-$3.5 billion.
CALM WEATHER WINDOW
Crews on Thursday took advantage of calm weather to fight the slick. About 270 boats deployed protective booms and used dispersants to break up the thick oil.
Scientists monitored the impact on marine and coastal wildlife of the slick, estimated to be at least 130 miles by 70 miles in size.
Coast Guard and port officials said there had been no impact on ship traffic, and preparations were in place to clean vessels quickly en route to port to keep traffic moving.
BP shares were down 1 percent in London by 0828 GMT, adding to $32 billion worth of recent losses in market value.
The Interior Department on Thursday canceled a series of public meetings planned this month on a proposal to sell oil and gas leases off the Virginia coastline, a move that was cheered by environmentalists.
(Editing by David Cowell; Additional reporting by Matt Daily in New York; Tom Bergin in London; Anna Driver and Chris Baltimore in Houston; Tom Brown and Pascal Fletcher in Miami; Michael Peltier in Pensacola; Steve Gorman and Brian Snyder in Mobile; Scott Malone in Boston; and Richard Cowan in Washington; writing by Jeffrey Jones, John Whitesides and Ros Krasny)
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